Pushing the limits: palynological investigations at the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the Norse Western Settlement
This paper presents two high-resolution pollen records dating to ∼AD 1000–1400 that reveal the impacts of Norse colonists on vegetation and landscape around a remote farmstead in the Western Settlement of Greenland. The study is centred upon a ‘centralised farm’ (ruin group V53d) in Austmannadalen,...
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Taylor and Francis
2022
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Online Access: | http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/201719/ http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/201719/7/201719.pdf |
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ftuglasgow:oai:eprints.gla.ac.uk:201719 2023-05-15T14:57:43+02:00 Pushing the limits: palynological investigations at the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the Norse Western Settlement Schofield, J. Edward Pearce, Danni M. Mair, Douglas W.F. Rea, Brice R. Lea, James M. Kamenos, Nicholas A. Schoenrock, Kathryn M. Barr, Iestyn D. Edwards, Kevin J. 2022-03 text http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/201719/ http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/201719/7/201719.pdf en eng Taylor and Francis http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/201719/7/201719.pdf Schofield, J. E., Pearce, D. M., Mair, D. W.F., Rea, B. R., Lea, J. M., Kamenos, N. A. <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/9996.html> , Schoenrock, K. M., Barr, I. D. and Edwards, K. J. (2022) Pushing the limits: palynological investigations at the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the Norse Western Settlement. Environmental Archaeology <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/journal_volume/Environmental_Archaeology.html>, 27(2), pp. 228-242. (doi:10.1080/14614103.2019.1677075 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14614103.2019.1677075>) Articles PeerReviewed 2022 ftuglasgow https://doi.org/10.1080/14614103.2019.1677075 2022-03-03T23:09:32Z This paper presents two high-resolution pollen records dating to ∼AD 1000–1400 that reveal the impacts of Norse colonists on vegetation and landscape around a remote farmstead in the Western Settlement of Greenland. The study is centred upon a ‘centralised farm’ (ruin group V53d) in Austmannadalen, near the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet (64°13′N, 49°49′W). The climate is low arctic and considered marginal in terms of its suitability for the type of pastoral agriculture that the Norse settlers introduced. The data reveal that at a short distance (∼500 m) from the farm buildings, the palynological ‘footprint’ for settlement becomes extremely indistinct, the only clear palaeoenvironmental evidence for a human presence being elevated levels of microscopic charcoal. This contrasts with the Eastern Settlement, where a strong palynological signature for Norse landnám is evident, from the local (individual farm) through to the regional (landscape) scale. The palynological data from Austmannadalen, and the Western Settlement more generally, imply that farming occurred at very low intensity. This aligns with ideas that promote the importance of hunting, and trade in valuable Arctic commodities (e.g. walrus ivory), ahead of a search for new pasture as the dominant motivation driving the Norse settlement of this region. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Greenland Ice Sheet walrus* University of Glasgow: Enlighten - Publications Arctic Austmannadalen ENVELOPE(-49.917,-49.917,64.217,64.217) Greenland Environmental Archaeology 1 15 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Glasgow: Enlighten - Publications |
op_collection_id |
ftuglasgow |
language |
English |
description |
This paper presents two high-resolution pollen records dating to ∼AD 1000–1400 that reveal the impacts of Norse colonists on vegetation and landscape around a remote farmstead in the Western Settlement of Greenland. The study is centred upon a ‘centralised farm’ (ruin group V53d) in Austmannadalen, near the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet (64°13′N, 49°49′W). The climate is low arctic and considered marginal in terms of its suitability for the type of pastoral agriculture that the Norse settlers introduced. The data reveal that at a short distance (∼500 m) from the farm buildings, the palynological ‘footprint’ for settlement becomes extremely indistinct, the only clear palaeoenvironmental evidence for a human presence being elevated levels of microscopic charcoal. This contrasts with the Eastern Settlement, where a strong palynological signature for Norse landnám is evident, from the local (individual farm) through to the regional (landscape) scale. The palynological data from Austmannadalen, and the Western Settlement more generally, imply that farming occurred at very low intensity. This aligns with ideas that promote the importance of hunting, and trade in valuable Arctic commodities (e.g. walrus ivory), ahead of a search for new pasture as the dominant motivation driving the Norse settlement of this region. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Schofield, J. Edward Pearce, Danni M. Mair, Douglas W.F. Rea, Brice R. Lea, James M. Kamenos, Nicholas A. Schoenrock, Kathryn M. Barr, Iestyn D. Edwards, Kevin J. |
spellingShingle |
Schofield, J. Edward Pearce, Danni M. Mair, Douglas W.F. Rea, Brice R. Lea, James M. Kamenos, Nicholas A. Schoenrock, Kathryn M. Barr, Iestyn D. Edwards, Kevin J. Pushing the limits: palynological investigations at the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the Norse Western Settlement |
author_facet |
Schofield, J. Edward Pearce, Danni M. Mair, Douglas W.F. Rea, Brice R. Lea, James M. Kamenos, Nicholas A. Schoenrock, Kathryn M. Barr, Iestyn D. Edwards, Kevin J. |
author_sort |
Schofield, J. Edward |
title |
Pushing the limits: palynological investigations at the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the Norse Western Settlement |
title_short |
Pushing the limits: palynological investigations at the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the Norse Western Settlement |
title_full |
Pushing the limits: palynological investigations at the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the Norse Western Settlement |
title_fullStr |
Pushing the limits: palynological investigations at the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the Norse Western Settlement |
title_full_unstemmed |
Pushing the limits: palynological investigations at the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the Norse Western Settlement |
title_sort |
pushing the limits: palynological investigations at the margin of the greenland ice sheet in the norse western settlement |
publisher |
Taylor and Francis |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/201719/ http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/201719/7/201719.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-49.917,-49.917,64.217,64.217) |
geographic |
Arctic Austmannadalen Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Austmannadalen Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Greenland Ice Sheet walrus* |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greenland Ice Sheet walrus* |
op_relation |
http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/201719/7/201719.pdf Schofield, J. E., Pearce, D. M., Mair, D. W.F., Rea, B. R., Lea, J. M., Kamenos, N. A. <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/9996.html> , Schoenrock, K. M., Barr, I. D. and Edwards, K. J. (2022) Pushing the limits: palynological investigations at the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the Norse Western Settlement. Environmental Archaeology <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/journal_volume/Environmental_Archaeology.html>, 27(2), pp. 228-242. (doi:10.1080/14614103.2019.1677075 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14614103.2019.1677075>) |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1080/14614103.2019.1677075 |
container_title |
Environmental Archaeology |
container_start_page |
1 |
op_container_end_page |
15 |
_version_ |
1766329836555468800 |