Northern Islands, human error, and environmental degradation: A view of social and ecological change in the Medieval North Atlantic

McGovern, Thomas H.; Bigelow, Gerald F.; Amorosi, Thomas; Russell, Daniel

doi:10.1007/bf00888447

Cited by 88 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Associated with landnám activities of landscape clearance for settlement, domestic livestock grazing and fuel utilisation [33] is a dramatic decline in woodland cover seen in the palynological record [18]. This observed decline heralded the onset of historical environmental degradation in Iceland [31] and it is increasingly evident that an understanding of events at landnám is essential to explain later environmental changes [22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fuel resource utilisation in landscapes of settlement

Simpson¹,

Vésteinsson²,

Adderley³

et al. 2003

Journal of Archaeological Science

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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.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fuel resource utilisation in landscapes of settlement

Simpson¹,

Vésteinsson²,

Adderley³

et al. 2003

Journal of Archaeological Science

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“…Timber, never a prime resource in Greenland, became even scarcer during medieval times with over-harvesting and climatic cooling. This supposition is further borne out by historical records which indicate the Greenlanders made exploratory forays off the island in search of wood and even imported timber from Europe (McGovern, 1988;N~r l u n d , 1929). Driftwood was also so scarce that the Norse collected it during their summer trips to the northern hunting grounds; with Inuit populations moving further down the coast, even this source diminished over the centuries.…”

Section: Temporal and Spatial Variation In The North Atlanticmentioning

confidence: 92%

Palatine torus in the Greenlandic Norse

Halffman

Scott

Pedersen³

1992

American J Phys Anthropol

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Physical anthropologists have long been intrigued by the distinctive oral tori expressed by the medieval Norse populations of Iceland and Greenland. To assess the temporal and spatial variation of one form of oral tori, palatine torus, observations were made on all available Greenlandic Norse skeletons, as well as on samples of medieval Icelanders and Norwegians. In terms of temporal variation, 12th to 14th century (medieval) Greenlanders from the Eastern and Western settlements exhibited higher frequencies and more pronounced expressions of palatine torus compared with early 11th century Greenlanders. The early Greenlandic sample closely approximated the medieval Icelandic and Norwegian samples for total torus frequency, although the Norwegians exhibited the trait to a less pronounced degree. As degree of expression is the most distinctive aspect of torus variation among the Norse, some combination of environmental factors, including increased masticatory stress and chronic undernutrition, probably accounts for most of the difference between settlement period and medieval Greenlanders. Although palatine torus may be hereditary in part, environmental factors play a significant role in the expression of this trait.

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“…Iceland has lost an estimated 90 % of the forest and 40 % of the soil that was present at settlement (Arnalds 2001). There has been a sustained effort using the techniques of environmental archaeology as well as geography, paleoclimatology and history to understand the chronology of this impact and the dynamics behind it (Dugmore et al 2005a;Dugmore et al 2005b;McGovern et al 2007;McGovern et al 1988). Icelandic subsistence was until recently based on wool production, and fishing as will be discussed below.…”

Section: Chronology and Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

The First European Colonization of the North Atlantic

Hambrecht

2015

Historical Archaeologies of Capitalism

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Many centuries before Columbus, the Norse peoples of Scandinavia colonized parts of Western Europe as well as the Northern Atlantic islands: the Shetlands, the Orkneys, the Faroes, Iceland, Greenland, and for at least a few years, Newfoundland. This was part of a larger process whose eastern half effected what today is Russia and was at least in part a response to wider Eurasian phenomenon. This chapter will concentrate on the North Atlantic portion of this story with an emphasis on how the archaeology of the settlement period (c. 800-1000 CE), the medieval period (c. 1000-1500 CE), and the postmedieval period (c. 1500-1800) has altered older narratives that sought to explain this early medieval colonial effort as well as created new narratives. A number of key sites in each of the North Atlantic will be discussed and put into a larger archaeological and historical context. In terms of the content of this volume, this chapter will present an earlier colonial phenomenon that was driven by many of the same variables that affected the post-Columbian Americas such as the commodification of natural resources and long-range trade, elite sponsored colonization, and the maintenance of power in the face of novel and unfamiliar conditions. In conclusion, the chapter will discuss the archaeology of the influence of the post-Columbian world on these medieval North Atlantic colonies.

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Northern Islands, human error, and environmental degradation: A view of social and ecological change in the Medieval North Atlantic

Cited by 88 publications

References 22 publications

Fuel resource utilisation in landscapes of settlement

Fuel resource utilisation in landscapes of settlement

Palatine torus in the Greenlandic Norse

The First European Colonization of the North Atlantic

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