19
A Millennial Sustainability at the District Center farm of Skútustaðir N. Iceland Megan T. HICKS City University of New York, Ph.D. Program in Archaeology [email protected] CUNY HERC Open Corkshop in Sustainability Science and Education North Atlantic Biocultural Organization (nabohome.org), US National Science Foundation International Polar Year Archaeological Institute Iceland CUNY Northern Science and Education Center REU

Megan Hicks (CUNY) Millennial Scale Sustainability around Lake Mývatn Iceland

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Megan Hicks (CUNY) Millennial Scale Sustainability around Lake Mývatn Iceland

A Millennial Sustainability at the District Center farm ofSkútustaðir  N. Iceland

Megan T. HICKS City University of New York, Ph.D. Program in Archaeology

[email protected]

CUNY HERC Open Corkshop in Sustainability Science and Education

North Atlantic Biocultural Organization (nabohome.org), 

US National Science Foundation International Polar Year

ArchaeologicalInstitute Iceland

CUNY Northern 

Science and Education Center

REU

Page 2: Megan Hicks (CUNY) Millennial Scale Sustainability around Lake Mývatn Iceland

From McGovern et al 2007

Sites bandoned before 1300

Page 3: Megan Hicks (CUNY) Millennial Scale Sustainability around Lake Mývatn Iceland

Skútustaðir’s Main Farm Area

Historic Farm Mound

Framengjar (outer hayfields)

Mývatn’s major southern route

Arctic Char Fishing grounds

Eider duck habitat

Hay infields

Hay infields

Hay infields

Page 4: Megan Hicks (CUNY) Millennial Scale Sustainability around Lake Mývatn Iceland

E3

DG

E1&2

H

Excavation Areas: approximate locations

2008 E1 & 2, D and F2009 G and H2010 H and E32011 H

10 M

F

Top of farm Mound

Aerial Kite Photograph by Garðar Guðmundsson (FSI)

N

Page 5: Megan Hicks (CUNY) Millennial Scale Sustainability around Lake Mývatn Iceland

Skútustaðir Present Infield & Midden Excavation Area

Page 6: Megan Hicks (CUNY) Millennial Scale Sustainability around Lake Mývatn Iceland

Area G 

Profile by Edwald 2009, radiocarbon dates provided by SUERC

V1717

V1477

H1300H1300K1262

V940

V871

Page 7: Megan Hicks (CUNY) Millennial Scale Sustainability around Lake Mývatn Iceland

SkútustaðirTotal Number of  Fragments (TNF) and Number of Identified Specimens (NISP)(Hicks 2010)

Analysis began in 2009 and is ongoing. Results are preliminary. 

DATA from Hicks 2010

Zoo‐archaeology Preliminary Results

Page 8: Megan Hicks (CUNY) Millennial Scale Sustainability around Lake Mývatn Iceland

Caprine per Cattle : Myvatn Archaeofaunas (Brewington et al. 2004)

Increasing climate variability. Dugmore et al. 2012

13th c.

A greater focus on cows than other Mývatn farms? DATA from Hicks 2010

Page 9: Megan Hicks (CUNY) Millennial Scale Sustainability around Lake Mývatn Iceland

Hay Portioning Reports late 19th c through early 20th c.

Hay portioning reports in the Mývatn area apparently came into use after “catastrophic shortages” in the mid to late 1800’s

‐ The reports categorize hay and tally livestock

‐ Tracked which farmers might need support

‐ not all farmers complied with this practice at first

Hay Portioning Reports Show:• Individual level and community level 

decision making to manage risk• Landscape use• Livestock demography• Status differences

Supported by the Comparative Island Ecodynamics project lead by Thomas H. McGovern (National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs grant 1202692).

Example of a hay portioning report 1896

Page 10: Megan Hicks (CUNY) Millennial Scale Sustainability around Lake Mývatn Iceland

Species Proportions from 1882 Skútustadir District Hay Report

Cattle

Horses

Sheep

Cattle to sheep ratio at this time is 1:75

Page 11: Megan Hicks (CUNY) Millennial Scale Sustainability around Lake Mývatn Iceland

1,5 1,5 2 2 0 3 1 1 2 2 2 1 0,5 0,5 00 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 1 01 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0

80

26

8064

20

90

54 56

7460

85

2817 10 12

70

20

76

68

17

55

40 40

67

15

65

22

1213 12

32

12

22

0

4

0

23 18

20

30

30

5

00 0

8

2

6

4

2

3

3 3

5

6

7

3

12 1

0

50

100

150

200

250

Livestock Counts from Skutustaðir District Hay Report 1889

Horses

Wethers

Lambs

Ewes

Calves

Steer

Milk Cows

Sheep are the near total focus of early modern production

Ewes and lambs are the majority while wethers are more rare

Among cattle, milk cows outnumber steer and calves

Visible status differentiation between farms and farmers.

Page 12: Megan Hicks (CUNY) Millennial Scale Sustainability around Lake Mývatn Iceland

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

Hay Stores in Skútustadir district 1896measured in Vt. (1 Vt. = 80 pounds)

Outfield Hay

Infield Hay

Land tenure and resources-this hay report from 1896 shows the two farms richest in hay, border the framengjar or, “wet meadows”

Page 13: Megan Hicks (CUNY) Millennial Scale Sustainability around Lake Mývatn Iceland

IMPORTSColonial vs. Post‐industrial

Photographs by A. Kendall, T. Petursdottir, M. Hicks, A. Edwald

1477 - 1717 tephra Early Modern

Sheet Copper

Luxury imports(walrus ivory or incisor)

Tobacco Pipes

Fish HooksRed earthenware

Industrial whitewares/porcelain

Industrially produced nails

Page 14: Megan Hicks (CUNY) Millennial Scale Sustainability around Lake Mývatn Iceland

Bird eggs and bird bones: long term sustainable resource management

Egg shell in situ at Skútustaðir

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Hrisheimar

Sveigakot

Steinbogi

Skútustaðir

Hofstadir

Waterfowl

Ptarmigan

Coastal Birds

23

12

2

101 12

17 9

23 697 6

7 230

Data from McGovern et al. 2006 and Hicks 2010(All phases combined, no AVSP)

Egg Shell, magnified Egg Shell,

In situ at SKU

8

Page 15: Megan Hicks (CUNY) Millennial Scale Sustainability around Lake Mývatn Iceland
Page 16: Megan Hicks (CUNY) Millennial Scale Sustainability around Lake Mývatn Iceland

Fish and Marine Resources‐ “coping with hard times?”

Skútustaðir: Preliminary NISP of Seals 

DATA from Hicks 2010

Higher proportion of fish into the early modern period?

Page 17: Megan Hicks (CUNY) Millennial Scale Sustainability around Lake Mývatn Iceland

Future Directions

• Ongoing faunal analysis• SEM Identification of egg shell from all phases  • Additional Archival Research• Continued outreach with the Kids’ Archaeology 

Program  http://www.nabohome.org/projects/kap/fornleifaskolibarnanna1.pdf

Page 18: Megan Hicks (CUNY) Millennial Scale Sustainability around Lake Mývatn Iceland

Colleagues: Thanks to Dr. Thomas H. McGovern, Dr. Sophia Perdikaris. Our work partners at Fornleifastofnun Islands, especially Thora Petursdottir and Agusta Edwald. Orri Vesteinsson and the field teams in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 which included CUNY Graduate students George Hambrecht, Frank Feeley, Aarron Kendall, Seth Brewington and Amanda Schriener, Marianne Robson (Uni. Bradford), Veronique Forbes (Aberdeen) and Val De Feu (Stirling).  Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) students from Brooklyn College under the supervision of Dr. Sophia Perdikaris also contributed greatly in the field.

Community: Thanks to our hostess at Skútustaðir, Gerdur Benediktsdóttir. We also owe many thanks to Dr. Arni Einarsson for locating this important site in 2007 and providing us with excellent support and hospitality at the splendid Mývatn Research Station. Thanks are also due to the students, community supervisors, and school staff of the Kids Archaeology project, Iceland (KAPI, formerly Fornleifaskóli barnanna).

Support: Funding support from the US National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs Arctic Social Science Program through International Polar Year grant 0732327 is gratefully acknowledged. This report is a product of the International Polar Year program and of the NABO research cooperative.

THANK YOU

Page 19: Megan Hicks (CUNY) Millennial Scale Sustainability around Lake Mývatn Iceland

Sources CitedBrewington, S., R. Harrison, C. Amundsen, and T. H. McGovern.2004. An early 13th‐century Archaeofauna from Steinbogi, Mývatn District, NorthernIceland. NORSEC Laboratory, CUNY. New York, NY, USA. Report No. 11

Andrew J. Dugmore, Thomas H. McGovern, Orri Vésteinsson, Jette Arneborg, Richard Streeter, and Christian Keller. Cultural Adaptaion, componding vulnerabilities and conjunctures in Norse Greenland 2012 PNAS March 6, 2012 vol. 109 no. 10 3658‐3663 

Hicks, Megan. 2010. Skútustaðir: an Interim Zooarchaeological report following the 2009 field season. Norsec Report No 48. www.nabohome.org.

Karlsson, Gunnar. 2000. Iceland’s 1100 years: the history of a marginal society. C Hurst: London.

McGovern, Thomas, Sophia Perdikaris, Arni Einarsson, and Jane Sidell. 2006 Coastal Connections, local fishing, and sustainable egg harvesting: patterns of Viking age inland resource use in Mývatndistrict N. Iceland. Environmental Archaeology. Volume 11 No.2.

McGovern, Thomas H., Orri Vésteinsson, Adolf Fridricksson, Mike Church, Ian Lawson, Ian A. Simpson, Arni Einarsson, AndyDugmore, Gordon Cook, Sophia Perdikaris, Kevin J. Edwards, Amanda M. Thompson, W. Paul Adderly, Anthony Newton, Gavin Lucas, Ragnar Edvardsson, Oscar Aldred, and Elaine Dunbar. 2007. Landscapes of Settlement in Northern Iceland: Historical Ecology of Human Impact and Climate Fluctuation on the Millenial Scale. American Anthropologist 109(1) 27‐51.

ISLEIF Database administered by Fornleifastofnun Islands, Icelandic Institute of Archaeologywww.instarch.is/english/ Iceland

Hicks 2012, 77th SAA’s