Land productivity and social collapse in medieval Iceland

• Main Author: Carter, Tara Dawn
• Other Authors: Marti, Judith, Anthropology, Costin, Cathy Lynne, Steinberg, John, Von Mayrhauser, Christina Low
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: California State University, Northridge 2003
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/164383

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 150-174) California State University, Northridge. Department of Anthropology. The transition from chiefdom to state in Medieval Iceland is credited to rising tensions in the thirteenth century AD that culminated in a civil war. These tensions stem from several sources, but a change in climate and the mismanagement of farming practices and the subsequent dire and irreversible anthropogenic alterations to the landscape often are presented as the primary agitators. The end result is a harsh and depleted ecosystem with a scarcity for land and resources so fierce that slowly chiefdoms ebb into a single central authority. Changes in the environment certainly played a role, however, new data presented here suggests that a decline in land productivity is not responsible for social collapse. This thesis will argue that anthropogenic erosion in the Highlands initiated a series of geomorphic changes in the Lowlands that resulted in raising the agricultural potential of the wetland areas. The destruction of the Highlands set in motion a series of social disruptions and a reorganization of the household economy as an increase in land productivity permitted an increase in household production. The shift from chiefdom to state is perhaps the unintended consequences of the decisions made by farmers who sought to increase their wealth by seizing the opportunity to increase their grass yields. The ability to increase production elicited an incentive for social change, not environmental duress.