Today's episode is brought to you by Yorvik Viking Center and the annual Yorvik Viking Festival, which takes place in York, UK.

As many of you know, the festival will be happening this year of 2019 in only a few weeks, and I encourage you all to follow

the link in the description below for more information. I, of course, will be attending the

festival, touring Yorvik Viking Center, and meeting up with some old friends across the pond.

One thing that really excites me about my upcoming trip to York is the ability to tour the Viking Center,

which is a totally immersive historical experience,

whereas you actually ride through a recreation of Viking Age York.

Again, please be sure to follow the link in the description for more information.

I hope to see you all at the Yorvik Viking Festival in just a few weeks. I'm I'm I'm

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I'm Hello and welcome to the history of Vikings.

Hello and welcome to the history of Vikings. Today I'm joined by Dr. Peter Addyman, British archaeologist and original director of York Archaeological Trust, the organization that led the Coppergate Dig of 1976 to 1981. Hello, Peter. Thank you so much for joining me today. During the Viking Age, the city of York in the United Kingdom was an important trading center, and much of the evidence for this was excavated during the Copper Gate Dig. But before we get into the Coppergate Dig and the exciting finds that were

excavated during that, can you tell us a little bit about the Viking history of York? I mean,

first and foremost, when and why did the Vikings come to York? Well, York was, I suppose,

the main town, as far as there were towns in those days days in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria.

That is the area of England that's north of the river Humber and in the eastern side of the country.

York had been here for a very long time.

It was founded by the Romans as a legionary fortress and

it became a colonial capital. And we have a wonderful source that actually describes it not

very far from the date when the Vikings first came here. There was a monastery here by that time

and it had a great scholar called Alcuin and he was headhunted by

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