Bioarchaeology and Cod Fisheries: A New Source of Evidence

Archaeological excavations in the North Atlantic basin over the past two decades have recovered large amounts of fishbones from datable deposits extending back over 8000 years in some areas. Coverage of the last 1000 years (with particular emphasis on the climatic cooling of the “Little Ice Age”) is increasingly complete. Recent research makes it possible to reconstruct live lengths from commonly recovered fishbone elements. Preliminary findings indicate that cod of 1 to 1.5 m were being regularly taken in the eleventh to nineteenth centuries throughout the North Atlantic. Changes in fish size and mix of species taken probably reflect technological as well as biological variables. The development of commercial fisheries and the interaction of climate are major research concerns of the North Atlantic Biocultural Organization (NABO), and recent NABO data from Iceland, Greenland, and northern Norway are reported here. Both archaeology and fisheries science may benefit from more active collaboration toward a better integration of a growing body of bioarchaeological evidence with existing documentary and statistical records

A Fishing Farm in the West Fjords of Iceland: A Preliminary Report of the Archaeofauna from Gjögur

The date for the onset of full scale commercial fisheries in Iceland remains somewhat controversial, but thus far the earliest radiocarbon dated seasonal fishing station (11th- 13th century) is in NW Iceland’s Strandasýsla County at Akurvík. This paper presents a preliminary report of the ongoing analysis of the large archaeofauna from the farm mound at Gjögur, 3 km from Akurvík, places the site of Gjögur in the wider context of the NW region of Iceland by comparing the site with the Akurvík archaeofauna, and outlines new methodologies of reconstructing live fish size and age based on recovered fish bones. Although the Akurvík site provides a first zooarchaeological look at a Medieval fishing station, it is the site of Gjögur that would have controlled and integrated Akurvík’s catches into the larger regional arena of Northern Iceland, as well as using fishing to aid the economy of Gjögur itself

What is it all for? Archaeology and Global Change Research

There are a great many good reasons to do archaeology, ranging from simple curiosity about the unknown past to the equally simple basic pleasure of finding cool old stuff while camping out with friends. However, this century has seen many of us engaging with the big questions and grand challenges of using archaeology to collaborate with a growing range of people, institutions, disciplines, and nationalities in the acronym-rich world of Global Change research

Burning Libraries: A Community Response

Archaeology is increasingly seen as a global change science as well as a provider of community heritage resources. Rapid climate change is destroying archaeological sites at an unprecedented rate, and community- based response is urgently needed

Coping with Hard Times in NW Iceland: Zooarchaeology, History, and Landscape Archaeology at Finnbogastaðir in the 18th Century

During a cooperative archaeological project in NW Iceland (Strandasýsla) involving the Icelandic National Museum and Hunter College of the City University of New York.1990 season, a small rescue excavation at the site of Finnbogastaðir generated a quantifiable collection of animal bones dating to the early modern period, mainly to the 18th century. The 18th c was a period of hardship in much of Iceland, with widespread tenantry, adverse climate, and degradation of many terrestrial landscapes posing severe challenges to poor farmers- perhaps most intensely in the Vestfirðir. The animal bone collection from Finnbogastaðir reflects a multi-stranded subsistence economy involving seals, birds, and fish as well as domestic stock. Reconstruction of the fishing pattern indicates a mixed strategy that probably produced some stockfish for local exchange or for export but was mainly aimed at household provisioning. The nearly contemporary Jarðabók land register provides a direct comparison to the documentary record, and ongoing site survey and excavation in the NW provides a broader landscape/seascape perspective on the archaeofauna and documents. This small rescue investigation thus serves to illustrate the potential for an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to Iceland’s past, including periods with extensive documentary resources

A catalogue of bird bones: an exercise in semantic web practice

The vast databases of natural history collections are increasingly being made accessible through the internet. The challenge is to place this data in a wider context that may reach beyond the interests of scholars only. The North Atlantic Biocultural Organization and Icelandic Institute of Natural History are jointly developing a web based catalogue of bird bones, comprising digital images, and related information from the museum database. Linking the bird bone catalogue with the semantic web developed by STERNA will integrate the bird bone catalogue with diverse information on birds that is directed towards the general public

Fuel resource utilisation in landscapes of settlement

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

An Interim Report of a Viking-Age & Medieval Archaeofauna from Undir Junkarinsfløtti, Sandoy, Faroe Islands

Cooperative international excavations at the site of Undir Junkarinsfløtti (27020) in the village of Sandur on the island of Sandoy, Faroe Islands in May 2003 recovered a stratified bone - rich midden deposit extending from the Viking Age to the early medieval period. The animal bone collection contains domestic mammals (cattle, sheep, dog, goat, and pig) and substantial amounts of fish (mainly cod), birds (mainly puffin and guillemot), and shellfish (mainly limpet). While the current collection has the archaeological limitations inherent in column samples, it suggests persistence of substantial pig keeping into the 13th c, and strongly indicates a sustainable exploitation of sea bird colonies as well as some preparation of preserved fish on site. The site has considerable potential for shedding light on early Faroese economy and the environmental impact of the local Viking age settlers

Deciphering diet and monitoring movement: multiple stable isotope analysis of the Viking Age settlement at Hofstaðir, Lake Mývatn, Iceland

Objectives: A previous multi-isotope study of archaeological faunal samples from Skútustaðir, an early Viking age settlement on the southern shores of Lake Mývatn in north-east Iceland, demonstrated that there are clear differences in δ34S stable isotope values between animals deriving their dietary protein from terrestrial, freshwater, and marine reservoirs. The aim of this study was to use this information to more accurately determine the diet of humans excavated from a nearby late Viking age churchyard. Materials and Methods: δ13C, δ15N, and δ34S analyses were undertaken on terrestrial animal (n = 39) and human (n = 46) bone collagen from Hofstaðir, a high-status Viking-period farmstead ∼10 km north-west of Skútustaðir. Results: δ34S values for Hofstaðir herbivores were ∼6‰ higher relative to those from Skútustaðir (δ34S: 11.4 ± 2.3‰ versus 5.6 ± 2.8‰), while human δ13C, δ15N, and δ34S values were broad ranging (−20.2‰ to −17.3‰, 7.4‰ to 12.3‰, and 5.5‰ to 14.9‰, respectively). Discussion: Results suggest that the baseline δ34S value for the Mývatn region is higher than previously predicted due to a possible sea-spray effect, but the massive deposition of Tanytarsus gracilentus (midges) (δ34S: −3.9‰) in the soil in the immediate vicinity of the lake is potentially lowering this value. Several terrestrial herbivores displayed higher bone collagen δ34S values than their contemporaries, suggesting trade and/or movement of animals to the region from coastal areas. Broad ranging δ13C, δ15N, and δ34S values for humans suggest the population were consuming varied diets, while outliers within the dataset could conceivably have been migrants to the area

Land: Its Organisation and Management at Norse Hofstaðir

Land, its organisation and management as well as its intrinsic quality are little understood aspects of the settlement process in Iceland. Yet an understanding of the concept and significance of land is vital if we are to recognise the way in which environmental resources were used to create and maintain social structures, the role of management decisions in setting new directions of environmental change, and the adoption and adaptation of land management strategies to sustain food production. Organisation of land was needed to ensure the requirements of grazing domestic livestock (dominantly sheep, cattle and cows) and access to fuel resources were met in order to provide foundations for subsistence and local economies