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Multiple Archaeofauna (1892-2009) Large Sample Sizes Improved Comparability Excavation

Some Zooarchaeology Connections: Seals, Ice, Climate Change, Adaptation,& Hazard in Norse Greenland. Multiple Archaeofauna (1892-2009) Large Sample Sizes Improved Comparability Excavation Identification Data management & Reporting.

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Multiple Archaeofauna (1892-2009) Large Sample Sizes Improved Comparability Excavation

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  1. Some Zooarchaeology Connections:Seals, Ice, Climate Change, Adaptation,& Hazard in Norse Greenland • Multiple Archaeofauna (1892-2009) • Large Sample Sizes • Improved Comparability • Excavation • Identification • Data management & Reporting

  2. Norse N Atlantic Colonization c 800-1000 CEWestwards into the Arctic, Crossing Climate Gradients Ice Riding Seal Populations

  3. Norse Sealing in Greenland: Arctic species and migratory riches • New Species Encountered: Migratory Harp and Hooded seals, non-migratory Ringed and Bearded Seal. • Norse Greenlanders rapidly exploit seasonal Harp and Hooded seal migration (nets, clubs, boat drives: coordinated labor). • No harpoons in Norse sites. • Non-migratory (breathing hole) seals taken w/harpoons by Inuit are rarely hunted by Norse. • Missing technology = missed opportunity??? • OR: different cultural orientation & different (communal) adaptation?

  4. Successful Norse Sealing in GreenlandBy the 14th c. small farms show the highest % of seal bones but ALLNorse Greenlandic Archaeofauna are very seal-rich Chieftain Farm Mid-Range Small Farm

  5. Even on Chieftain Farms in the richest parts of the Eastern Settlement, the proportion of marine (mainly seal) bones to all terrestrial mammal bones goes up: especially after ca. 1250-1300

  6. Inland Icelandic Pagan Burials

  7. Traditional (at least to11th c) Communal boat drive Cultural Core Experience Provides food (esp. during WW2) Connection to Heritage Reaffirmation of Community Solidarity Not eco-tourist friendly Faroese Whaling

  8. Greenland Field Projects 2005-09(CUNY, KNK, SILA, National Museum DK)

  9. Norse Migratory Sealing Requires “Commuting” from inner fjord pastures that support farms to the outer fjord sealing areas in early spring. Small “six oared boats” mentioned in surviving documents are probably rare, valuable, and vulnerable. Travel costs, weather hazard, point-source-failure vulnerability?

  10. Connecting Deep sea cores, Zooarchaeology& Climate Thresholds in SW Greenland Sea cores detect major change in summer sea ice distribution in SE and SW Greenland. Increasing summer drift ice after 1250-1300 AD. Jennings A. E and Nancy J Weiner Environmental change in eastern Greenland during the last 1300 years; evidence from foraminifera and lithofacies in Nansen Fjord, 68 degrees N. The Holocene, 8(3) 434-441 Jensen et al. 2004; Diatom evidence of hydrographic changes and ice conditions in Igaliku Fjord, South Greenland, during the past 1500 years. The Holocene 14,2, 152-164

  11. Summer Ice, Growing Season, and Seal Populations • Summer drift ice disrupts local travel in Norse Eastern Settlement area. • Drift ice also cools sea level pastures, reducing growing season of the most productive plant communities. • Summer drift ice adversely affects harbor seal colonies.

  12. Harbor seals (brown) are commonly taken in Norse E Settlement before c 1250-1300, but become rare after 1300. In the W Settlement (not affected by summer drift ice), there is no harbor seal crash post-1300 Harbor Seals & Sea Ice Ogilvie, A., Smiarowski K, et al Journal of the North Atlantic 2009

  13. Fig. 1: Central Greenland derived palaeotemperatures (GISP2 180 ) • Upper Curve shows changes in year-to-year predictability. • Jagged areas (boxes) show periods of high inter-annual variability. • Stress points for human planning? 985 AD 12th Century AD 14th Century AD F E E: Departures from mean (right hand scale) F: Cumulative departures from mean (left hand scale) Dugmore, Andy, Christian Keller & Thomas H. McGovern,2007 Reflections on climate change, trade, and the contrasting fates of human settlements in the North Atlantic islands, Arctic Anthropology 44(1): 12-37.

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