Canadian Museum of History - Gatineau, PQ

August 2 / 3 / 4 / 5, 2002

From May 8 to October 14, 2002 the CMH mounted the Smithsonian Institution's 'Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga'. DARC was invited to mount a supporting encampment outside the main gallery over the August long weekend.

Exhibit flyer	Show setup	Snorri and Þorgeir	Jorunn and Snorri

As you look around the camp area from left to right the interpretive centers we had set up were food, carving and textiles. At the extreme left and right ends, Ragnarr and Grimbold worked to draw the crowd in. Around the fire in the center was a collection of ironware where Ketill spoke on ironworking. In the open areas we spent some time helping various people try on armour.

The camp itself looked like this:

Normal crowd	Busy crowd	Cooking fire	Side view
Quiet time	Overview

Here are some pictures of each center. First the food center where Bera, Kadja (when she wasn't doing laundry at the fire) and Unn worked to keep the rest of us hydrated (it was a VERY hot sunny weekend) and fed while explaining the entire process to the crowds.

Preparing drinks	Busy kitchen	Preparing lunch	Bera

The next enter was the carving group. Rig told stories while displaying his pewter and musical instruments. Kjarval worked bone, Thora and Grim carved soapstone, while Thorgier worked on wood.

Kjarval	Rig's tales	Carving	Rig
Bellows	Discussing iron

The textiles center proved to be very popular as Gudrun, Jorunn, and Kaðlín worked their warp weighted looms. Auðr spend the majority of the weekend spinning with various drop spindles.

Loom	Spinning	Gudrun	Weaving
Kaðlín	Kaðlín weaving	Gudrun	Kaðlín

Finally there were the three "single" centers. Ketill, Ragnarr, and Grimbold. Here are some photos of their areas. It is interesting that although Ragnarr lifted a chainmail shirt over his head perhaps a half a million times over the weekend helping other people try it on no-one seems to have gotten a picture of it....

Grimbold carving	Ketill lecturing	Ragnarr	Ketill game
Ragnarr tafl	More tafl	Grimbold carving	Ragnarr teaching
Grimbold & Kjarval	Couple's tafl	Ragnarr posing	Ragnarr carving
Kadja washing	Running