Jesse Byock
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Jesse L. Byock (born 1945) is Professor of Old Norse and Medieval Scandinavian Studies in the Scandinavian Section at the
University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
(UCLA). He received his Ph.D. from
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
. An archaeologist and specialist in the archaeology, history and language of the
Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germ ...
, he is Professor at UCLA’s Cotsen Institute of Archaeology. In
Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
, Prof. Byock is the Head Archaeologist and Director of the Mosfell Archaeological Project, excavating a Viking Age
valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...
described in the medieval sagas and written sources. The Mosfell
excavations In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...
include a large well-preserved
chieftain A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribe The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia. Tribal societies are sometimes categorized a ...
’s hall, Christian and pagan
burial sites Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
, a conversion-age
stave church A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts ar ...
, and a harbor from the first centuries of Iceland’s settlement during the Viking Age. Jesse Byock is also affiliated Professor at the
University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( is, Háskóli Íslands ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' s ...
(Háskóli Íslands) in the Department of History and the Programs in Medieval Icelandic and Viking Studies, where he teaches courses in Old Norse and the history, archaeology, sagas and sources of Viking Age and Medieval Iceland.


Notable Books

* * ''Viking Language 1, 2nd Edition: Learn Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas'' * ''Viking Language 2: The Old Norse Reader'' * ''Viking Age Iceland'' * ''L’Islande des Vikings'' * ''La stirpe di Odino: La civiltà vichinga in Islanda''


Governmental Consulting

Icelandic Archaeological Representative to the Advisory Board of the international Serial Nominations Committee for UNESCO World Heritage Sites of the Viking Age.


Current Archaeological Field Project

Byock is currently engaged with the Mosfell Archaeological Project, an archaeologically rich environment, including the excavation of a viking long house, chieftain's hall, and pagan and Christian burial yards. The Mosfell Valley and
Mosfellsbær Mosfellsbær (, colloquially Mosó) is a town in south-west Iceland, east of the country's capital, Reykjavík. The town of Mosfellsbær is a 15-minute drive from midtown Reykjavík. The district includes the Leiruvogur cove, which forms part of ...
lie within the greater Reykjavik area.


Documentary Film and Multimedia

* Ari Trausti and Jesse Byock. ''Fornleirfar Tala: Höfðingjar í Mosfellsdal'' (‘Archaeologists Talk: Chieftains in the Mosfells Valley’) Icelandic TV documentary, 2015 * Byock, Jesse. “The Lore of the Ring” (2005). BBC Radio 3 and BBC World Service. Radio essay to accompany the New York Metropolitan Opera’s rendition of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Repeatedly aired 2005 – 2013 * Byock, Jesse and Stephen Ross. ''A Viking Landscape''. (2004). Ross Films, Documentary about the Mosfell Archaeological Project. * “The Vikings: Fury From the North.” (2001). Jesse Byock, Historical consultant on the Vikings for the History Channel. * “Leif Eiriksson – The Man Who Almost Changed History.” (2000). Jesse Byock, Specialist narrator for documentary film for Public Television, Ward Television, Smithsonian Institution for the Year 2000 Viking Exhibition. * “Vikings: The Saga.” (2000). Jesse Byock, Specialist narrator for documentary film for Smithsonian Institution. Year 2000 Viking Exhibition. * “Leif Eriksson.” (1995). Jesse Byock, Specialist narrator for documentary film, Arts and Entertainment series, ''Biography''. * “Vikings in America.” (1995). Jesse Byock, Specialist narrator for documentary film, The History Channel. * Ulin, D., and Byock, J. “Medicine and Viking Disease.” (1995). An episode in the series, ''A Moment of Science'' for National Public Radio. * “Evidence of the Vikings.” (1995). BBC film for the historical documentary series, ''Timewatch'' on British Television. Jesse Byock, Principal historical consultant, heading the research and involved in the script writing, shooting, narrating, and clipping.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Byock, Jesse 1945 births Living people Harvard University alumni 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers University of California, Los Angeles faculty Historians from California American male non-fiction writers