Vatnahverfi
A Green and Pleasant Land? Palaeoecological Reconstructions of Environmental and Land-use Change
Datos Bibliográficos
| ID | 4624756 |
|---|---|
| Autores | Paul M Ledger (0000-0001-6607-692X, University of Aberdeen, autor de correspondencia), Kevin J Edwards (0000-0002-7205-066X, University of Aberdeen), J Edward Schofield (0000-0003-1379-0753, University of Aberdeen) |
| Año | 2014 |
| Volumen | 601 |
| Páginas | 29-46 |
| Fecha de publicación | 2014-04-01 |
| Open Access | Sí |
| Tipo | ARTICLE |
| Revista | Journal of the North Atlantic (JOURNAL) |
| Identificadores de la revista | ISSN: 1935-1933 • E-ISSN: 1935-1933 |
| Editorial | Journal of the North Atlantic (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.3721/037.002.sp605 |
| OpenAlex | W1845451575 |
| Idioma | EN |
| Citas recibidas | 10 |
| Referencias citadas | 55 |
Accounts describing the Vatnahverfi region of Greenland are almost always effusive in their praise for the rich and bountiful nature of the landscape. Whether it was the dense scrub and woodlands, or the freshwater lakes and fertile green pastures, this landscape—contrary to elsewhere in the Eastern Settlement—is frequently assumed to have been an excellent location for Norse pastoral farming. Nevertheless, these observations are merely anecdotal in nature and based on the perceptions of archaeologists, or others who have visited the region. This paper asks whether Vatnahverfi was really the green and pleasant land that the literature would suggest, while exploring the rationale behind settlement in this region. Pollen-analytical data and associated proxies are deployed here in an attempt to assess whether the pre-landnám landscape was an attractive location for settlement, and to investigate vegetation and land-use changes consequent upon settlement. Pollen analysis allows an assessment of the natural capital of the pre-landnám (initial settlement) environment, which suggests that the central valley of northwest Vatnahverfi supported substantial Betula-Salix scrub or low woodland prior to landnám. The presence of woodland at landnám indicates the availability of a key resource (for fuel, building materials, or as fodder for livestock), and a cluster of early landnám-era dates have been returned on pollen sequences from farms in the center of Vatnahverfi. Data from pollen influx and coprophilous fungal spores associated with grazing animals also point towards this landscape having been particularly suitable for pastoralism. Poaceae (grass) pollen influx values, for instance, are often double those of farms in the Qassiarsuk region, suggesting higher hay yields with the potential to support larger numbers of domesticates. Radiocarbon age-depth modelling of pollen sequences suggests that abandonment of farms in the region may have begun from the mid-13th century AD, culminating in the 14th century
Biology · Geography · Land use · Livestock · Pastoralism · Pollen · Woodland · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Ecology · Forestry
A multiple profile approach to the palynological reconstruction of Norse landscapes in Greenland's Eastern Settlement
Climate changes, lead pollution and soil erosion in south Greenland over the past 700 years
The steady loss – Palynological investigation into the main triggers of changes in vegetation and pastoral activity during the Norse period in southern Greenland
Pushing the Limits
The Utilisation of Native Woodland in Norse Greenland
Are circumpolar hunter-gatherers visible in the palaeoenvironmental record? Pollen-analytical evidence from Nunalleq, southwestern Alaska
Disequilibrium, Adaptation, and the Norse Settlement of Greenland
Provenancing wood used in the Norse Greenlandic settlements
Europeanization of Sub-Arctic Environments
Simulating the extent and depth of spring snow cover for medieval settlements in Iceland and Greenland
A test of Sporormiella representation as a predictor of megaherbivore presence and abundance
High resolution paleoenvironmental and chronological investigations of Norse landnám at Tasiusaq, Eastern Settlement, Greenland
Microscopic charcoal as a fossil indicator of fire
Methods and code for ‘classical’ age-modelling of radiocarbon sequences
Dense‐media separation as a more efficient pollen extraction method for use with organic sediment/deposit samples
Cultural adaptation, compounding vulnerabilities and conjunctures in Norse Greenland
The Selection of Sites for Paleovegetational Studies
Flexible paleoclimate age-depth models using an autoregressive gamma process
Ancient iron and slags in Greenland
The church topography of the eastern settlement and the excavation of the Benedictine Convent at Narsarsuaq in the Uunartoq Fjord
Northern Islands, human error, and environmental degradation
Investigation of proposed Norse irrigation channels and dams at Garðar/Igaliku, Greenland
Interdisciplinary investigations of the end of the Norse Western Settlement in Greenland
Holocene vegetation history at Vätsäri, Inari Lapland, northeastern Finland, with special reference to Betula
Shieling activity in the Norse Eastern Settlement
The timing and causes of the final pre-settlement expansion of Betula pubescens in Iceland
Diatom evidence of hydrographic changes and ice conditions in Igaliku Fjord, South Greenland, during the past 1500 years
Palynofacies analysis and organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts in late-Holocene sediments from Igaliku Fjord, South Greenland
Palaeoecological and historical evidence for manuring and irrigation at Garðar (Igaliku), Norse Eastern Settlement, Greenland
A paleoecological perspective on 1450 years of human impacts from a lake in southern Greenland
Late-Holocene Atlantic bottom-water variability in Igaliku Fjord, South Greenland, reconstructed from foraminifera faunas
Multivariate statistical and other approaches for the separation of cereal from wild Poaceae pollen using a large Holocene dataset
Grazing impacts and woodland management in Eriksfjord
Pollen and non-pollen palynomorph evidence of medieval farming activities in southwestern Greenland
Norse–Inuit interaction and landscape change in southern Greenland? A geochronological, Pedological, and Palynological investigation
Plant remains from the Norse farm Sandnes in the western settlement, Greenland
Environmental reconstruction of a Roman Period settlement site in Uitgeest (The Netherlands), with special reference to coprophilous fungi
Environmental impacts around the time of Norse landnám in the Qorlortoq valley, Eastern Settlement, Greenland
Pastures lost? A dental microwear study of ovicaprine diet and management in Norse Greenland
Soils and palaeo-climate based evidence for irrigation requirements in Norse Greenland
Erosion and Vegetational Changes in South Greenland Caused by Agriculture
Change of Diet of the Greenland Vikings Determined from Stable Carbon Isotope Analysis and 14 C Dating of Their Bones
Charcoal Production During the Norse and Early Medieval Periods in Eyjafjallahreppur, Southern Iceland
Geological records of changes in wind regime over south Greenland since the Medieval Warm Period
The Norse landnám on the North Atlantic islands
Human Diet and Subsistence Patterns in Norse Greenland AD C.980—AD c. 1450
IntCal09 and Marine09 Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curves, 0-50,000 Years cal BP
Land under the Pole Star
Landscapes of Settlement in Northern Iceland
Raiding the Landscape
| Citas por año | 0,83 |
|---|---|
| Intervalo de citas | 2014 - 2024 (11) |
| Altamente citado | No |