Methodological Benefits of a GIS Map: The Example of the Eldgjá Eruption of the Late 930s CE and the Reliability of Historical Documents. : Arcadia: Explorations in Environmental History, Spring 2019, no. 7: Methodological Benefits of a GIS Map: The Example of the Eldgjá Eruption of the Late 930s CE and the Reliability of Historical Documents.

• Main Author: Ebert, Stephan
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Munich, Germany 2019
• Subjects: environmental knowledge; maps; science; geography; cartography; geology; volcanoes; Eldgjá; Iceland
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5282/rcc/8560; http://www.environmentandsociety.org/node/8560/

The Eldgjá eruption in Iceland in the late 930s CE seems to have had tremendous repercussions. Twenty-eight historical documents mention hardships in the aftermath of the eruption in Europe. However, only a few documents were written during the time in question. Interdisciplinary research means stepping “outside” of your own field. Evaluating the quality of “foreign” material is essential. A GIS map offers a useful methodological approach in this case: more details can be added to the data whereby the reliability of historical documents and the impact of events like the Eldgjá eruption and its regional scope become easily visible.