Jesse Byock
(Professor)
Royce Hall 212. Tel.: (310) 825-0671. Fax: (310) 825-9754. byock@humnet.ucla.edu
Professor Byock completed his doctorate at Harvard University, following studies at the Sorbonne, Georgetown University Law School, the University of Iceland, and the University of Lund.
Professor Byock teaches in the areas of Viking history and archaeology, early Icelandic society, medieval feuds, and Old Norse saga literature. These texts are a key source of social-historical and legal information about northern European medieval culture. They are also the major source of mythical and heroic lore, containing crucial information about the Norse gods.
An archaeologist, Jesse Byock directs the Mosfell Archaeological Project and is a Professor at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology focusing on Viking Archaeology. He has published widely on the society, archaeology, literature, and history of medieval Scandinavia with writings translated into numerous languages. Books include Feud in the Icelandic Saga and Medieval Iceland with UC Press; Viking Age Iceland, Prose Edda, Saga of the Volsungs, Saga of King Hrolf Kraki with Penguin; Grettir’s Saga with Oxford; and Islande des Vikings (Flammarion). Articles include: "Governmental Order in Early Medieval Iceland," "Modern Nationalism and the Medieval Sagas," “Egil’s Bones” in Scientific American (analyzing the nature of an important Viking grave), and “A Viking-Age Valley in Iceland” in Medieval Archaeology.
For a brief look at some of Professor Byock's work, visit
UCLA Viking Pages
Mosfell Valley (click "Áfram")
The Mosfell Archaeological Project
Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA