Seth Brewington (CUNY) Sustainability and Resilience in the Norse North Atlantic: an Example from...

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Sustainability and resilience in the Norse North Atlantic

An example from the Faroe Islands

Seth D. Brewington___________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________

Graduate School and University Center, CUNY, New York

HERC Open Workshop 2012The Graduate Center, New York

15 October 2012

HERC

Source: http://mapsof.net/map/map-of-faroe-islands-in-europe

“Sheep Letter” (Seyðabrævið) (1298)

Source: Lund University Library; http://laurentius.ub.lu.se/volumes/Mh_15/14.html

Source: Ian Lawson

Source: http://www.maps-of-the-world.com/mappages/Faroe_Islands_map.htm

UJF excavation: 2003 – 2006 seasons

Photos: S Brewington

Undir Junkarinsfløtti (UJF) archaeofauna

UJF 0 UJF 1 UJF 2 UJF 3 Total

Domestic Mammals 20 144 362 761 1,287

Whales 5 6 89 14 114

Seals 0 1 13 9 23

Birds 194 3,192 7,600 14,497 25,483

Fish 492 6,473 1,190 2,718 10,873

Shellfish 678 1,212 7,864 12,151 21,905

NISP 1,389 11,028 17,118 30,150 59,685

Medium Terrestrial Mammal 60 280 914 2,207 3,461

Large Terrestrial Mammal 5 28 35 119 187

Unidentified Fragments 368 1,586 3,109 6,645 11,708

TNF 1,822 12,922 21,176 39,121 75,041

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

UJF 0 UJF 1 UJF 2 UJF 3

% N

ISP

Total UJF Archaeofauna

Domestic Mammals Whales Seals Birds Fish Shellfish

Domesticates

Mollusk

Fish

Seabird

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

% N

ISP

Domestic Mammals Cetacea Seals Birds Fish Mollusca Caribou Other Mammals

Relative proportion of wild resources

Norway Iceland Iceland GreenlandFaroes Faroes Faroes

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

UJF 0 UJF 1 UJF 2 UJF 3

% N

ISP

Total UJF Archaeofauna

Domestic Mammals Whales Seals Birds Fish Shellfish

Mollusk

Fish

Seabird

Domesticates

Source: http://www.maps-of-the-world.com/mappages/Faroe_Islands_map.htm

Argisbrekka

Acknowledgements

Símun Arge (Føroya Fornminnissavn)Dr Thomas McGovern (Hunter College, CUNY)Dr Sophia Perdikaris (Brooklyn College, CUNY)Dr Andrew Dugmore (University of Edinburgh)Dr Mike Church (Durham University)Dr Julie Bond (University of Bradford)Stephen Dockrill (University of Bradford)Helgi Michelsen (Føroya Fornminnissavn)Dorete Bloch (Føroya Náttúrugripasavn) Special thanks are also due the people of Sandur for their enthusiastic support of the

excavations at Undir Junkarinsfløtti This research was made possible by the generous support of the National Science

Foundation’s “Arctic Social Sciences Program,” the Leverhulme Trust’s “Landscapes Circum Landnám” project, the “Heart of the Atlantic” project, and the PSC-CUNY grants program.