7 Were the Vikings Really Green? Environmental Degradation and Social Inequality in Iceland's Second Nature Landscape
ABSTRACT Iceland was settled by the Norse ca. 870 CE. Within the next few centuries, 40% of Iceland's soil cover was lost to deforestation and erosion. By the late medieval period, the social landscape had also changed from a population of nominally equal landowning households to one comprised...
Published in: | Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/apaa.12102 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fapaa.12102 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/apaa.12102 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/apaa.12102 https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/am-pdf/10.1111/apaa.12102 https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/apaa.12102 |
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crwiley:10.1111/apaa.12102 2024-09-15T18:14:11+00:00 7 Were the Vikings Really Green? Environmental Degradation and Social Inequality in Iceland's Second Nature Landscape Catlin, Kathryn A. Bolender, Douglas J. National Science Foundation University of Massachusetts Boston 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/apaa.12102 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fapaa.12102 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/apaa.12102 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/apaa.12102 https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/am-pdf/10.1111/apaa.12102 https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/apaa.12102 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#am http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association volume 29, issue 1, page 120-133 ISSN 1551-823X 1551-8248 journal-article 2018 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/apaa.12102 2024-08-06T04:20:49Z ABSTRACT Iceland was settled by the Norse ca. 870 CE. Within the next few centuries, 40% of Iceland's soil cover was lost to deforestation and erosion. By the late medieval period, the social landscape had also changed from a population of nominally equal landowning households to one comprised mostly of tenant farmers subject to a small class of elite landlords. Interpretations of the changing landscape have described the Norse as unaware of the environmental consequences of their agricultural practices, or as thoughtfully responsive to degrading conditions. Using estimates of the available biomass in different regions and measurements of changing soil depth in lowland Langholt, Skagafjörður, we suggest that what appears to modern researchers as catastrophic environmental devastation was in part an agricultural benefit, at least to some people. While some farmers did well, others were forced to leave failing land and enter service or tenancy. At the same time, agricultural strategies focused on transhumant pastoralism and production of grass fodder created distinct changes to the landscape that reinforced the emerging social hierarchy until it came to seem natural and inevitable. We imagine the earliest Icelanders not as violent raiders of the landscape, nor as sensitive custodians of a changing environment, but as intelligent farmers and politicians who mobilized the transformed landscape into a political economy that would keep their farms productive and their descendants in power for a millennium. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland Wiley Online Library Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association 29 1 120 133 |
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English |
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ABSTRACT Iceland was settled by the Norse ca. 870 CE. Within the next few centuries, 40% of Iceland's soil cover was lost to deforestation and erosion. By the late medieval period, the social landscape had also changed from a population of nominally equal landowning households to one comprised mostly of tenant farmers subject to a small class of elite landlords. Interpretations of the changing landscape have described the Norse as unaware of the environmental consequences of their agricultural practices, or as thoughtfully responsive to degrading conditions. Using estimates of the available biomass in different regions and measurements of changing soil depth in lowland Langholt, Skagafjörður, we suggest that what appears to modern researchers as catastrophic environmental devastation was in part an agricultural benefit, at least to some people. While some farmers did well, others were forced to leave failing land and enter service or tenancy. At the same time, agricultural strategies focused on transhumant pastoralism and production of grass fodder created distinct changes to the landscape that reinforced the emerging social hierarchy until it came to seem natural and inevitable. We imagine the earliest Icelanders not as violent raiders of the landscape, nor as sensitive custodians of a changing environment, but as intelligent farmers and politicians who mobilized the transformed landscape into a political economy that would keep their farms productive and their descendants in power for a millennium. |
author2 |
National Science Foundation University of Massachusetts Boston |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Catlin, Kathryn A. Bolender, Douglas J. |
spellingShingle |
Catlin, Kathryn A. Bolender, Douglas J. 7 Were the Vikings Really Green? Environmental Degradation and Social Inequality in Iceland's Second Nature Landscape |
author_facet |
Catlin, Kathryn A. Bolender, Douglas J. |
author_sort |
Catlin, Kathryn A. |
title |
7 Were the Vikings Really Green? Environmental Degradation and Social Inequality in Iceland's Second Nature Landscape |
title_short |
7 Were the Vikings Really Green? Environmental Degradation and Social Inequality in Iceland's Second Nature Landscape |
title_full |
7 Were the Vikings Really Green? Environmental Degradation and Social Inequality in Iceland's Second Nature Landscape |
title_fullStr |
7 Were the Vikings Really Green? Environmental Degradation and Social Inequality in Iceland's Second Nature Landscape |
title_full_unstemmed |
7 Were the Vikings Really Green? Environmental Degradation and Social Inequality in Iceland's Second Nature Landscape |
title_sort |
7 were the vikings really green? environmental degradation and social inequality in iceland's second nature landscape |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/apaa.12102 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fapaa.12102 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/apaa.12102 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/apaa.12102 https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/am-pdf/10.1111/apaa.12102 https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/apaa.12102 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association volume 29, issue 1, page 120-133 ISSN 1551-823X 1551-8248 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#am http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/apaa.12102 |
container_title |
Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association |
container_volume |
29 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
120 |
op_container_end_page |
133 |
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1810451971152281600 |