Life on the Northern Frontier
This chapter discusses the bioarchaeological evidence for biological stress in two eleventh-century cemetery populations from Northern Iceland. Iceland was initially settled in ninth century CE, and its marginal location and challenging sub-arctic climatic conditions provided the first generations o...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Book Part |
| Language: | unknown |
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University Press of Florida
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.5744/florida/9781683400844.003.0008 |
| Summary: | This chapter discusses the bioarchaeological evidence for biological stress in two eleventh-century cemetery populations from Northern Iceland. Iceland was initially settled in ninth century CE, and its marginal location and challenging sub-arctic climatic conditions provided the first generations of settlers with a host of environmental and social challenges. The results of our analysis point to a population that endured periodic hardships as evidenced by high rate of infant death and the presence of various stress markers in the skeletal material. Conversely, the evidence also points to a people successfully counteracting the negative aspects of their physical environment by introducing various social and cultural buffering mechanisms to ensure their survival. |
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