Richard Hall, Who Died Of Cancer Sept. 13, 62 Years, Has Conducted Excavations In York

Richard Hall, who died of cancer Sept. 13, 62 years, has conducted archaeology excavations in York, which showed that the popular image of Vikings Scandinavian thugs plan to rape and looting has been moved.

His research has revealed another image, less familiar with the Vikings as citizens, craftsmen, artists, merchants and housewives.

Hall, interest generated during history lessons in school subjects, when he said that although much was known Norman invaders of England, very little was known of the Norse Vikings'. "Others were more interested in the dark ages, or Greece, but I realized the British were just very dark age," he said.

The dreaded stereotype came from the writings of the monks who were literally at the tip of the Viking attacks. Their monasteries were attacked because it contained a lot of mobile wealth, and the monks could be enslaved. As a result, Hall explained that "the horror stories spread throughout Europe to describe [the Vikings] as a disgusting pagan group from the north."

When an invading force led by Ivar the Boneless arrived in New York in 866, the ancient Roman colony of Eboracum collapsed. The outline of the Roman fortress remained, but the other buildings were long gone. The Saxons had Eoforwic renamed, but not much had changed.

The Vikings changed the name of the city for more Danish "Jorvik" and created a thriving community based on agriculture and trade, leaving a legacy of street names - the suffix "gate" that attaches to the streets of the city many (Viking "gata" meaning "street"). In 1066 York was much larger in size, status and the population it had ever been.

Hall of Jorvik investigation began in 1970 when the approval was given to the dismantling of a factory of soft copper port ("Cup of the manufacturer of the street"), the way the new shopping center. In 1976 he was appointed director of the excavations of 1000 square meters of the site before development began.

There he discovered the remains of tenth-century buildings and tight acacia wood, pine located across the street and surrounded by moist, spongy layers of earth provides anoxic (without oxygen) conditions similar to those of a swamp.

In addition to sculptures, jewelry, bone and wood, metalwork and coins, wet conditions helped preserve everyday objects such as wood, leather, cloth, insects, wells and latrines, even a Viking and its contents. The smell of 1,000 years, Hall recalled, "we arrived at full speed." In addition, there are luxury goods from as far as Byzantium and the Persian Gulf, along with products from around the British Isles and northern Europe.

"Archaeology has shown that these people took the sword in the first place," Hall said, "but most definitely, adapted, was engaged in trade and quickly became part of the local community of farmers and fishermen. "

The excavations took five years and has created a huge local and international interest. Rare once seen as an important part of working to get citizens to participate in the project, and gave viewpoints around the site where the work could be progressed.

Huge selection of discoveries has been a business owner, skipper Ian, York Archaeological Trust to propose, who worked for Hall, that the excavation should be done under the permanent exhibition of the planned shopping center. Fortunately, the developers were happy with the idea, and the Jorvik Viking Centre, which helped develop the Hall, was opened in 1984.

The center has become one of the most successful archaeological exhibitions in the world. Visitors travel in a "car time" monorail that takes the last scene of Viking different (many of them - like the butcher, fishmonger and latrines - with appropriate scent) To date, nearly 17 million people. visited attraction.

Richard Andrew Hall was born in Ilford, Essex, May 17, 1949. The work of his father in flax led the family in Belfast, where Richard was educated at Royal Belfast Academical Institution. He read Archaeology at Queen's University in Belfast, where he graduated in 1971. His thesis, which was updated hardware catalog Viking era in Ireland, marked the beginning of a lifelong interest. Later in the decade of 1980, took a PhD at Southampton University with a thesis on the cities of the English Danelaw.

Hall began his career in the archaeological excavation of several sites in Dublin and Derby, and Mount Grace Priory in the Cartuja near Northallerton, Yorkshire.

Moving to New York, York Archaeological Trust joined in 1974 as supervisor of the excavations, which may serve as Director of Archaeology and deputy director of the trust. He also served as a professor in the Department of Continuing Education at the University of Leeds.

Hall led the expertise to advise many international searches, including the Viking sites in Scandinavia, including a major archaeology excavation of the Viking port Kaupang, Norway. In 2001, archaeologists have found evidence that the Vikings left the region by mid-century, the ninth, raising the possibility that New York had been colonized by the Vikings in the region of Kaupang.

Hall was a trustee of the Foundation of the protection of archaeological heritage conservation, and served on the Board of the Society of Antiquaries of London Executive Council of British Archaeology and the Board of Directors of the Institute of Archaeologists, where he served as president from 1987 to 1989. E 'was also president of the Society of Medieval Archaeology and the Yorkshire Archaeological Society.

In addition to the archaeological Viking Hall has been active in conservation and analysis of tissue church and supervised the excavation of what is believed to be the oldest complete crypt Saxon England, uncovered during work on Ripon Cathedral. In 2005, he conducted investigations of Ripon charter horn, a horn carved in directing a musical instrument ceremonial believed to have been given to the city in AD886 by Alfred the Great. Among other things, he discovered that the horn had been archived in what experts believe music was an attempt to improve its tone and resonance.

In 1980, Ward and his collaborators published a series of reports on Coppergate excavations, and Hall also wrote several books about the Vikings and their world. Exploring the world of the Vikings (2007) studied the Viking culture, from its origins in Scandinavia during the first millennium, during the assault, trading and settlement, settlements in the last survivor of the 15 th century in Greenland.

First marriage of Linda Tollerton Hall was demolished. In 1991, she married an expert in ceramics, Ailsa Mainman, which shows him with their two children.



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