Ancestor Worship and the Elite in Late Iron Age Scandinavia: A Grave Matter - Paperback

by Triin Laidoner (Author)

Ancestor worship is often assumed by contemporary European audiences to be an outdated and primitive tradition with little relevance to our societies, past and present. This book questions that assumption and seeks to determine whether ancestor ideology was an integral part of religion in Viking age and early medieval Scandinavia.

Author Biography

Triin Laidoner received an MA in Old Nordic Religion from the University of Iceland and a PhD in History from the University of Aberdeen, UK. Prior to that, she studied Icelandic and Swedish philology, and literary translation. Her work focuses on pre-Christian religious beliefs and practices in northern Europe, Old Norse-Icelandic literature, mythology and folklore, social anthropology, kinship and social structures, and ancestor beliefs and rituals. She has published on connections between Sámi and Old Norse beliefs.