Elizabeth Pierce

Elizabeth Pierce was a journalist before pursuing her master's and Ph.D. in archaeology from the University of Glasgow, Scotland. The main focus of her doctoral research was on the material culture of the Norse in the North Atlantic region.

Since then, Elizabeth has taught all levels of university courses on the Vikings at institutions in the U.S., Canada and Scotland, and has worked on archaeological excavations in Iceland and Scotland. Through her research into the archaeology of the north, she has also become interested in human adaptations to life in higher latitudes, including how this influenced the experiences and successes of polar explorers in the Arctic and Antarctic. She recently co-edited a volume of new Viking research in Scotland, and her current research focuses on the Scandinavian presence in eastern Scotland.

For the past decade, she has worked as a lecturer on expedition ships in the polar regions and northern Europe. When not working on ships in cold places, she prefers to live in cold places.