Neil Price conducts research on the Middle and Late Iron Age in the Nordic countries, in particular the Viking Age in a broad international perspective, with a special focus on Nordic and Germanic pre-Christian religion, ritual, magic, mentality, life views and sexuality.
“I look forward to representing the field of archaeology in various ways in the Academy, and raising associated issues. Right now, I don’t know the exact details of what I will be working on, as I have not yet formally taken my place in the Academy because of the pandemic situation, but I look forward to learning more about the Academy’s work from the inside.”
Other research fields that Price is involved in include indigenous peoples’ issues, particularly relating to Sami groups in northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, historical and archaeological perspectives on the Holocaust, the European colonial opium trade in East Asia, Second World War battlefields in the Pacific and research ethics in archaeology.
He has held a ten-year professorship funded by the Swedish Research Council since 2016 and leads the research project The Viking Phenomenon, focusing on the early Viking Age and the conditions that gave rise to Viking raids. He is also responsible for processing and final publication of the internationally significant archaeological source material from the boat burial site at Valsgärde north of Gamla Uppsala.
“It will be exciting to see how I can best contribute to the work of the Academy,” says Price.