sust & resil in the n atlantic sem4
TRANSCRIPT
The Viking Age & the Norse Westward Expansion
• Norse “landnám package”– Farming-based domestic economy
• Domestic animals• Barley, flax, rye, oats, hay
– Supplemental use of wild food resources – “Natural Capital”
• Fish, sea mammals, birds, reindeer, etc.
Natural Capital
• Wild species & lush landscapes serve to underwrite landnám by reducing consumption of imported domesticates
• Some resources might be expended - “natural capital” is totally drawn down
• Others might be managed sustainably for long period of time
• Participation in a community network was key for continued access to most important wild resources
• Human impact story is NOT simple
Norse North Atlantic
Different choices- different outcomes to climate changes
Communities in the Atlantic islands faced different
challenges, made different choices
and faced different outcomes.
Norse N. Atlantic: Different Geographies
Faroes:Everywhere close to sea
Close to EuropeOpen landscape
Marginal grain productionPilot whales
Birds and fish
Iceland:Large island-
Extensive interiorWoodlands
Bog iron depositsVery marginal arable cultivation
No terrestrial mammalsBirds and fish
Greenland:Very large island- Distant resources
Short summer/pack iceNo accessible iron
Pastoralism challengingCaribou
Migrating sealsOther societies
1: The unsurprising part. In the Faroe Islands, sustainable practice, effective utilization of wild resources, limited landscape impacts and successful adaptation to climate change on centennial time scales is associated with long-term settlement success and the development of a prosperous society.
Three contrasting outcomes in the face of climatic hazards
2: In Iceland we have the puzzle of Norse sustainable practice, successful adaptation and long-term success linked to extensive landscape degradation.
Soil erosion
2009
Three contrasting outcomes in the face of climatic hazards
Same Beginnings, different Same Beginnings, different outcomes- deforestation & erosionoutcomes- deforestation & erosion
3: In Greenland, sustainable practice, limited landscape impacts and successful adaptation to climate change on centennial time scales was followed by settlement abandonment in the mid 15th century.
Three contrasting outcomes in the face of climatic hazards
Human Impacts: Faroe Islands
• Little to no tree cover at settlement– Grasses & peat
• Topography limited settlement locations– Settlements clustered
Human Impacts: Faroe Islands
• Importance of Natural Capital– Coastal & marine
resources– Peat– Grasslands
KAM 3
Disruption of upland vegetationgenerates sediment flux
First introduction of herbivores to hill tops?
Deflation of Faroese summits and dispersal of silt a notable local impact of landnám…
..a modest effect compared to change in Iceland
The Faroes as success story
• Environmental:– Creation of managed infield system– No woodland to clear– Limited soil erosion & peat removal
• Wild resources heavily, sustainably exploited– Continued legacy
• Nucleated settlement– Reinforces social interactions
Legislated management system
• Exclusive grazing rights to hreppur
• Farm quotas for maximum number of sheep– Penalty if exceeded
• Regulated grazing season– Began given week in June– Ended given week in September
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Tjarna
rg.
Herjol
fsd.
SVK L 9t
h
VGH 10th
c
SLH LW
SVK mid
10th
HST mid
10th
HRH mid
10th
GST mid
10th
Sveiga
kot L
10th
HST e 11
th
SLH 11
th-12
th
Svalba
rð 2
Steinb
ogi c
1200
Svalba
rð 11
00-1
200
Svalba
rd 12
50-1
400
Mývatn
mea
n 171
0
Cap
rin
e p
er c
attl
e b
on
e
l 9th - e 10th c
10th c11th-12th c
Proportions of cattle and sheep change over time from 9th-11th c, varying from ca 2
-6 sheep per cow.
However, a major transition takes place ca AD 1200: now 20-25 sheep per cow.
This pattern continues to the 18th century
The wool-producing part of the flock – which uses the highlands – dramatically increases
ca 1200
Creates far greater chance of upland degradation
13th Century environmental managers were slightly
distracted...
Civil War ! •Age of the Sturlungs:
- Five Great Families struggle to control all Iceland
- Icelandic warlords seek kingship
- Everyone loses
- Iceland submits to Norway 1264
The human impacts of climate changes that were extreme (in terms of their deviation for the mean of the previous 15 years) were buffered by the drawdown of natural (landscape) capital and resulted in threshold- crossing events.
Iceland: success at a cost
• Early establishment of environmental management & regulation; sustainable exploitation of finite resources (e.g. birds)
• When faced with predictable changes (e.g. woodland clearance) adaptations were made to conserve a landscape fit for purpose
• When faced with unpredictable change (e.g. climate hazards) natural capitals could be drawn down to maintain settlement
Travel time & connectedness
• With a 12-hr travel time, all settlement connected to each other• Outer parts of fjord and skerries (seal hunting grounds) are only marginally
reached or not at all
Travel time & connectedness
• With deteriorating climate, travel conditions become more difficult• Settlements concentrate on best farmland & in greater concentration• But crucial marine food resources are now further away
Exposure to step-wise climate change
Settlement focused on marine mammals for subsistence & trade
did not endure past the climate hazards of mid 14th century
Changing world systems – a double exposure?
Plague may have reached Greenland in 15th century; it certainly caused the collapse of the Norwegian economy
(and market for ivory)
Triple exposure?
Inuit contacts: source of conflict, or source of
trade goods (furs)?
Lessons from the Viking Age
• In Greenland, successful adaptation led to the development of a rigidity trap– Path chosen by the Greenlanders created a society that could
not endure the conjunctures of climate hazard, economic change & culture contact of the mid 15th century
• In contrast to Iceland & Faroe Islands, the exploitation of marine resources in Greenland had greater exposure to climate hazards– Faroe Islands faced less extreme climate change– Icelanders could utilise greater pastoral resources (and drawn
down landscape capitals)– Greenlanders died
Lessons from the Viking Age
People can...
• Creatively adapt to new environments• Build up centuries of community-based managerial
experience• Wisely conserve fragile resources• Maintain long-term (century-scale) sustainable patterns
of life & society
• …and still face localized collapse and extinction
Lessons from the Viking Age
Scales & cross-scale interactions• Distances matter
– Utilization of dispersed resources carries cost, especially when settlements are fixed
– Dispersed systems are vulnerable to increased travel costs
• Strong communal interaction can be a strength, but collapse of a well-integrated system can kill everyone…