Dark Ages Re-Creation Company
Following the success of last year's presentation, DARC received an invitation
to come back for a second display at the Haffenreffer
Museum at Brown University. This time
we made time for sight seeing, including a look at the Newport tower, which
used to be reputed to be built by "Vikings". Thankfully, that theory
has been disproven. The newest local theories that we heard were divided between
drugs and the "templar" theory. It's hard to tell which theory is funnier.
This year's exhibit was bigger than last year. We added two more to the crew, and Brown added more lectures. Kevin Smith (Haffenreffer Museum, Brown University) spoke again on Norse culture, Dr. Michèle Hayeur Smith (Rhode Island School of Design) spoke about dress & adornment, Dr. Neil Price (Uppsala University, Sweden) spoke on sorcery in the Viking Age, Dr. Geoffrey Russom (Brown University) spoke on sport and status, and DARC's own Darrell Markewitz spoke on re-creating the Norse world. In addition, there were Icelandic horses and sheep on site.
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The down side to this year was Hurricane Ivan, who decided to spawn off a really
nasty little storm on Saturday. We moved the presentations inside but that meant
that some of our people couldn't display their primary skills - metal smithing,
bronze casting, cooking and dyeing. Thankfully, Sunday's weather, although a
tad chilly, was clear and sunny. The crowds just bloomed and we could all go
back to the camp, where we function best. It's a good thing when a museum sees
almost 10 times their usual weekend attendance in a single day!
Some of the flyers from that day
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We were again joined in this presentation by Michéle Hayeur Smith, a
friend we had met at the Viking Millenium Conference in Newfoundland in 2000.
Michele donned the role of Thorgrimma, a metalsmith.
Press coverage for this presentation is available here.
The Haffenreffer website for this presentation is available here.
Unn and Bera, taking care of the cook and dye fires.
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Grimbold carving, and caring for his little one.
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Ragnarr's trade and try-on space, some indoor photos, and more
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Bronze-casting area.
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Ketill and the blacksmith's space.
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A look around the grounds.
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