These pages represent a past Nordic Spirit Symposium and serve as examples of what you might see at a future Symposium

A unique lecture/performance program presented by the Scandinavian American Cultural and Historical Foundation and California Lutheran University, made possible by generous grants from the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation and the Norway House Foundation.

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The 26th Annual Nordic Spirit Symposium presents

Before the Vikings:
The Extraordinary Nordic Bronze Age

By Terje Birkedal

On February 7-8, 2025, the Scandinavian American Cultural and Historical Foundation and California Lutheran University will co-host the twenty-sixth Nordic Spirit Symposium in Thousand Oaks, California. Entitled “Before the Vikings: The Extraordinary Nordic Bronze Age”, the symposium will explore one of the most important and exciting periods in the history of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. Though academics are more than welcome, the target audience, for this year’s symposium, as always, is the interested general public.

The people of the Scandinavian Bronze Age (1700-500 BCE) were the distant cultural forefathers and foremothers of the Vikings. These ancient ancestors of the Scandinavians built many of the political, economic, and social foundations necessary to the emergence of the more famous Viking Age over a thousand years later. Without the Bronze Age there would have been no Viking Age.

Much of what we usually tend to associate with the coming of the Vikings actually had its origin in the Bronze Age. This early period in history saw the rise of predatory chieftainships with their sword wielding war bands, great feasting halls, and long-distance raiding and trading. It is within the womb of the Bronze Age that Scandinavia’s military democracies, made up of independent free farmer-warriors, were borne. And it was in the Bronze Age when sea going ships transformed the ocean into a highway for gaining both enormous wealth and political power, which in turn, was displayed in the construction of immense funerary mounds that dominated the Bronze Age landscape.

At this time Scandinavia was not an isolated outpost in the north, but an active and major participant in a wide-ranging trade network that spanned the whole of Europe. The most important trade item in this web of trade was bronze but it was closely seconded by gold, amber, furs, and possibly slaves. The Scandinavians shared this highly interconnected world with the famed Greek warriors and kings of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. In fact, goods of all kinds, including both metal objects and amber, flowed between Greece and Scandinavia along well-travelled routes through central Europe during the Bronze Age. And so, amazingly, the swords of Denmark’s warriors, and those of other northern lands in this era, were near-identical to those that would have been brandished in the Trojan wars by either Achilles or Hector.

Among the presenters at this public symposium are some of Scandinavia’s leading experts on the Bronze Age. These include Professor Knut Ivar Austvoll of the University of Oslo, Norway, who will shed light on the lifeways and social dynamics that distinguished this time period. Dr. Austvoll will also give Professor Johan Ling’s (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) keynote presentation on the importance of raiding and trading in the Bronze Age [project obligations prevented Dr. Ling’s in-person attendance]. Dr. Heide Wrobel Nørgaard of the Moesgaard Museum and Arhus University, Denmark, will introduce the audience to the magnificent and beautiful bronze metalwork of the period and also illuminate the trade connections that linked Scandinavia to southern Europe during this era. Professor Karin Ojala of Uppsala University, Sweden, will present an overview of both the magnificent pre-Bronze Age and Bronze Age rock art of the Nordic nations and also offer a second presentation on what buried artifacts in Scandinavia tell us about Bronze Age contact networks in Northern Europe and beyond. To further round out understanding of the Bronze Age, Dr. Janne Ikäheimo of the University of Oulu, Finland, will deliver an overview of the Bronze Age in Finland. And to cap off the proceedings and delight lovers of traditional Nordic music, Dr. Joan Haaland Paddock of Linfield University, Oregon, will give a demonstration and talk on the great lurs (long, large trumpets) that were played from the Bronze Age into the recent centuries of Scandinavian history.

If you are at all interested in Scandinavia’s ancient past and heritage you will not want to miss this public symposium.

For more information, please contact nordicspiritclassics@gmail.com.

Terje G. Birkedal, was born in Stavanger, Norway, in 1946. He immigrated to the United States as a child and grew up in Colorado. After earning a Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Colorado he served as an archeologist with the National Park Service for 36 years. He has conducted fieldwork in Alaska, the American South and Southwest, the Great Plains, Guam, and Norway. He is currently a frequent contributor to The Norwegian American on such subjects as Scandinavian prehistory, history, and culture.

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The Nordic Bronze Age represents a fascinating chapter in prehistory. During the Nordic Bronze Age, about 1700 to 500 BC, Scandinavia stood out above the rest of Europe for its bronze craftsmanship and prolific petroglyphic rock art. Trade routes to the Mediterranean were active with amber from the Baltic in exchange for metal and a variety of things. Maritime trade also grew. Features commonly attributed to the Vikings were already prevalent and developing during the Nordic Bronze Age. Ships and warriors as well as animals were common depictions in the rock art of southern Scandinavia. Some scholars find the Nordic Bronze Age much more interesting than the Viking Age. Others suggest there would be no Viking Age without the Nordic Bronze Age. Archaeologists from major universities in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland will give illustrated presentations on this extraordinary era in Scandinavian prehistory. These presentations will be geared for a public audience, with ample time for guest interaction and discussion with like-minded participants.

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This event is partially supported by The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, a California nonprofit corporation with an intent to provide support to nonprofit organizations that benefit Swedish education, culture and arts.

This event is partially supported by the Norway House Foundation, a California nonprofit corporation dedicated to honoring the Norwegian seafarers who risked their lives for the Allied cause in World War II. The Norway House Foundation carries out its mission by promoting, encouraging, and supporting educational, professional and cultural exchange between Norway and Northern California.

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The organizers reserve the right to make any changes that may be necessary.