A myriad of academic adventures

The very weekend after my visitors departed, I myself departed with six others in my program down to York. I don't mean York, Pennsylvania, where I come from, settled and established formally in 1741. I mean the original York, England. Most of the Celtic and Viking troupe made the 3.5 hour train ride south for the first World of the Vikings Conference, held in honour of Richard Hall. It was a long weekend of learning, tiredness, and attempting to fit in the things we wanted to see within York while we were there/while we could.

York is a pretty fantastic city, with some pretty fantastic archaeology, most notably in my opinion, from the Roman period upwards. Upon our arrival on Friday, we had some time to go through the excellent Yorkshire Museum as well as the York Minster, a very famous and very beautiful Cathedral.

After a rather rushed dinner, we headed off to the keynote lecture which touched on, though we did not know at the time, some amazing overarching theories to be discussed and themes to be carried out throughout the entire conference. Heather, Kristina and I stayed with one of the organizers of the conference in her old (built in 1793) and beautiful home with a dog! It was extremely nice not only to sleep in a real house again, but also a house that has a dog. Regardless, we headed out and called in a sort of early night so we could get ready for a full day in York of speakers.

But before we headed into the lecture theatre, Heather, Kristina and I decided to wander off around York since we were rather early. And I don't regret that decision one bit. York is full of medieval and whimsical charm, from the cobblestoned streets, to the Roman and Medieval walls surrounding the city, to the Shambles - a medieval street complete with the leaning buildings you oftentimes see in recreations of medieval town life. We were all thankful for the chance to meander off on our own to see more (read: take more photos!) of these areas.

Walking the City Walls

The Shambles

But before long it was time to grab a hot chocolate and head into the conference. This was the only the second conference I've ever been to, and the first where I myself was not presenting anything. Some of you may remember my first conference last April where I presented my undergraduate thesis on public archaeology to the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology. Well, this was in some ways, similar, and in many ways, different. The conference itself was associated with the York Archaeological Trust and the University of York's Archaeology Department; despite small size, some rather big names in Viking archaeology were in attendance (Martin Carver, James Graham-Campbell, John Sheehan to name a few). Though tired and anxious for tea-breaks I was extremely thankful to have the chance to learn from so many other great academics. At points, it felt as though my head was going to explode. I consider myself more a Celtic specialist than a Viking specialist, but I still do love learning about the Vikings.

That night, they opened Jorvik for our reception, one of the greatest museums I've ever been in (if you find yourself in the Yorkshire region, even if you aren't completely interested in the Vikings, please make sure you check out Jorvik - it's a museum you won't regret going to!) and they even had the ride running for us. Yes, that's right. There's a ride. The ride takes you through what Viking York would've looked like based off archaeological evidence, complete with animatronics and smells. It was phenomenal. And hey - they even had the skeleton of a Viking woman with hip dysplasia and a battle injuries display!

I additionally got a Jorvik minted coin, cast right there at the museum (they allow you to place the blank on the dye and drop the top over it before the hammer is swung onto the dye, puncturing the coin and embedding the design on the face). So, believe me when I tell you that Jorvik is a fantastic museum. Sunday was the half day, and final day, of the conference and it went quite smoothly. We had a few hours to wander the city once more before the train took off, and by the time we all got home we were pretty exhausted and all academic-ed out. But it was great, and I'm still processing some of the things I had the privilege to learn.

On another note, an exciting development occurred towards the end of the weekend and culminated on Monday as I was writing an essay. A fieldwork opportunity arose. Some of you may know, that part of the reason I chose Glasgow was because I saw they had the capabilities and resources to research a very tiny island in the Western Islands of Scotland. I gratefully have the privilege to volunteer on a 10-day excavation before development occurs on this island. In eight days, I will be headed off with a few other volunteers to excavate on part of my dream location (yes I know, cheesy, right? But hey - this was the whole reason I came to Glasgow, never did I think I'd get to excavate there, so I think it warrants a bit of cheese, no?). Despite the fact that I have a ton of essay research and writing to get through, and wrestling with ArcGIS before I can pack up and leave, I'm very excited!

There's always a moment when you realize you've chosen the right thing to pursue no matter how difficult it may be to get there, and this is definitely one of those qualifiers that indicate you were completely and totally right.

In other news, keep an eye out for updates concerning: a rather serious issue concerning National Geographic and the unethical treatment of human remains, aftermaths of the excavation, my dad and brother's visit, and upcoming travel plans!