Pushing the limits: palynological investigations at the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the Norse Western Settlement
© 2019 Informa UK Limited This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in The Journal of Human Palaeoecology, Environmental Archaeology on 17/10/2019, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/14614103.2019.1677075 This paper presents two high-resolution pollen reco...
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ftunivhertford:oai:uhra.herts.ac.uk:2299/22191 2024-06-02T08:01:52+00:00 Pushing the limits: palynological investigations at the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the Norse Western Settlement Schofield, J.Edward Pearce, Danni Mair, Douglas Rea, Brice R. Lea, James Kamenos, Nicholas Schoenrock, Kathryn Barr, Iestyn Edwards, Kevin Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences Agriculture and Environmental Management Research 2021-04-01 2101077 http://hdl.handle.net/2299/22191 eng eng Environmental Archeology Schofield , J E , Pearce , D , Mair , D , Rea , B R , Lea , J , Kamenos , N , Schoenrock , K , Barr , I & Edwards , K 2019 , ' Pushing the limits: palynological investigations at the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the Norse Western Settlement ' , Environmental Archeology . https://doi.org/10.1080/14614103.2019.1677075 1749-6314 ORCID: /0000-0002-6889-224X/work/68990765 http://hdl.handle.net/2299/22191 2021 ftunivhertford 2024-05-07T23:41:37Z © 2019 Informa UK Limited This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in The Journal of Human Palaeoecology, Environmental Archaeology on 17/10/2019, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/14614103.2019.1677075 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 (64º13’ N, 49º49’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. Peer reviewed Other/Unknown Material Arctic Greenland Ice Sheet walrus* University of Hertfordshire: UH Research Archive Arctic Austmannadalen ENVELOPE(-49.917,-49.917,64.217,64.217) Greenland Environmental Archaeology 1 15 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Hertfordshire: UH Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivhertford |
language |
English |
description |
© 2019 Informa UK Limited This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in The Journal of Human Palaeoecology, Environmental Archaeology on 17/10/2019, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/14614103.2019.1677075 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 (64º13’ N, 49º49’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. Peer reviewed |
author2 |
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences Agriculture and Environmental Management Research |
author |
Schofield, J.Edward Pearce, Danni Mair, Douglas Rea, Brice R. Lea, James Kamenos, Nicholas Schoenrock, Kathryn Barr, Iestyn Edwards, Kevin |
spellingShingle |
Schofield, J.Edward Pearce, Danni Mair, Douglas Rea, Brice R. Lea, James Kamenos, Nicholas Schoenrock, Kathryn Barr, Iestyn Edwards, Kevin 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 Mair, Douglas Rea, Brice R. Lea, James Kamenos, Nicholas Schoenrock, Kathryn Barr, Iestyn Edwards, Kevin |
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 |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2299/22191 |
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 |
Environmental Archeology Schofield , J E , Pearce , D , Mair , D , Rea , B R , Lea , J , Kamenos , N , Schoenrock , K , Barr , I & Edwards , K 2019 , ' Pushing the limits: palynological investigations at the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the Norse Western Settlement ' , Environmental Archeology . https://doi.org/10.1080/14614103.2019.1677075 1749-6314 ORCID: /0000-0002-6889-224X/work/68990765 http://hdl.handle.net/2299/22191 |
container_title |
Environmental Archaeology |
container_start_page |
1 |
op_container_end_page |
15 |
_version_ |
1800746355456475136 |