This book demonstrates howcommunication networks over the BalticSea and further east were establishedand how they took different forms in thenorthern and the southern halves of theEastern Baltic. Changes in archaeologicalevidence along relevant trade routessuggest that the inhabitants of present-day Finland and the Baltic States weremore engaged in Viking easternmovement than is generally believed.

<div>The prevailing image of a Viking is frequently that of a fierce male, associated with military expansion and a distinctive material culture, and the Vikings have maintained a resonance in the popular imagination to the present day. This book presents a fresh overview of the Vikings from both conceptual and material perspectives. In an engaging survey, Sæbjørg Walaker Nordeide and Kevin J. Edwards analyse Viking religion, economic life, and material culture in and beyond the Scandic homelands.</div>

Volcanoes in Old Norse Mythology details how Viking Age Icelanders, migrating from Scandinavia to a new and volcanically active environment, used Old Norse mythology to understand and negotiate the hazards of the island. These pre-Christian myths recorded in medieval Iceland expound an indigenous Icelandic theory on volcanism that revolves around the activities of supernatural beings, such as the fire-demon Surtr and the gods Odin and Thor. Before the Icelanders were introduced to Christianity and its teachings, they formulated an indigenous theory of volcanism on basis of their traditional mythology much like other indigenous peoples across the world.