INVESTIGATING THE VIKING AGE LANDSCAPE AT LUNNASTING, SHETLAND: DATING, CHARACTERISTICS, FUNCTION

Abstract

This article explores the Viking Age landscape at Lunnasting on the archipelago of Shetland. It aims to understand how the thing site emerged, what his characteristics were, and what other function(s) it may have had before it became an assembly site. The article investigates the Iron Age roots of the site and underlines the continuity with its Viking successor. It will become obvious throughout the paper that Lunnasting was an unusually powerful and important place even long before the Vikings appropriated it, and continued to operate as a central place of power for centuries following the end of Norse occupation. It will be concluded that based on the archaeological record, it can be suggested that Lunnasting was at some stage the most important medieval assembly site on Shetland.