Sustainability and Resilience in the

North Atlantic

Norse migration and potential subsequent trade

routes Norse settlement of North Atlantic

The Vikings

Viking Age Westward Expansion

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 Europe

Open landscape

Marginal grain production

Pilot whales

Birds and fish

Iceland:

Large island-

Extensive interior

Woodlands

Bog iron deposits

Very marginal arable cultivation

No terrestrial mammals

Birds and fish

Greenland:

Very large island-

Distant resources

Short summer/pack ice

No accessible iron

Pastoralism challenging

Caribou

Migrating seals

Other societies

1: 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

Sandur, Sandoy

Unðir Junkarinsfløtti

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

outcomes- deforestation & erosion

The Great Hall at Hofstaðir

Sveigakot

“Great Hall”

Skutustaðir, Lake Myvatn

Iceland

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

Western Settlement, Greenland

Eastern Settlement, Greenland

Different choices & outcomes 1: Faroes

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

Communal

provisioning

Birding cliffs

Sea

Outfield

Village

(Infield)

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

Different choices & outcomes 2: Iceland

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

Tjar

narg

.

Her

jolfs

d.

SVK L

9th

VGH 1

0th

c

SLH

LW

SVK m

id 1

0th

HST

mid 1

0th

HRH m

id 1

0th

GST

mid 1

0th

Sve

igak

ot L

10t

h

HST

e 11

th

SLH

11t

h-12

th

Sva

lbar

ð 2

Ste

inbo

gi c 1

200

Sva

lbar

ð 11

00-1

200

Sva

lbar

d 12

50-1

400

Mýv

atn

mea

n 17

10

Ca

pri

ne

pe

r c

att

le 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

Different choices & outcomes 3:

Greenland

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 15th 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)?

Summary from the Viking Age cases

• 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

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…