Viking Millennium International Symposium set to begin

The Viking Millennium International Symposium, an affiliated event of the Vikings! 1000 Years program, is set to begin this evening in St. John�s. Scholars and Viking experts from around the world will gather from September 15 - 24 in three locations across the province including St. John�s, L�Anse aux Meadows and the Labrador Straits to discuss many aspects of Norse culture during the period of exploration that spurred the new world journeys of Leif Ericson.

"For the first time ever, 300 participants including 70 speakers from all over the world will gather where Leif Ericson landed 1,000 years ago and became the first European to meet our indigenous peoples. This symposium is especially valuable because the papers the speakers will present and the discussions that will follow will provide us with a better understanding of the Viking Age," said Charles Furey, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation.

The panel of well-known Viking scholars includes: Magnus Magnusson, Benedicte Ingstad, Birgitta Wallace, Peter Sawyer, William Fitzhugh, Patrick Wallace, and Richard Hall. The symposium is divided into three major themes including Voyage to Vinland to be held in St. John�s, Viking Society, Culture and Settlement to be held in the St. Anthony/L�Anse aux Meadows region, and Exploration, Navigation and Cultural Interaction to be held in the Labrador Straits area. It will wind up with a lecture by Gwynne Dyer at the Arts and Culture Centre in Corner Brook on Sunday, September 24.

The symposium has been organised as a collaborative effort by the Historic Sites Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Committee on Medieval Studies of Memorial University and the Labrador Straits Historical Development Corporation. "It has been an exhilarating experience to share the work and move this conference across the province. It gives everybody a chance to share in this knowledge, " said Paul O�Neill, co-chair of the event.

Vikings! 1000 Years: Make the Journey is a project of the Department of Tourism, Culture, and Recreation, Parks Canada and the Viking Trail Tourism Association. The Government of Canada, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Canada Millennium Partnership Program are the funding partners for Vikings! 1000 Years. The three major corporate sponsors for the Vikings! 1000 Years celebrations are Petro- Canada, NewTel and Newfoundland Power. Supporting sponsors include Dominion, Eimskip, FMC Kongsberg Subsea, Atlantic Lottery Corporation, the Multi-Materials Stewardship Board, Interprovincial Airlines, and Newfoundland Hydro.

Following is the schedule of events for St. John�s.

Media contact:

Catherine Dempsey Viking Millennium International Symposium, (709) 753-9262
Tara Laing Communications, Special Celebrations, (709) 729-3813

Schedule of events for St. John�s

Keynote address by Peter Sawyer, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History, University of Leeds, England
Paper Entitled: Scotland, Ireland and Iceland: Norwegian settlers in the ninth century

Birgit Sawyer, Norway�s Technical and Natural-Scientific University
Paper entitled: Scandinavia in the Viking Age: The Runic Evidence

Richard Hall, Deputy Director, York Archaeological Trust, England
Paper entitled: The Vikings in England

James H. Barrett, Archaeology University of York, England
Paper entitled: The Viking Age Settlement of Scotland: Economy, Religion and Ethnicity

Colleen Batey, Curator of Archaeology, Glasgow Museums/University of Glasgow, Scotland
Paper entitled: The Islands of Scotland: Their Role in the Western Voyages

Patrick Wallace, Director, National Museum of Ireland

Kristj�n Ahronson, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
Paper entitled: Further Evidence for a Columban Iceland: Preliminary Results of Recent Work

Orris V�steinsson, Institute of Archaeology, Iceland
Paper Entitled: Settlement in light of recent archaeological investigations

Delivered by Magnus Magnusson, author, broadcaster and translator of the Viking Sagas

Svend E. Albrethsen, the State Antiquary�s Archaeological Secretariat, Denmark
Paper entitled: The Early Norse Farming buildings in Western Greenland

Jette Arneborg, Senior Researcher, Center for Greenland Research, National Museum of Denmark
Paper entitled: Norse Greenland Archaeology: The Dialogue Between the Written and Archaeological Record

For more information on the papers being presented and sessions open to the public, contact:

St. John�s
Catherine Dempsey
(709) 753-9262

L�Anse aux Meadows 
Debbie Anderson
(709) 623-2601

Labrador Straits 
Doug Robbins
(709) 927-5815

2000 09 15 12:15 p.m.