Environmental challenges for the medieval North Atlantic world

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A Bayesian approach to linking archaeological, paleoenvironmental and documentary datasets relating to the settlement of Iceland (Landnám)

YesIcelandic settlement (Landnám) period farmsteads offer opportunities to explore the nature and timing of anthropogenic activities and environmental impacts of the first Holocene farming communities. We employ Bayesian statistical modelling of archaeological, paleoenvironmental and documentary datasets to present a framework for improving chronological robustness of archaeological events. Specifically, we discuss events relevant to the farm Hrísbrú, an initial and complex settlement site in southwest Iceland. We demonstrate that tephra layers are key in constraining reliable chronologies, especially when combined with related datasets and treated in a Bayesian framework. The work presented here confirms earlier interpretations of the chronology of the site while providing increased confidence in the robustness of the chronology. Most importantly, integrated modelling of AMS radiocarbon dates on Hordeum vulgare grains, palynological data, documented evidence from textual records and typologically diagnostic artefacts yield increased dating reliability. The analysis has also shown that AMS radiocarbon dates on bone collagen need further scrutiny. Specifically for the Hrísbrú farm, first anthropogenic footprint palynomorph taxa are estimated to around AD 830–881 (at 95.4% confidence level), most likely before the tephra fall out of AD 877 ± 1 (the Landnám tephra layer), demonstrating the use of arable fields before the first known structures were built at Hrísbrú (AD 874–951) and prior to the conventionally accepted date of the settlement of Iceland. Finally, we highlight the importance of considering multidisciplinary factors for other archaeological and paleoecological studies of early farming communities of previously uninhabited island areas

Sub-surface geology and velocity structure of the Krafla high temperature geothermal field, Iceland : Integrated ditch cuttings, wireline and zero offset vertical seismic profile analysis

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement No. 608553 (Project IMAGE). The VMAPP project run by VBPR, DougalEARTH Ltd. and TGS also contributed funding to the borehole characterization of the K-18 borehole. Landsvirkun is acknowledged for their effort and assistance in this work and in particular for allowing the use of the data from well K-18. We further acknowledge the support from the Research Council of Norway through its Centres of Excellence funding scheme, project 22372 (SP and DAJ).Peer reviewedPostprin

Environmental change around the time of the Norse settlement of Iceland

Iceland was settled in the 1ate 9th century AD by Scandinavian (Norse) peoples, popularly known as the Vikings. The principal aims of this study have been to investigate the floristic landscapes in existence at the time of settlement and the impact that Norse colonisation had upon the vegetation. The focal period is AD 500-1500. Three main study areas were selected, Ketilsstaðir in Mýrdalur and Stóra-Mörk in Eyjafjöll, both in southern Iceland, and Reykholtsdalur in western Iceland. Four detailed palynological profiles are presented. The main study tool is high-resolution pollen analysis, supplemented by stratigraphic analysis consisting especially of organic content measurement and magnetic susceptibility. The determination of chronologies has been greatly facilitated by tephrochronology. In Reykholtsdalur, more distant from much volcanic activity, a combination of tephrochronology and radiocarbon dating had to be applied. This study has revealed that the landscapes at the time of settlement were perhaps more varied than commonly perceived. The areas in which the Ketilsstaðir farm was established were without woodlands before AD 870 and remained so. In these open landscapes, the impact of settlement on vegetation was minimal, and major changes in the development of vegetation were driven by volcanic activity as much as land-use. The wooded landscapes in which the farms at Stóra-Mörk and Reykholt in Reykholtsdalur were established reacted differently to the arrival of humans. Around the farms, the woodland soon retreated as landscapes became increasingly open, and taxa common in meadows and pastures became increasingly dominant. Further away from farms, woodland lingered into late medieval times. The pollen analysis of lake sediments from Breiðavatn, ca. 2 km from Reykholt, has revealed that despite a minimal decrease in the pollen of Betula pubescens soon after settlement, woodland was able to thrive until between AD 1150-1300.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Tjáningarfrelsi, friðhelgi einkalífs og Internetið: álitamál vegna efnisbirtinga á Internetinu

Meginviðfangsefni ritgerðar þessarar er að leitast við að kanna hver lögfræðileg staða Internetsins er og hvaða reglur gilda um notkun þess. Tæknilegar framfarir og allt umhverfi Internetsins hafa á síðasta áratugum stökkbreyst með svo miklum hraða, að upplýsingalöggjöf og annað regluverk sem stýra ætti notkuninni hefur á vissum sviðum setið eftir, ekki síður hér á Íslandi en annar staðar. Lögjöfnun hefur verið beitt í dómaframkvæmd til að afmarka skorðurnar sem tækninni eru settar en segja má, með hliðsjón af stóraukinni notkun Internetsins til ýmissa athafna, að notendunum sjálfum sé tæpast ljóst hvað má og hvað ekki. Hér verður fjallað um tjáningarfrelsi og friðhelgi einkalífs og takmarkanir á hvoru tveggja, farið verður í sögu þeirra lauslega og skoðaður lagalegur grunnur þeirra. Þá er fjallað um Internetið, vandkvæðin við að skilgreina það og gerð grein fyrir samspili þess við fjölmiðlalöggjöf hér á landi. Efnistök á Internetinu eru skoðuð, velt er upp milliliðum þeim sem því fylgja; hatursáróður og klám á þessum vettvangi eru sérstaklega tekin fyrir, auk þess að athuga fleiri veigaminni þætti. Þá er umfjöllun um ærumeiðingar (fjölmæli) á Internetinu í víðum skilningi

Alþjóðafjárfestingasamningar, eignanám og þjóðnýtingar frá sjónarhóli þjóðaréttar

Verkefnið er opið nemendum og starfsfólki Háskólans á Akureyr

Arctic offshore oil and gas concerns: maritime law, sustainable development and human rights : a brief look at Iceland & Greenland

Arctic offshore oil and gas activities are increasing with an expeditious rate in the last years, oil and gas exploitations are on the rise and just recently Iceland joined the other eight states in preparing for these kinds of undertakings. The international legal framework is proving to be fragmented when it comes to dealing with these types of activities and potentially the environment of the Arctic is not being adequately safeguarded. Here the question of whether there are international standards for oil and gas exploitations in the Arctic as a whole or are there just general frameworks. The United Nation Convention on the Law of the Sea sits at the heart of the Regional cooperation as well as international standards is surveyed; a perspective is set on the impact some driving factors such as the economies of the Arctic from the non- renewable resource exploitations angle. Some light is shed on the term Sustainable Development and its connection to the non-renewable resource exploitation. But then a focus on the human factor in all these endeavours by discussing human rights and an attempt at a linkage of sustainable development with the international human rights framework is made. Where the right to development and the rights to a healthy environment are indeed a third generation of human rights and irrefutably intermingled with these types of resource use. An overview of Iceland and Greenland in the offshore oil and gas exploitations and comparison on various practical points of interest such as taxation and the differences in practise between the two countries

Landscape change in the Icelandic highland : A long-term record of the impacts of land use, climate and volcanism

Agriculture has been practiced in Iceland since settlement (landnam; AD 877). This has caused changes in vegetation communities, soil erosion, desertification and loss of carbon stocks. Little data exist regarding vegetation and ecosystems in the Icelandic highland before landnam and therefore the impact of land use over time is poorly understood. The objectives of the study are to examine the timing, nature and causes of land degradation in the highland of Northwest Iceland. Specifically, to determine the resilience of the pre-landnam highland environment to disturbances (i.e. climate cooling and volcanism) and whether land use pressure was of sufficient magnitude to facilitate ecosystem change. A sediment core was taken from the highland lake Galtabol. A chronology for the core was constructed using known tephra layers and radiocarbon dated plant macrofossils. Pollen analysis (vegetation), coprophilous fungal spores (proxy for grazing), and sediment properties (proxies for erosion) were used to provide a high-resolution, integrated vegetation and paleoenvironmental reconstruction. The pre-landnam environment showed resilience to climate cooling and repeated tephra fall. Soon after landnam the vegetation community changed and instability increased, indicated by changes in sediment properties. The pollen and spore record suggest introduction of grazing herbivores into the area after landnam. Following landnam, indicators of soil erosion appear in the sediment properties. Intensification of soil erosion occurred during the 17th century. The Galtabol record clearly demonstrates what can happen in landscapes without adequate management of natural resources and underestimation of landscape sensitivity. Introduction of land use resulted in changes in vegetation communities, loss of resilience and onset of increased soil erosion. Paleoenvironmental reconstructions may inform future decisions on management of the highland by providing baselines for natural variability in the pre-landmim environment

Lake sediment evidence for late-Holocene climate change and landscape erosion in western Iceland

Ecosystem variability must be assessed over a range of timescales in order to fully understand natural ecosystem processes. Long-term climate change, at millennial and centennial scales, is a major driver of natural ecosystem variability, but identifying evidence of past climate change is frequently confounded by human-induced impacts on the ecosystem. Iceland is a location where it is possible to separate natural from anthropogenic change in environmental archives, as the date of settlement is accepted to be around AD 874, prior to which the island was free from proven human impacts. We used a lake sediment core from Breiðavatn, near Reykholt, a major farm of the Norse period in western Iceland, to examine landscape development. A change in pollen concentration in the sediments, especially the decline in Betula, indicated initial landscape degradation immediately post-settlement, whereas the chironomid fauna and reconstructed temperatures were relatively complacent during this period. The pollen evidence is corroborated by 14C analyses, which indicate an increase in older carbon entering the lake, inferred to have been caused by increased erosion following settlement. Further decreases in Betula pollen occurred around AD 1300, pre-dating a drop in chironomid-inferred temperatures (CI-T) of ~1°C over 100–200 years. The CI-T reconstruction also shows a significant cooling after ~AD 1800, likely indicative of the coldest phase of the Little Ice Age. The evidence suggests that the chironomid record was relatively unaffected by the increased landscape degradation and hence reveals a temperature reconstruction independent of human impact