Prof. Anna Wessman

Anna Wessman is Professor of Archaeology at the University Museum of Bergen, University of Bergen, and a specialist in the Late Iron Age and Viking Age of Northern Europe. My research focuses on mortuary practices, material culture, long-distance networks, and the biographies of objects, with particular emphasis on beads, jewellery, and other forms of personal adornment as evidence of social identities, mobility, and cultural interaction. As a member of the International Advisory Board, I am already familiar with many of the researchers and research themes in Uppsala, providing an excellent foundation for collaboration during my stay.

During my three-month visit, I will focus on the study of Viking Age bead assemblages in various museum collections, such as the Swedish History Museum and Museum Gustavianum. My project, entitled The Quiet Beauty of Small Things: Viking Age Beads in Western Norway, examines how beads can illuminate long-distance connections stretching from Scandinavia to regions such as the Mediterranean, Central Asia, and India. By investigating the composition, origin, and biographies of these bead assemblages, I hope to better understand trade, mobility, memory, and identity in the Viking Age. A central theme of my research concerns Roman period faience beads and their remarkable long-term biographies. Although these beads were originally produced in Alexandria in Egypt, they continued to circulate and were eventually deposited in Scandinavian elite burials centuries later. By examining the distribution, biographies, and reuse of these beads, I hope to shed new light on long-distance connections, exchange networks, and the ways in which exotic objects acquired new meanings in Viking Age societies.

I also aim to contribute to ongoing discussions within WiVA by bringing a material-culture perspective to broader questions of networks and cultural interaction. In addition, I look forward to sharing my expertise on beads, personal adornment, and object biographies with other ongoing projects at the Department and fostering collaboration and comparative perspectives across the research environment. At the same time, the stay will allow me to further develop the foundations for a future monograph on Western Norway in the Viking Age.