zooarchaeology and climate change in northeast iceland
DESCRIPTION
Céline Dupont-Hébert Department of Historical Sciences and Center for Northern Studies Université LavalTRANSCRIPT
ZOOARCHAEOLOGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN NORTHEAST ICELAND
CÉLINE DUPONT-HÉBERTPhD CANDIDATE IN ARCHAEOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL SCIENCES AND CENTER FOR NORTHERN STUDIES
UNIVERSITÉ LAVAL
EXPECTATION, IDENTIFICATION AND (MIS)INTERPRETATION
PHYSICAL AND HISTORICAL SETTING
RESEARCH QUESTION AND MAIN GOALS
EXPECTATION
ASSEMBLAGES
IDENTIFICATION
(MIS) INTERPRETATION
CONCLUSIONS
PRESENTATION PRESENTATION
PHYSICAL & HISTORICAL
SETTING
RESEARCH QUESTION AND
MAIN GOALS
ASSEMBLAGES
EXPECTATION
IDENTIFICATION
(MIS) INTERPRETATION
CONCLUSIONS
PHYSICAL AND HISTORICAL SETTING (1/2)
ICELAND
SVALBARDSTUNGA
SVALBARD
HJALMARVIK
PRESENTATION
PHYSICAL & HISTORICAL
SETTING
RESEARCH QUESTION AND
MAIN GOALS
ASSEMBLAGES
EXPECTATION
IDENTIFICATION
(MIS) INTERPRETATION
CONCLUSIONS
COASTAL VS. INLAND
SEA ICE AND ANNUAL CLIMATE
NATURAL RESOURCES
TEPHRAS?
PHYSICAL AND HISTORICAL SETTING (2/2)
SETTLEMENT?
SVALBARÐ
HJALMARVIK
JARÐABOK
LAKI ERUPTION
ABANDONMENT
PRESENTATION
PHYSICAL & HISTORICAL
SETTING
RESEARCH QUESTION AND
MAIN GOALS
ASSEMBLAGES
EXPECTATION
IDENTIFICATION
(MIS) INTERPRETATION
CONCLUSIONS
RESEARCH QUESTION AND MAIN GOALS
« WHY SUSTAINABLE COASTAL FARMS HAVE BEEN ABANDONED OR HAVE MODIFIED THEIR ORIGINAL
ECONOMIC STRATEGIES DURING ICELAND’S MEDIEVAL PERIOD »
RECREATE THE ECONOMIC HISTORY OF A DISTRICT
UNDERSTAND RESOURCE EXPLOITATION AND RESOURCE EXCHANGE FOR EACH SITE AND FOR THE DISTRICT
IDENTIFY POSSIBLE SOURCES OF ECONOMIC CHANGES (CLIMATE, POLITIC, ECONOMY, ETC.) AND IMPACTS ON OTHER FARMS
AND WHY NOT…
TEST SETTLEMENT THEORIES IN SVALBARÐSHREPPUR
AND IDENTIFY LIMITS OF THE ZOOARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD IN THE SEARCH FOR CLIMATE CHANGE SIGNALS
PRESENTATION
PHYSICAL & HISTORICAL
SETTING
RESEARCH QUESTION AND
MAIN GOALS
ASSEMBLAGES
EXPECTATION
IDENTIFICATION
(MIS) INTERPRETATION
CONCLUSIONS
PRESENTATION
PHYSICAL & HISTORICAL
SETTING
RESEARCH QUESTION AND
MAIN GOALS
ASSEMBLAGES
EXPECTATION
IDENTIFICATION
(MIS) INTERPRETATION
CONCLUSIONS
EXPECTATION
SIGNS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE POST-1300 DEPOSITS IN SVALBARÐ’S MIDDEN : SHOULD BE VISIBLE IN HJALMARVIK AS WELL (1990’S ANALYSIS)
CHANGE IN HERDING STRATEGIES AROUND THE 14TH CENTURY : SHOULD BE VISIBLE AT SOME POINT IN THE TWO FARMS
HJALMARVIK ABANDONED?
ASSEMBLAGES (preliminary)PRESENTATION
PHYSICAL & HISTORICAL
SETTING
RESEARCH QUESTION AND
MAIN GOALS
ASSEMBLAGES
EXPECTATION
IDENTIFICATION
(MIS) INTERPRETATION
CONCLUSIONS
DIFFERENCES IN DOMESTICATE EXPLOITATION
DIFFERENCES IN WILD FAUNA EXPLOITATION (BUT STILL NOT THAT DIFFERENT)
%NISP for major taxonomic groups for SVB and HVK
1114,5
71
2,56 0,13
2015
52,7
11,75
0,030
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
domesticates marine mammals fishes birds wild terrestrial
Taxonomic groups
%N
ISP
hvk
svb
IDENTIFICATION: THE SVALBARD CASE (1/2)PRESENTATION
PHYSICAL & HISTORICAL
SETTING
RESEARCH QUESTION AND
MAIN GOALS
ASSEMBLAGES
EXPECTATION
IDENTIFICATION
(MIS) INTERPRETATION
CONCLUSIONS
PRE-1300 POST-1300NISP NISP
SPECIES SCIENTIFIC NAME
Domesticate mammalsCattle Bos taurus 206 58Horse Equus caballus 1 -Pig Sus scrofa 5 -Sheep Ovis aries 69 39Goat Capra hircus 2 5Sheep/goat Ovis/Capra 809 271
Marine MammalsCommon seal Phoca vitulina 14 32Greenland seal Phoca groenlandica - 33Seal species Phocid species 148 691Walrus Odobenus rosmarus - 1Whale species Cetacean species 150 29
Wild terrestrial mammalsFox Alopex lagopus - 1Polar bear Ursus maritimus 1 1
Birds Avian species 804 45
Fishes Fish species 1784 2027
Molluscs (sampled) Mollusca species 162 430
TOTAL 4155 3663
IDENTIFICATION: THE SVALBARD CASE (2/2)PRESENTATION
PHYSICAL & HISTORICAL
SETTING
RESEARCH QUESTION AND
MAIN GOALS
ASSEMBLAGES
EXPECTATION
IDENTIFICATION
(MIS) INTERPRETATION
CONCLUSIONS
SIGNALS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN SVALBARD (1990’S):
GROWTH (2,5%) OF WILD MAMMAL EXPLOITATION (EXCEPT CETACEAN SPECIES): AVAILABILITY?
PRESENCE OF THE GREENLAND SEAL (MIGRATORY AND COOLER CLIMATE INDICATOR)
DROP IN CATTLE EXPLOITATION
DECREASE IN SHEEP/GOAT EXPLOITATION
DROP (18%) IN BIRD EXPLOITATION (POPULATION MOVEMENT TO THE SOUTH)
± 3%
(MIS) INTERPRETATION (discussion 1/3)PRESENTATION
PHYSICAL & HISTORICAL
SETTING
RESEARCH QUESTION AND
MAIN GOALS
ASSEMBLAGES
EXPECTATION
IDENTIFICATION
(MIS) INTERPRETATION
CONCLUSIONS
POST-1300
%NISP for major taxonomic groups for the pre-1300 phase
9,42,5 0,1
7,05
42,93
19,35
0,02
73,6
14,43
26,28
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
domesticates marine mammals fishes birds wild terrestrial
Taxonomic groups
%N
ISP
hvk
svb
%NISP for major taxonomic groups for the post-1300 phase
30,05
17
49,9
2,90,1
11,5
24,5
62,6
1,3 0,060
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
domesticates marine mammals fishes birds wild terrestrial
Taxonomic groups
%N
ISP
hvk
svb
PRE-1300
(MIS) INTERPRETATION (discussion 2/3)PRESENTATION
PHYSICAL & HISTORICAL
SETTING
RESEARCH QUESTION AND
MAIN GOALS
ASSEMBLAGES
EXPECTATION
IDENTIFICATION
(MIS) INTERPRETATION
CONCLUSIONS
DRASTIC GROWTH OF WILD MAMMAL EXPLOITATION (EXCEPT CETACEAN SPECIES): AVAILABILITY?
SVB HVK
PRESENCE OF THE GREENLAND SEAL (MIGRATORY AND COOLER CLIMATE INDICATOR)
SVB HVK
DROP IN CATTLE EXPLOITATION
SVB HVK
DECREASE IN SHEEP/GOAT EXPLOITATION
SVB HVK
DROP IN BIRD EXPLOITATION (POPULATION MOVEMENT TO THE SOUTH)
SVB HVK
SVALBARD POST-1300 (WITH HJALMARVIK IN THE PORTRAIT):
=
(MIS) INTERPRETATION (discussion 3/3)PRESENTATION
PHYSICAL & HISTORICAL
SETTING
RESEARCH QUESTION AND
MAIN GOALS
ASSEMBLAGES
EXPECTATION
IDENTIFICATION
(MIS) INTERPRETATION
CONCLUSIONS
HJALMARVIK NO LONGER AN INDEPENDANT FARM (ca 1318)
LOST OF ITS CONTROL OVER COASTAL RESOURCES
GROWTH IN SHEEP/GOAT HERDING AND CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS STRATEGY:
Ovis/Capra mortality profile for the two major phases at Hjalmarvik
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-10 months 15-20 months 20-36 months more 36 months
Age group
%N
ISP
10th century to AD1300
AD1300 to 19th century
CONCLUSIONS…PRESENTATION
PHYSICAL & HISTORICAL
SETTING
RESEARCH QUESTION AND
MAIN GOALS
ASSEMBLAGES
EXPECTATION
IDENTIFICATION
(MIS) INTERPRETATION
CONCLUSIONS
ON CLIMATE CHANGE IDENTIFICATION: PRESENCE/ABSENCE OF SPECIES ASSOCIATED TO COOLER CLIMATE (SEA MAMMALS, BIRDS)
HIGH MORTALITY OF SHEEP NEONATES AT BOTH SITES (ECONOMIC OR CLIMATE?) AND DECREASE OF CATTLE
ARE THE SIGNALS STRONG ENOUGH TO ASSOCIATE THIS DISTRICT CHANGE TO CLIMATE CHANGE?
ON THE SEARCH FOR CLIMATE CHANGE IN ICELAND: IS ONE SITE ENOUGH?
IS « REGIONAL SCALE » ENOUGH?
DOES THE SOLUTION LIES IN THE INTEGRATION OF « LESS INFLUENCED BY ANTHROPOGENIC ACTIONS » DATA…OR NOT?
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
Many thanks to Sigtryggur Þorláksson and Guðmundur Þorláksson enthusiastic landowowners of Svalbarð, Daníel Hansen schoolmaster at Svalbarðsskoli and Bjarnveig Skaftfel caretaker of the school, and thanks to our many collaborators!
Thanks to George Hambrecht for the organisation of this GHEA meeting and for welcoming us in his new home
Thanks to Jim Woollett, Gudrun Alda Gisladottir, Uggi Aevarsson and Stefan Olafsson : awesome Svalbard team
FINANCIAL AND LOGISTIC SUPPORT, AND COLLABORATORS:
LITTERATURE:Amorosi T.(1992) Climate impact and human response in Northeast Iceland: archaeological investigations at Svalbard 1987-1988, In C.D. Morris and D.J. Rackham (eds) Norse and Later Settlement and Subsistence in the North Atlantic, Archetype Publication, Glasgow; Gisladottir et al. (2013) The Svalbard project, Archaeologia Islandica 10: 69-103; Gísladóttir et al. (2012) Interim report of archaeological fieldwork at the farm of Svalbarð in the summer 2011, Unpublished field report, Fornleifastofnun Islands (Reykjavík) and Département d’histoire de l’Université Laval (Qc); Gísladóttir et al. (2011) Interim report of archaeological fieldwork at the farm of Svalbarð in summer 2010 and winter 2011, Unpublished field report, Fornleifastofnun Islands (Reykjavík) and Département d’histoire de l’Université Laval (Qc); Gísladóttir et al. (2010) Preliminary report on archaeological fieldwork on and around the farm of Svalbarð, Svalbarðshreppur, 2009, Unpublished field report, Fornleifastofnun Islands (Reykjavík) and Département d’histoire de l’Université Laval (Qc); JAM: Jarðabók Arná Magnússonar og Páls Vidalins, Thingeyjarsýsla, 11 Bindi (1943), Kaupmannahöfn, Hið Islenska Freadjafjelag í Kaupmannahöfn; Ólafsson et al. (2013) Interim report of the 2012 fieldwork programme in Svalbarðhreppur: Hjálmarvík and Sjóhúsvík, Unpublished field report, Fornleifastofnun Islands (Reykjavík) and Center for Northern Studies of University Laval (Qc); Woollett J. (2008) Preliminary report of archaeological fieldwork at Svalbarð (Svalbarðshreppur)in 2008, Unpublished field report, Fornleifastofnun Islands (Reykjavik) and Département d’histoire de l’Université Laval (Qc).