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University of Nebraska - Lincoln

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

North Atlantic

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

A Fishing Farm In The West Fjords Of Iceland: A Preliminary Report Of The Archaeofauna From Gjögur, Yekaterina Krivogorskaya, Sophia Perdikaris, Thomas H. Mcgovern May 2005

A Fishing Farm In The West Fjords Of Iceland: A Preliminary Report Of The Archaeofauna From Gjögur, Yekaterina Krivogorskaya, Sophia Perdikaris, Thomas H. Mcgovern

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

The date for the onset of full scale commercial fisheries in Iceland remains somewhat controversial, but thus far the earliest radiocarbon dated seasonal fishing station (11th- 13th century) is in NW Iceland’s Strandasýsla County at Akurvík. This paper presents a preliminary report of the ongoing analysis of the large archaeofauna from the farm mound at Gjögur, 3 km from Akurvík, places the site of Gjögur in the wider context of the NW region of Iceland by comparing the site with the Akurvík archaeofauna, and outlines new methodologies of reconstructing live fish size and age based on recovered fish bones. Although …


Fishing Booths And Fishing Strategies In Medieval Iceland: An Archaeofauna From The [Site] Of Akurvík, North-West Iceland, Colin Amundsen, Sophia Perdikaris, Thomas H. Mcgovern, Yekaterina Krivogorskaya, Matthew Brown, Konrad Smiarowski, Shaye Storm, Salena Modugno, Malgorzata Frik, Monica Koczela Jan 2005

Fishing Booths And Fishing Strategies In Medieval Iceland: An Archaeofauna From The [Site] Of Akurvík, North-West Iceland, Colin Amundsen, Sophia Perdikaris, Thomas H. Mcgovern, Yekaterina Krivogorskaya, Matthew Brown, Konrad Smiarowski, Shaye Storm, Salena Modugno, Malgorzata Frik, Monica Koczela

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

Excavations in 1990 in North-West Iceland documented a stratified series of small turf structures and associated midden deposits at the eroding beach at Akurvík which date from the 11th–13th to the 15th–16th centuries AD. The site reflects a long series of small discontinuous occupations, probably associated with seasonal fishing. The shell sand matrix had allowed excellent organic preservation, and an archaeofauna of more than 100,000 identifiable fragments was recovered. The collections are dominated by fish, mainly Atlantic cod, but substantial amounts of whale bone suggest extensive exploitation of strandings or active whaling. This paper briefly summarizes the excavation results, presents …


Puffins, Pigs, Cod, And Barley: Palaeoeconomy At Undir Junkarinsfløtti, Sandoy, Faroe Islands, Mike J. Church, Símun V. Arge, Seth Brewington, Thomas H. Mcgovern, Jim M. Woollett, Sophia Perdikaris, Ian T. Lawson, Gordon T. Cook, Colin Amundsen, Ramona Harrison, Yekaterina Krivogorskaya, Elaine Dunbar Jan 2005

Puffins, Pigs, Cod, And Barley: Palaeoeconomy At Undir Junkarinsfløtti, Sandoy, Faroe Islands, Mike J. Church, Símun V. Arge, Seth Brewington, Thomas H. Mcgovern, Jim M. Woollett, Sophia Perdikaris, Ian T. Lawson, Gordon T. Cook, Colin Amundsen, Ramona Harrison, Yekaterina Krivogorskaya, Elaine Dunbar

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

This paper reports on the zooarchaeological and archaeobotanical remains from the initial season of excavations at the Norse period site at Undir Junkarinsfløtti in the Faroe islands. These remains represent the first zooarchaeological analysis undertaken for the Faroes and only the third archaeobotanical assemblage published from the islands. The excavated deposits are described and the key findings from the palaeoenvironmental remains highlighted within the context of the wider North Atlantic environmental archaeology of the Norse period.


Coping With Hard Times In Nw Iceland: Zooarchaeology, History, And Landscape Archaeology At Finnbogastaðir In The 18th Century, Ragnar Edvarsson, Sophia Perdikaris, Thomas H. Mcgovern, Noah Zagor Jan 2004

Coping With Hard Times In Nw Iceland: Zooarchaeology, History, And Landscape Archaeology At Finnbogastaðir In The 18th Century, Ragnar Edvarsson, Sophia Perdikaris, Thomas H. Mcgovern, Noah Zagor

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

During a cooperative archaeological project in NW Iceland (Strandasýsla) involving the Icelandic National Museum and Hunter College of the City University of New York.1990 season, a small rescue excavation at the site of Finnbogastaðir generated a quantifiable collection of animal bones dating to the early modern period, mainly to the 18th century. The 18th c was a period of hardship in much of Iceland, with widespread tenantry, adverse climate, and degradation of many terrestrial landscapes posing severe challenges to poor farmers- perhaps most intensely in the Vestfirðir. The animal bone collection from Finnbogastaðir reflects a multi-stranded subsistence economy involving seals, …


Regional Zooarchaeology And Global Change: Problems And Potentials, Thomas Amorosi, James Woollett, Sophia Perdikaris, Thomas Mcgovern Jun 1996

Regional Zooarchaeology And Global Change: Problems And Potentials, Thomas Amorosi, James Woollett, Sophia Perdikaris, Thomas Mcgovern

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

Zooarchaeology is a potentially critical tool for the reconstruction of past regional landscapes. The subfield is increasingly being asked to contribute to long-term studies of human interaction with the environment associated with national and international investigations of past and future global change. Intersite comparison of animal bone collections (archaeofaunas) is central to such regional approaches. However, zooarchaeologists have identified many factors of deposition, attrition, recovery, and analysis that might appear to make such comparisons problematic. Using selected examples drawn from the North Atlantic and Eastern Arctic, this paper suggests that, while intersite comparison is not a trivial problem, it may …