By: Madeline Pelletier
Madeline Pelletier is a MA student in Public History at the University of York. This spring she is joining us on placement with the Collections and Archives team this spring semester, working with the JORVIK Viking Centre archives on rationalisation and cataloging.
First Visit to JORVIK
I first visited JORVIK at the recommendation of my friend in November last year, with no prior knowledge of what I was about to experience, or any knowledge of Viking York at all. I had heard that it was part of the popular tourist circuit in the city. We had also discussed the use of scent at JORVIK in my smell history module, and I was eager to experience the historic scents I had smelled in seminar for myself.
What no one had told me was that JORVIK was such a multisensory, immersive experience; from speaking to interpreters in the line to discovering that I was about to get on a ride to see Viking Jorvik I was fascinated, with my surprise adding to the excitement. My friend and I even tried our hands at Viking games in the gallery, and I left having had a wonderful time and with newfound knowledge of the history of the Vikings in York.
Second Visit to JORVIK
At the beginning of February this year I began my placement with the Collections and Archives team, working on the JORVIK Viking Centre archive. My work has focused on the rationalization of the Jorvik archive, and through working with the archive, I have learned about the Viking past, JORVIK Viking Centre, and the making of a visitor attraction, and over the past few months I have been learning through the archive and discussions with colleagues about the work that York Archaeology does in and out of York.
As an American, the Vikings in England was something I knew very little about and I had the opportunity to learn about this through the archive and my visits to JORVIK.This past week I visited for the second time, and with my newfound knowledge from the archive, my experience was enriched. As I waited in line to enter, the interpreter at the entrance began to artfully build excitement, and set the stage for the experience, something that continued as we entered and went downstairs to go back in time. The Viking residents of Jorvik were engaging and I felt as if I was watching a stage performance, the spectacle adding to the excitement. The other visitors were becoming similarly excited, people from far and wide, like myself, who had come to visit York.
Discovering Hidden Details
Throughout my experience I saw many things that I had originally missed in my first visit, and now knew to look for after my time in the archives. Going down the stairs into the attraction, I noticed the marked archaeological levels, and the photos of the Coppergate excavation on the walls. Through organizing the JORVIK archive, I have been able to learn about the experimental theory behind JORVIK and the excavation at Coppergate that preceded it.
The 1980’s archives show the reactions first visitors had, reactions often informed by memories of the Coppergate site. My experience of the Viking street was richer for knowing the Coppergate context behind it, my first visit having missed much of the messaging about just how grounded in archaeology the street was. I was pleasantly surprised to see recreations of objects I remembered seeing in the gallery as part of the street.
A Multisensory Experience
As part of my MA, I had taken a module on historic smell, and I recognized the scents in the gallery as similar to ones that I had smelt in seminar. A friend that accompanied me was surprised and pleased by the multisensory experience of Jorvik, from sight, sound, scent, to the opportunities to touch in the gallery.
Through the archives, especially those from right after opening, I discovered the revolutionary nature of JORVIK and how it presented history. As a modern visitor, it felt similarly unequalled and state-of-the-art. The experience was just as entertaining on a second visit; and the experience emphasized similarities between the world of the past and today, as well as the multicultural nature of a Viking society that lived, not just invaded, in York.
