The Life and Times of Medieval Drifters: The Social and Environmental Significance of Driftwood in the Medieval Icelandic Culture and Identity, 9th - 13th Centuries

• Main Author: Wilding, Brandon
• Other Authors: Schoolman, Edward, Walker, Barbara, Csank, Adam
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: Driftwood; Environmental; Iceland; Identity; Norse; Snorri; Arctic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11714/11419

This present study is concerned with the relationship between driftwood and the cultural identity of the Icelandic people from landnám (Norse colonization of Iceland between the ninth and tenth centuries), to the thirteenth century. After the Norse arrival in Iceland in the late ninth century, low-growing birch (Betula sp.), the island's only natural growing wood source, was drastically depleted for agricultural land, leaving the early settlers with limited options for a wood resource. Following this, the naturally occurring driftwood on Iceland’s arctic beaches became a viable source and an integral part of Icelandic culture, seen in early place names, laws, cultural stories, and mythology. This study argues that driftwood, as an aspect of the Icelandic landscape, became a symbol of resilience, representing both life and survival to the early settlers, and becoming a vital part of the environmental, cultural, and religious identities of the Icelandic people. By examining place names, laws, sagas, and mythology a better understanding of the importance of driftwood can be found in the early Icelandic culture, and the lines between environmental importance and cultural identity may be drawn.