1 Wave? What wave? Testing for impact of the Garth tsunami 2 (3500 cal BCE) on Neolithic costal settlements in Western Norway 3 Nielsen, Svein Vatsvåg* 4 *Corresponding author: mail:
[email protected], mobile: +47 48227688, postal 5 address: Postboks 6762 St Olavs plass, 0130 Oslo. 6 Abstract 7 This paper evaluates to what extent archaeological settlement sites from the Norwegian west 8 coast exhibit traces of a paleotsunami impact in the mid-4th mill BCE. The timing of the Garth 9 tsunami (⁓3500 cal BCE), as inferred from lake basins in Eastern Shetland and in Western 10 Norway, coincides with the Early-Middle Neolithic transition in the Western Norwegian 11 chronology. Before and after the Garth tsunami, the west coast of Norway was populated by 12 hunter-fisher-gatherers highly adapted to a marine environment. If the Garth tsunami had a 13 direct impact on coastal settlements, the event could become an important mediating factor 14 for research on the Early-Middle Neolithic transition in this region. The paper investigates 15 radiocarbon dates and stratigraphic evidence from 15 coastal settlement sites. It applies 16 Bayesian sequence calculation to test for congruence between site activity phases and the 17 tsunami event, and a Monte Carlo based frequency analysis to test for population fluctuations. 18 Results from these analyses do not support the hypothesis of a catastrophic impact on the 19 hunter-fisher-gatherer population in Western Norway. 20 Key words 21 Garth tsunami; hunter-fisher-gatherers; Bayesian statistics; summed probability densities 22 1 Introduction 23 How did prehistoric hunter-fisher-gatherers react to tsunamis, and can archaeology test the 24 level of catastrophe of known paleotsunamis? This paper explores vulnerability and resilience 25 among prehistoric hunter-fisher-gatherers in face of a sudden and potentially catastrophic 26 geological event.