ARCH 1870 Environmental Archaeology, Fall 2015 Tuesday and Thursday 1:00-2:20 pm, Location: Rhode Island Hall 108 Instructor: Brett Kaufman [email protected] ARCH 1870 Environmental Archaeology Brett Kaufman Office Hours: Tuesday, 2:30-4:30 pm Rhode Island Hall 007 This presentation and the images within are for educational purposes only, and are not to be distributed. Cultural Ecology and Political Economy of the North Atlantic Viking Islands (Iceland and Greenland) Cultural Background Political Economy and Cultural Ecology of Viking Iceland, and Review of Byock 2001 Paleoenvironment and Subsistence Practices Foundation and Decline of Viking Age Greenland, and Review of Dugmore et al. 2012 Cultural Background Chronology Settlement Period Phase, 870-930 AD Development of the Icelandic Free State Phase, 930-1150 AD Big Chieftain Phase, 1150-1262 AD End of Free State, 1262-1944 AD Kellogg and Smiley 2001 In 860 AD, Harald Fairhair became the first king of Norway. Until this point, autonomous Norse landowning chieftains vied for property and followers and settled their disputes at local legal assemblies (things). In the process of King Harald’s formation of a monarchic state, several landowners and holders of noble titles found themselves at odds with the new king. Instead of capitulating or standing up to an army, they took their chances with their households and migrated to Iceland and several other islands such as the Faroes, Hebrides, Shetlands, and Orkneys. Norse maritime routes and settlement (Byock 2001) The Viking Age is dated from around 800-1100 AD. Viking society converted in waves from the Norse religion (Odin, Thor, Freyja, elves), to Christianity (King (St.) Olaf in Norway began this process), however many Norse religious traditions persist today such as diverting infrastructure construction away from places believed to be elf habitat. After conversion, the writing system of the Norse shifted from runes to sheepskin parchment (vellum) text. The descendants of early Vikings in Iceland began writing down family histories (sagas). https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/M%C3%B6%C3%B0ruvallab%C3%B3k_f13r.jpg Historical evidence comes from dozens of sagas, but despite comprising one of the largest corpora of Medieval Europe these were largely ignored until recently due to the fact that they were written in Old Icelandic, an uncommon language of scholarship. From the Norwegian side of things, we have the Heimskringla, or the History of the Kings of Norway (however, this was written by Icelander Snorri Sturluson). But to a certain extent, we have both what can be considered insider ethnohistorical documents outlining contemporary and related chieftain and state level societies. Knörr Viking Age merchant vessel (left, Byock 2001); warships in naval battle formation (right, Hollander 1991 ) Data bias: What does this leave us in the way of reliable historical data? In essence, the sagas are family histories written in the 13th century about their 10th century ancestors, and were at times likely used to bolster 13th century property claims or other ways to improve the standing of the lineage. That being said, much of the data regarding subsistence patterns, available resources, and sociopolitical organization can be gleaned “between the lines.” Furthermore, until recently Icelandic archaeologists largely ignored the historical texts even though many characters are listed in land registry sources such as the landnamabok. It was foreign scholars who fostered a shift toward including the data. Have we seen anything like this before? Land titles as recounted by the Book of Settlements in Iceland (Byock 2001) Political Economy and Cultural Ecology of Viking Age Iceland and Greenland, and Review of Byock 2001 Byock mentions that Iceland “is a fascinating social laboratory.” This is because it is seen as a prime example for the “chiefdom” level of sociopolitical organization. Viking Iceland was characterized by a lack of a centralized top- down approach, and society was held together instead by respect for law and social consensus. It is a rare instance of colonization that does not involve cultural interaction between two previously unfamiliar groups. Viking chieftain longhouse and conversion-era church, Mosfell, Iceland (Byock and Zori 2013) Iceland is also an excellent ecological laboratory, because it involved the transplantation of the European Iron Age basket of animal husbandry and limited cereal agriculture to the environmental fringe of where these economic practices could thrive. As we read about, Greenland was the extreme endpoint of this fringe; the Norse agro-technological bundle was eventually unable to withstand climatic fluctuation. Reconstruction of Mosfell longhouse (Byock and Zori 2013) Byock calls the shift from Norwegian statehood to Icelandic chiefdom a “devolution,” and if we follow Service’s model strictly it is, but in light of what we have learned about “reversions” or “Dark Ages” it may be classified anthropologically more accurately as a culturally-driven adaptation. Elites that had been disenfranchised by a new ideological system (kingship) were forced to renegotiate their standing in the hierarchy and opted for migration. Excavations of the chiefly longhouse at Mosfell (Byock and Zori 2013) Adapting the Norwegian system of Things (assemblies) but without an executive power, the Althing of Iceland became Europe’s earliest parliament. It had a well-defined body of law, and was divided into four regions. The highest official position was that of Lawspeaker, who tended to be the most respected judicial authority and who could recount the finer points of law for cases brought to the Althing. http://www.thingsites.com/assets/images/enlargeable/thing-sites/iceland/Thingvellir%2011.jpg Law Rock of the Althing Individual chieftains (godi) and their free farmer allies (thingmenn) had to choose between compromise and violence. The sagas consistently relate that if a contentious legal claim would be brought to the Althing, both sides would try to convince as many thingmenn as possible to ride with them, thereby increasing their odds of forcing a compromise due to the threat of violence. Man in his mid-40s buried at Mosfell, died from axe or sword wound to the head, radiocarbon dated to saga age, ~950-1025 AD (Byock and Zori 2013) If a verdict was deemed to be unfair, the loser could preemptively or later appeal through a challenging the opponent to a duel, winner take all. From a resource acquisition perspective, this served as a levelling mechanism to greed or abuse of legal precedent, but also shows that those who could not muster allies had diminished access to justice in the eyes of society. After conversion to Christianity, the function of the chieftains remained much the same, with priestly as well as political responsibilities. (Byock and Zori 2013) Failure to follow the law could result in outlaw status, at which point the outlaw could be killed with impunity. Looking at it another way, the enforcement of the law was left to civilians, without any institutional police or military force. http://blog.parrikar.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/hlidarendi-1.jpg Gunnar Hámundarson’s homestead at Hlíðarendi with modern church For those of you wanting to work in Iceland… Paleoenvironment and Subsistence Practices Iceland is a volcanic island. The environment is subarctic, with much less timber than Norway meaning most wood had to be imported, in addition to most metal (aside from low grade bog iron ore) and other durable goods. The only habitable zones were the coast and immediate interior, although ritual sacrifice activity is recorded in mountain caves. Caught between the warm North Atlantic Drift and the East Greenland polar current, temperature and weather are often unstable. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Sn%C3%A6fellsj%C3%B6kull_in_the_Morning_(7622876302).jpg Snæfellskjökull volcano There are 200 volcanoes in Iceland, and the soil surface cover sits on top of basaltic bedrock. Abundant moss and lichen lent itself to the construction of turf housing, which served as a water-resistant insulator and also provided sheep the ability to graze on the https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Glaumbaer.jpg roof. Well-built turf houses could last for several generations, and are partially in use today. https://guidetoiceland.is/image/194997/x/0/bustarfell-turf-house-in-east-iceland-1.jpg The rough winters forced Icelanders to live inside for more than half of the year, which is one of the reasons why they developed such a rich literary tradition (time to write). The volcanic ecology provided more than 250 hot springs, which allowed people to wash themselves and their clothes, boil and steam foods, and also to socialize outdoors in what at times was an otherwise inhospitable environment. https://thetragiclifeoffrank.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/bluelagoon2.jpg Field mice, arctic foxes, and the occasional stray polar bear were the indigenous mammal life before Norse settlement. The settlers brought dogs, cats, pigs, goats, sheep, cattle, horses (northern variety breed versus later Arabian horses on European mainland), as well as lice, fleas, and dung beetles. The lack of natural predators was a boon to animal husbandry, but within a hundred years of unchecked herd expansion goats and pigs destroyed the grasslands and by 1000 only sheep and cattle were husbanded. It is likely that walrus went extinct soon following Norse settlement. http://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-100415-iceland-volcano/ss-100417-iceland-07.ss_full.jpg Following a severe reduction in island biomass concomitant with Norse settlement, productive decline was compounded as the climate began to become cooler in the 13th century. By the 16th century cereal agriculture became impossible (Dugmore et al. 2012), and lasted this way through the Little Ice Age into the early 18th century. Greenland ice core temperature history as measured through thermally equilibrated borehole – relative current temperature of ice is used to reconstruct paleotemperature (Dahl-Jensen et al.