Avner Goldstein’s research interests focused primarily in the early medieval British Isles, especially questions around religious experiences, cognitive and physical landscapes, movement and migration, and cultural interactions. Avner utilized a mixture of both archaeological and textual sources to answer my questions. Avner’s thesis Multa per aequora: the Sea in Early Medieval Britain and Ireland looks at ideas and perceptions of the sea in early medieval thought and practice, from the end of Rome through the Viking Age, and how the sea might act as medium for both isolation and connection in this North Atlantic region. A particular look placed on attitudes toward the sea at the onset of the Viking Age in the late eighth century and throughout the ninth century, and additional questions include centred around frontier and urbanism. In other words, how does this period defined by its localisms open itself up to both new and old forms of connection and commonality? How do the same waves, winds, and rocks that together form the sea create very different coastal communities across Britain and Ireland in the early medieval period?
