2022/54: River Kings: the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Roads -- Cat Jarman

Combined with the scientific evidence that women were part of the migration both into and out of Scandinavia, we really can’t exclude their agency from those worlds any longer. We have to carefully consider what roles they had; whether they were warriors, wives, traders, slaves (or slavers) or explorers. [loc. 1981]

The story starts with a single carnelian bead found 'within the detritus of a Viking terror attack' in Repton, Derbyshire. Jarman, investigating how it came to be there, reveals a network of trade, violence and exploration stretching from northern England to Byzantium and to Gujarat, the likely source of the bead.

I found this a fascinating account of Viking society. Jarman worked on the Repton excavations, as well as on several other important Viking sites: she explores the river-routes through what is now Russia, the origins of the Rus', the roles of women (from slave girls to powerful traders), and a myriad fascinating insights. For instance, I didn't know that much of the silver found in Viking hoards came from melted-down dirhams, or that Vikings may have buried those hoards due to a handy get-out clause that allowed a dead warrior, bound for Valhalla, to 'take not just what he had with him on his funeral pyre, but also what he had hidden in the ground'. [loc. 2038]. I learnt about double burials -- often two people of the same sex, like the two women of the Oseberg grave -- and the probability of human sacrifice as part of the funeral ritual.

Sometimes the account felt a little repetitive, as is to be expected when different aspects of the same situation are explored. There's a passage on sacrifices (slaves were asked to volunteer -- both male and female slaves) where I felt Jarman could have discussed homosexual behaviour. And at one point Jarman referred to a female scientist by her first name, which is (to say the least) impolite: I did not find any instances of male scientists being treated in this way.

Overall, though, a very readable, interesting and informative book. (It's also made me want to reread Rosemary Sutcliff's Blood Feud, about a Viking and an Englishman travelling to Byzantium.) I initially gave River Kings three stars but on reflection have amended this to four, as I found myself thinking and talking about it a lot.