Sustainability and resilience in the Norse North Atlantic
An example from the Faroe Islands
Seth D. Brewington___________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________
Graduate School and University Center, CUNY, New York
HERC Open Workshop 2012The Graduate Center, New York
15 October 2012
HERC
Source: http://mapsof.net/map/map-of-faroe-islands-in-europe
“Sheep Letter” (Seyðabrævið) (1298)
Source: Lund University Library; http://laurentius.ub.lu.se/volumes/Mh_15/14.html
Source: Ian Lawson
Source: http://www.maps-of-the-world.com/mappages/Faroe_Islands_map.htm
UJF excavation: 2003 – 2006 seasons
Photos: S Brewington
Undir Junkarinsfløtti (UJF) archaeofauna
UJF 0 UJF 1 UJF 2 UJF 3 Total
Domestic Mammals 20 144 362 761 1,287
Whales 5 6 89 14 114
Seals 0 1 13 9 23
Birds 194 3,192 7,600 14,497 25,483
Fish 492 6,473 1,190 2,718 10,873
Shellfish 678 1,212 7,864 12,151 21,905
NISP 1,389 11,028 17,118 30,150 59,685
Medium Terrestrial Mammal 60 280 914 2,207 3,461
Large Terrestrial Mammal 5 28 35 119 187
Unidentified Fragments 368 1,586 3,109 6,645 11,708
TNF 1,822 12,922 21,176 39,121 75,041
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
UJF 0 UJF 1 UJF 2 UJF 3
% N
ISP
Total UJF Archaeofauna
Domestic Mammals Whales Seals Birds Fish Shellfish
Domesticates
Mollusk
Fish
Seabird
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
% N
ISP
Domestic Mammals Cetacea Seals Birds Fish Mollusca Caribou Other Mammals
Relative proportion of wild resources
Norway Iceland Iceland GreenlandFaroes Faroes Faroes
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
UJF 0 UJF 1 UJF 2 UJF 3
% N
ISP
Total UJF Archaeofauna
Domestic Mammals Whales Seals Birds Fish Shellfish
Mollusk
Fish
Seabird
Domesticates
Source: http://www.maps-of-the-world.com/mappages/Faroe_Islands_map.htm
Argisbrekka
Acknowledgements
Símun Arge (Føroya Fornminnissavn)Dr Thomas McGovern (Hunter College, CUNY)Dr Sophia Perdikaris (Brooklyn College, CUNY)Dr Andrew Dugmore (University of Edinburgh)Dr Mike Church (Durham University)Dr Julie Bond (University of Bradford)Stephen Dockrill (University of Bradford)Helgi Michelsen (Føroya Fornminnissavn)Dorete Bloch (Føroya Náttúrugripasavn) Special thanks are also due the people of Sandur for their enthusiastic support of the
excavations at Undir Junkarinsfløtti This research was made possible by the generous support of the National Science
Foundation’s “Arctic Social Sciences Program,” the Leverhulme Trust’s “Landscapes Circum Landnám” project, the “Heart of the Atlantic” project, and the PSC-CUNY grants program.
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