Description
Book SynopsisIn Human Ecodynamics in the North Atlantic: A Collaborative Model of Humans and Nature through Space and Time, Maher and Harrison have compiled a series of separate research projects conducted across the North Atlantic region that each contribute greatly to the area of study.
Trade ReviewA human force of nature. Spanning the North Atlantic from the Viking Iron Age to the nineteenth century, the authors navigate a two-way street of interaction between humans and their environment that highlights both the successes and missteps along the way. -- Christyann Darwent, editor of Arctic Anthropology
A remarkable demonstration of the value of close collaboration in interdisciplinary thinking. The human ecodynamics approach of the authors brings together archaeologists, environmental historians, and paleoecologists to provide new theoretical insights and solid scientific evidence to make real-world decisions. As the evidence of the potential threat of climate change continues to accumulate, the authors of this volume take a comprehensive approach to understanding past societies in the North Atlantic region and their relationship to the landscapes and seascapes surrounding them. They ask the question, what can we learn from the past? Being at the climatic extreme of human settlement and a region hyper-sensitive to variations in climate, the experiences and responses of these people may prove to be the ‘canary in the coal mine’ for all of us interested in how to best face climate change in the future. -- Charles Redman, Arizona State University
Table of ContentsTable of Contents Preface List of Figures and Tables 1. Humans: A Force of Nature Ruth A. Maher and Ramona Harrison 2. Shaped by the Sea: the Archaeology of Orkney’s Maritime Communities Julie Gibson 3. The Prehistoric Village Old Scatness: A Research Study in Longevity, Ecodynamics and Interactions Stephen J. Dockrill and Julie M. Bond 4. Coupled Human and Natural Systems: a New Perspective on Early Fishing and Fishing Cultures of Northern Norway Colin Amundsen 5. Land of the Dead: Human Ecodynamics of Ritual and Belief in Viking Period Iceland Ruth A. Maher 6. Material Culture and North Atlantic Trade in Iceland and Greenland Aaron Kendall 7. Connecting the Land to the Sea at Gásir: International Exchange and Long-Term Eyjafjörður Ecodynamics in Medieval Iceland Ramona Harrison 8. Losing Sleep Counting Sheep: Early Modern Dynamics of Hazardous Husbandry in Mývatn, Iceland Megan Hicks 9. Sorting Sheep & Goats in Medieval Iceland and Greenland: Local Subsistence, Climate Change or World System Impacts? Thomas H. McGovern, Ramona Harrison, Konrad Smiarowski 10. Climate-Related Farm-to-Shieling Transition at E74 Qorlortorsuaq in Norse Greenland Konrad Smiarowski 11. Landscape legacies of Landnám in Iceland: What has happened to the environment as a result of settlement, why did it happen and what have been some of the consequences Andrew J. Dugmore, Thomas H. McGovern and Richard Streeter 12. North Atlantic Human Ecodynamics Research: Looking forwards from the past Thomas H. McGovern Index About the Authors
