George Hambrecht

(City University of New York)

Gavin Lucas

(University of Iceland)

Ecodynamics of Modernity &Vulnerability in the Early Modern

World

Environmental Historical ArchaeologyArchaeobotany,

Archaeoentomology, Geoarchaeology, Zooarchaeology

Environmental reconstruction

Widespread climate impact

Widespread human economic impact

Local + regional

Early Modern Iceland

Early Modern Archaeological Sites

Reykj av ík .

Finnbogastaðir Svalbarð

Stóraborg

Skálholt

DowntownAðalstrætiTjarnagata 3cEnvironsBessastaðirViðeyNesstofa

Reykholt

Miðbær on Flatey

Hornbrekka

Lakagigar – Famine of the Mist

Early Modern Iceland – hostile geology

Catastrophe in Iceland but effects elsewhere as well?

Other unpleasant parts of 18th century Iceland

An ossified society? Dominated by a landowning

farming class who created legal barriers to reform

Short-term tenancy + primitive agriculture

Lack of fencingLack of plowsLack of fertilizer

Restriction on Fishing Laws against numbers of

hooks per line + number of oars allowed (keeping the boats small)

The early modern Icelandic ‘vulnerability + rigidity’ narrativeEarly modern Iceland as a

static society in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Trapped in a medieval mindset & overwhelmed by natural disaster and oppressive elites

‘obvious’ solutions to their economic problems ignored- labor mis-allocated (cows not fish)

‘Prisoners of Culture’Rigidity trap? Poverty trap?

‘Obvious’ solutions?Enlightenment

criticismsLack of

Agricultural improvement

Lack of intensified fishing projects

Underdeveloped wool production

The view from ArchaeologyRegional and local

adaptationMarine resources

increase inland-Skutustadir

When you have sea-ice – have seal for dinner….Svalbard

Poor but entrepreneurial fisher-farmers at Finnbogastadir

Centers of Rigidity?Two Bishops manors at

Holar (N) and Skalholt (S) founded ca 1100 AD

Medieval institutions with long histories

MAJOR land owners, esp. of prime grazing land

Inland sites with little direct access to the sea- all about pastures and cattle.

Elite Agricultural improvementAttempts at barley

growing in the late 17th century at Skalholt

Literacy and International contacts

Bishop’s (hornless) cows a novel more

‘modern’ look?Enlightenment sense

of the plasticity of nature

Skalholt: excavations 2002-07 A changing ‘habitus’

Zooarchaeology Beef production Dairy Farming

Architectural change Modernized gable s “Street like” central axis Planned village like lay out

Literacy- printing press Imported ceramics, fruit, wine Massive place based investment

in landesque capital and ideology

But: t he bishop/cathedral move to Reykjavik after a major earthquake in 1784

Skalholt to Reykjavik : Cows to FishCameralist political-

economicsPaternalisticMarket production

Industrial stimulusWeaving companyCommercial fish

processingProvisioning of

workersAdministrative center

in 1786

Skalholt to Reykjavik: Concentric to Polycentric Settlement spaces

Iceland today2007 UN report ranks

Iceland top for best quality of life on the planet (in the subarctic too!).

190,000 of 300,000 live in greater Reykjavik

Imported Kiwi Fruit + Banking Disaster……

The story continues, but not as total tragedy

Different data – different storyHistorical

Archaeology reveals a society with great resilience in the face of exceptionally bad climatic and environmental conditions

Rigidity trap?- or backloop beginning?

Early Modern Archaeology & Global Environmental History: Challenging Simple Stories TogetherMaterial culture + the participants

voiceHigh resolution environmental dataLocal to regional to global scaleLongue durée and human life spansMobilizing the Ecodynamics of

Modernity for Sustainability

CUNY Human Ecodynamics Research Center (HERC)

www.nabohome.org, www.gheahome.org