Historical Ecology of Norse Greenland: Zooarchaeology and Climate Change Responses
This thesis invokes Historical Ecology approach to better understand human impacts on marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and the creation of cultural landscapes and seascapes in Norse Greenland. It also investigates climate impacts on human economic strategies, as they vary substantially by island a...
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CUNY Academic Works
2022
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ftcityunivny:oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:gc_etds-6208 2023-05-15T15:02:17+02:00 Historical Ecology of Norse Greenland: Zooarchaeology and Climate Change Responses Smiarowski, Konrad 2022-09-01T07:00:00Z application/pdf https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/5065 https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6208&context=gc_etds English eng CUNY Academic Works https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/5065 https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6208&context=gc_etds Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Greenland Historical Ecology Medieval Viking Iceland Arctic Archaeological Anthropology Medieval History dissertation 2022 ftcityunivny 2022-10-01T22:15:50Z This thesis invokes Historical Ecology approach to better understand human impacts on marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and the creation of cultural landscapes and seascapes in Norse Greenland. It also investigates climate impacts on human economic strategies, as they vary substantially by island and region in the North Atlantic but were especially important in arctic Greenland. The analysis centers on the animal bone data and uses both existing and newly generated zooarchaeological collections to contribute to the study of Norse Greenland and its place in human ecodynamics research. The newly analyzed archaeofauna shows that the culturally Nordic European settlers used to the life based around domestic livestock and associated foddering rapidly transformed their subsistence strategies to the limits and opportunities of the new environment. Marine fishing was immediately supplanted by intensive communal seal hunting, caribou hunting was rapidly organized by the elite managers, and the herding strategies were adapted to the less productive pastures. At the same time the data shows early prolonged commitment to the NorĂ°ursetur walrus hunt, despite the high risks, and does not show evidence for a reduction of the hunting effort after the 1300 CE climate impacts. Climate change played significant role in the Greenlandic adaptations, and intensification of seal hunting and modification of the herding economy after 1300 CE, were successful strategies until a conjunction of environmental and economic events caused the disappearance of the settlements. Different trajectories for large and small farms through time, and elite takeovers of smaller holdings after ca. 1250 CE support the picture of medieval Greenland as fully hierarchical society, which was sustainable for a prolonged period of time. Through fieldwork that generated the new archaeofauna the research community was made aware of current climate change caused degradation of organic preservation at archaeological sites in SW Greenland, and enabled researchers ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis Arctic caribou Climate change Greenland greenlandic Iceland North Atlantic walrus* City University of New York: CUNY Academic Works Arctic Greenland |
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collection |
City University of New York: CUNY Academic Works |
op_collection_id |
ftcityunivny |
language |
English |
topic |
Greenland Historical Ecology Medieval Viking Iceland Arctic Archaeological Anthropology Medieval History |
spellingShingle |
Greenland Historical Ecology Medieval Viking Iceland Arctic Archaeological Anthropology Medieval History Smiarowski, Konrad Historical Ecology of Norse Greenland: Zooarchaeology and Climate Change Responses |
topic_facet |
Greenland Historical Ecology Medieval Viking Iceland Arctic Archaeological Anthropology Medieval History |
description |
This thesis invokes Historical Ecology approach to better understand human impacts on marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and the creation of cultural landscapes and seascapes in Norse Greenland. It also investigates climate impacts on human economic strategies, as they vary substantially by island and region in the North Atlantic but were especially important in arctic Greenland. The analysis centers on the animal bone data and uses both existing and newly generated zooarchaeological collections to contribute to the study of Norse Greenland and its place in human ecodynamics research. The newly analyzed archaeofauna shows that the culturally Nordic European settlers used to the life based around domestic livestock and associated foddering rapidly transformed their subsistence strategies to the limits and opportunities of the new environment. Marine fishing was immediately supplanted by intensive communal seal hunting, caribou hunting was rapidly organized by the elite managers, and the herding strategies were adapted to the less productive pastures. At the same time the data shows early prolonged commitment to the NorĂ°ursetur walrus hunt, despite the high risks, and does not show evidence for a reduction of the hunting effort after the 1300 CE climate impacts. Climate change played significant role in the Greenlandic adaptations, and intensification of seal hunting and modification of the herding economy after 1300 CE, were successful strategies until a conjunction of environmental and economic events caused the disappearance of the settlements. Different trajectories for large and small farms through time, and elite takeovers of smaller holdings after ca. 1250 CE support the picture of medieval Greenland as fully hierarchical society, which was sustainable for a prolonged period of time. Through fieldwork that generated the new archaeofauna the research community was made aware of current climate change caused degradation of organic preservation at archaeological sites in SW Greenland, and enabled researchers ... |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Smiarowski, Konrad |
author_facet |
Smiarowski, Konrad |
author_sort |
Smiarowski, Konrad |
title |
Historical Ecology of Norse Greenland: Zooarchaeology and Climate Change Responses |
title_short |
Historical Ecology of Norse Greenland: Zooarchaeology and Climate Change Responses |
title_full |
Historical Ecology of Norse Greenland: Zooarchaeology and Climate Change Responses |
title_fullStr |
Historical Ecology of Norse Greenland: Zooarchaeology and Climate Change Responses |
title_full_unstemmed |
Historical Ecology of Norse Greenland: Zooarchaeology and Climate Change Responses |
title_sort |
historical ecology of norse greenland: zooarchaeology and climate change responses |
publisher |
CUNY Academic Works |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/5065 https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6208&context=gc_etds |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Arctic caribou Climate change Greenland greenlandic Iceland North Atlantic walrus* |
genre_facet |
Arctic caribou Climate change Greenland greenlandic Iceland North Atlantic walrus* |
op_source |
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects |
op_relation |
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/5065 https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6208&context=gc_etds |
_version_ |
1766334243237003264 |