1 Cod Fish, Walrus, and Chieftains: Economic Intensification in the Norse N Atlantic

• Main Authors: Sophia Perdikaris, Thomas H. Mcgovern
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2003
• Subjects: VIKINGS; North Atlantic; ECONOMY; FISHING; SEA MAMMALS; INTENSIFICATION; Greenland; greenlander*; Iceland; walrus*
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.582.9737; http://www.uio.no/studier/emner/hf/ikos/MAS2300/v05/undervisningsmateriale/Pensum/Perdikaris %26 McGovern 2003 in press - Economic intensification.pdf

ABSTRACT: During the Viking Age (ca AD 800-1100) Scandinavian colonists settled the islands of the western North Atlantic, introducing agriculture and chiefly society to Iceland and Greenland. Zooarchaeological evidence indicates that these two westernmost colonies shared many common characteristics, but diverged economically soon after initial settlement. The Icelanders drew upon an Iron Age heritage to intensify a staple goods economy based increasingly upon preserved cod-family fish that ultimately linked them closely to the expanding proto-capitalist economies of later medieval Europe. Greenlanders instead intensified the hunting of walrus to produce the prestige goods component of the Viking Age chiefly economy. As social and environmental change intensified in the later Middle Ages, Greenland’s economy failed and the colony became extinct while Icelanders survived. New zooarchaeological approaches to the study of pre-state chiefly economics are transforming our understanding of the history of this key region.