Fuel resource utilisation in landscapes of settlement

Abstract

One little understood aspect of the settlement and colonisation of Iceland is fuel resource use. In this paper we identify fuel ash residues from temporally constrained middens at two contrasting settlement age sites in Mývatnssveit, northern Iceland, one high status, the other low status and ultimately abandoned. Fuel residues derived from experimental combustion of historically defined fuel resources are used to provide control for thin section micromorphology and complementary image analyses of fuel residue materials found in the midden deposits. The results suggest that fuel resources utilised at the time of settlement were for both low temperature and high temperature use, and included a mix of birch and willow wood, peat, mineral-based turf and cow dung. There are, however, marked variations in the mix of fuel resources utilised at the two sites. This is considered to reflect social regulation of fuel resources and socially driven changes to local and regional environments that may have contributed to the success or failure of early settlement sites in Iceland.

Sourcing fire ash on archaeological sites in the Western and Northern Isles of Scotland, using mineral magnetism

“…Fuel procurement is an important research question within Atlantic Scotland (Armit, 1996;Dickson, 1998;Carter, 1998) and the wider North Atlantic (Simpson et al, 2003). Timber would have been a valued resource, as tree cover throughout the region was greatly reduced by the Iron Age (Birks, 1994;Fossit, 1996;Brayshay and Edwards, 1996;Lomax, 1997).…”

Human Diet and Subsistence Patterns in Norse Greenland AD C.980—AD c. 1450: Archaeological interpretations

“…The slides for soil micromorphological analysis were prepared following the methodology outlined by Simpson et al (2003). Pollen samples were prepared using standard procedures (Moore et al, 1991).…”

“…3) Soil micromorphological analysis is being undertaken by Professor Ian Simpson's team at the University of Stirling and is addressing a number of key issues of site formation processes and fuel procurement strategies, building on methodologies and research undertaken in Greenland (Adderley and Simpson, 2006) and within the wider North Atlantic (Simpson et al, 2003). 4) Pollen analysis is on-going on the column sample through the midden layers within Trench 4 and is being analysed by Dr. Ed Schofield at the University of Aberdeen.…”

“…Embedded within this material are indicators of domestic waste deposition including bone fragments and, in the lower parts of the stratigraphy, phosphorus rich vivianite resulting from the decomposition and recrystalisation of bone material in wet, reducing conditions. Fuel residues are also evident as wood charcoal and rubified coarse mineral grains indicative of turf combustion (Simpson et al, 2003). This mix of turf, and livestock, fuel and food wastes is typical of occupational debris associated with a functioning Norse domestic settlement in different areas of the north Atlantic region.…”

Micromorphology of archaeological deposits

“…Estas questões estão principalmente relacionadas à identificação e caracterização de pisos de ocupação vinculados a diversas atividades dentro dos sítios (Gé et al 1993;Goldberg;Whitbread 1993;Langohr 1999;Courty 2001;MacPhail et al 2004), ao reconhecimento de atividades agrícolas (MacPhail et al 1990a) ou pesqueiras (Simpson et al 2000), aos processos de formação de sítio Barret 1996;Matthews et al 1997;Simpson et al 1999;Creemengs 2005), às mudanças paleoambientais registradas nos sedimentos arqueológicos (Karkanas 2002), aos tipos de combustíveis utilizados nos depósitos (Simpson et al 2003), entre outros diversos temas de estudo.…”