When I attended the Society for Museum Archaeology conference in Sheffield last week Natalie Buy from York Museums Trust and Gareth Beale from University of York gave a presentation about the touring Vikings Rediscover the Legend exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum. Unfortunately for Yorkshire readers the exhibition closed on 5th November, although it will also be shown in Nottingham, Southport, Aberdeen and Norwich over the next two years. The idea is that each venue contributes exhibits from its own collection to complement the treasures from the British Museum.
One exhibition but with five different identities, one of the speakers at the conference called it a veritable smorgasbord of objects, many of them star exhibits in the roll call of great Viking discoveries over many years, including the Lewis chessmen, the Cuerdale hoard (selection from above), the and the Coppergate helmet, as well as new additions to the corpus such as the Bedale hoard and the Vale of York hoard.
This high calibre material is used to explore the impact of the Vikings in Britain and the new discoveries enable a rethink of what it meant to be a Viking. There is also a contemporary collecting display showing film posters, Lego and even Viking cat hats. It also includes low key but popular interactives such as dressing up and jigsaws for families with children but still offers rich archaeological information for those who want to know more.
Perhaps the most exciting element of the displays involves the use of digital technology to create an immersive environment showing the camp at Torksey where the Vikings overwintered in 872-3. Whilst the popular image of Vikings as raiders and invaders is very powerful, Torksey was where they worked, traded, and lived with their families. Archaeologists have found a wide range of material that was dropped and lost in the mud. The image above gives a flavour of the experience looking through the viewer. The visitor can turn the viewer through 360 degrees and, thanks to the Languages Department at University of York, can hear people of the time conversing in Old Norse and Frankish.
The virtual reality draws upon technology used in the creative industries and the exhibition project provided an opportunity to see how it worked in a museum environment. It cleverly gives the visitor a sense of life one thousand years ago by presenting vignettes of Viking life: a boatyard where ship maintenance is taking place; in the camp at Torksey in the rain, showing people sheltering under tents and awnings; and a trading scene involving a shipment of barrels of wine. Visitors view the VR scenes through a mask that is held in front of the face. This was a little bit heavy for prolonged use but the version I saw in Sheffield used cardboard and was lighter. It certainly brought the 9th century Vikings’camp to life.
The venue for the exhibition was the existing Medieval gallery in the Yorkshire Museum and this made for a sometimes cramped experience. Poor design meant that the visitor had to walk to one side of some of the cases in order to see the label for an object that presented to the front. In one instance this meant walking into a crowded cul-de-sac where other visitors were looking at interpretation. This brought back unfortunate memories of the Viking Ship exhibition at the British Museum. This may simply be the result of adapting the touring exhibition for the venue and hopefully it won’t be repeated at the next venue.
At the time of writing I am hoping to invite one of the speakers, Gareth Beale, to speak to the Medieval Section of the YHAS about this work and it may be possible to bring along the lighter versions of the viewers so that members can enjoy the immersive experience of Torksey Viking camp.
Medieval Section of the Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society 