Work Package 4
Palaeoecology
Palaeoecological methods offer means to examine spatial and temporal patterns of colonisation, occupation periods, land use (e.g. grazing, cultivation), and resource availability and management. More specifically, the questions to be addressed within this WP relate to timing, speed and extent of colonisation, changes in agricultural emphasis and social structure, environmental significance of the 15th century epidemic, farm abandonment and environmental change in a broader sense, e.g. the lively Anthropocene debate. These are important issues, to be addressed by the analyses of human impact as manifest in the environmental record, primarily through means of palynology, soil proxies and related geochronological techniques. The study proposes a multiple profile approach to be conducted in both SVARF and HÖRG. One farm site in each part of the SVARF valley will be investigated, where historical and archaeological data indicate difference in colonisation pattern and social development between the three parts. In HÖRG, three farms believed to be of different medieval social hierarchy will be studied using the same strategy. Secondly, we propose to examine spatiotemporal changes in birch woodland coverage in both valleys by measuring the pollen accumulation rate (PAR; pollen/cm2/yr) of Betula over a range of sites within the valley system, ranging from coast to hinterland. The data are to be modelled by using GIS, via distance weighted averages for each site.
Articles, publications, slides etc.
Click on link to open file (opens in a new window)
Work Package 4
Palaeoecology
Palaeoecological methods offer means to examine spatial and temporal patterns of colonisation, occupation periods, land use (e.g. grazing, cultivation), and resource availability and management. More specifically, the questions to be addressed within this WP relate to timing, speed and extent of colonisation, changes in agricultural emphasis and social structure, environmental significance of the 15th century epidemic, farm abandonment and environmental change in a broader sense, e.g. the lively Anthropocene debate. These are important issues, to be addressed by the analyses of human impact as manifest in the environmental record, primarily through means of palynology, soil proxies and related geochronological techniques. The study proposes a multiple profile approach to be conducted in both SVARF and HÖRG. One farm site in each part of the SVARF valley will be investigated, where historical and archaeological data indicate difference in colonisation pattern and social development between the three parts. In HÖRG, three farms believed to be of different medieval social hierarchy will be studied using the same strategy. Secondly, we propose to examine spatiotemporal changes in birch woodland coverage in both valleys by measuring the pollen accumulation rate (PAR; pollen/cm2/yr) of Betula over a range of sites within the valley system, ranging from coast to hinterland. The data are to be modelled by using GIS, via distance weighted averages for each site.
Articles, publications, slides etc.
Click on link to open file (opens in a new window)
Poster by Elísabet Eyþórsdóttir on Kot in Skíðadalur