Evocative imagery at whose expense? Critical perspectives on Viking Age mortuary reconstructions

This article critically examines Viking Age mortuary reconstructions, a genre of archaeological imagery increasingly influential in scholarly and popular contexts. Focusing on Scandinavian examples produced since 2000, the study interrogates the emotive, affective and ethical dimensions of these visualizations. Employing a visual social semiotic framework, it analyses vantage points, colour schemes, bodily representations and gender codings to demonstrate how artistic decisions intersect with archaeological interpretation. The study identifies recurring dramatization, sexualization and sensationalism, particularly in depictions of women, alongside anthropocentric distinctions in portrayals of humans and animals. Despite claiming naturalistic realism, these images frequently obscure evidential uncertainties, thereby consolidating exceptional cases as normative representations of Viking Age practices. The article calls for increased transparency, ethical reflexivity and peer review in the production of mortuary reconstructions, contending that such images are ethically consequential acts that shape post-mortem dignity and contemporary engagements with the Viking past.