Iceland's Agricultural History: Archaeobotany Lab Insights

Final Assignment - Archaeobotany Lab Exercise (Page 3) and Lab Report Final Assignment Methods in Archaeological Science – Spring 2020 Background Iceland was settled in the late 800s AD by seafaring people from scandinavia. From the first settlement, Icelanders farmed livestock that they brought with them and they made use of local native Icelandic plants as well as plant species that they transported from their homelands. During the first centuries of settlement, the climate seems to have been somewhat favorable for growing grain locally. But around 1250 AD, the climate became increasingly cold and variable and it seems Icelanders relied on grain imports for food rather than growing grain locally for food. Some archaeologists have suggested that the change in climate may have been due to the onset of a climatic era during the 1200´s called the “little ice age” during which the weather in the North Atlantic was more variable and more stormy than it had previously been. The little Ice age seems to end around 1900. Several scholars have proposed that barley was grown initially during the first two centuries of Icelandic settlement, but that it became difficult to grow during the little Ice Age. Iceland moss (which actually a type of lichen) could be easily collected, dried, and stored and later used in a stew-like preparation. Crowberries and bilberries were picked and eaten in the summer, which provided vitamin C. Vegetable gardening did not catch-on until after the 1700s when economic experts urged Icelanders to try farming root vegetables like potatoes and turnips. During early modern period (1500-1900), Icelanders didn’t grow grans, but imported grains from Denmark (their exclusive trading partner) and sometimes imported dried fruits. More diverse kinds of imported plant products entered Iceland after 1850, when trade expanded. Sugar became commonly available from Denmark’s connections in the Caribbean, Icelanders consumed more imported grain, and imported dried fruits regularly. A google search or library search will find you more information on these topics. You may choose to further research barley production in Iceland or the “Little Ice Age” for example, to provide more information in your final lab report. On the following pages, you will find all of the materials you need to write your final lab report.

The archaeobotanical samples you have been given (in photographs) were excavated from Skútustaðir , a farm in Northern Iceland. They were extracted using flotation (a method for separating plant remains from soil) and you will identify them using the technique of macrofloral analysis. This means that you will compare the archaeological samples in your images to images that you will find online of various plant species commonly used throughout Iceland’s history. The archaeological origin of the samples is denoted by the context number next to them (in the photo). And the context/layer is also represented in the profile drawing on the following page. There are three sample groups from three contexts. 007 015 025 Examine the soil profile drawing on the next page. Locate the contexts (layers) labeled 007, 015, 025. Now, look at the red boxes on the left side of the profile drawing. These red boxes contain numbers indicating calendar years, for example 1717. The numbers in the red boxes are labeling layers of volcanic ash that can be identified to the year 1717, 1477, 1300 and so on. The samples you have were taken from layers of household refuse that were deposited before or after the volcanic ash layers. For example, context 017 is between the volcanic ash layers dated to 1300 and 1477. This means it dates to the period after AD 1300 and before AD 1477 in calendar years. Look at the context/layer labels on your samples. Where are the contexts in the soil profile? What does this tell you about the chronology of your samples?

SUERC 20220 AD 1205-1285 SUERC 20219 AD 980-1040 V 871 V 940 K 1262 V 1477 H 1300 V 1717 Here, try to describe the temporal span of your samples based on their context number: 007 015 025

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Archaeobotany Lab Name___________________ Look at the images of plant remains that come from each layer (posted on blackboard). Try to identify the plant remains from each layer based on images you find online of common economic plants in Iceland (a list is on the final page of this packet). Make a note here of how many fragments of each plant species were present in the sample. This is how you will create data sets for your final lab report. As you write up your lab report, please follow the directions that are on your syllabus. Context 007 dates to _________-________ and contained the following plants: Context 015 dates to ___________-_________ and contained the following plants: Context 025 dates to ___________-_________ and contained the following plants:

Listed below are possible species you might identify within the photo of plant specimens from each layer. Look for photographs online of the seeds, leafs, and stems of these plants, and try to use these photos to identify the plant remains in your specimen photos. Potato (Solanum tuberosa) Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtilis) Crow berry (Empetrum nigrum) Tobacco (Nicotiana species indeterminate) Barley Grain (Hordeum vulgare) Iceland Moss (Cetratia islandica) Cherry (Prunus avium) Plum (Prunus subgen.) Date (Pheonix dactylifera) Coffee (

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