Microcosms of Migration: Children and Early Medieval Population Movement

This paper discusses the participation of children in migration during the Viking Age. While the written evidence is limited, it, nonetheless, reveals the presence of children alongside the viking armies and their involvement in the acculturation process, especially older children. A small number of unusual Viking-Age burials of older children support the deduction drawn from the written record of the importance of this stage of the lifecycle. Finally, stable isotope analysis, especially where multiple teeth are sampled, offers new insights into migration, and reinforces the impression conveyed by the written record that children were involved in migration, and sometimes migrated on multiple occasions.