Doctoral Dissertation Research: Centennial Scale Human Ecodynamics at Skutustadir Iceland

This research project, will support the PhD research of doctoral student M. Hicks under the supervision of Dr. T. McGovern. The project Centennial Scale Human Ecodynamics at Skútustaðir will contribute to the understanding of long-term economic and ecological practices in N. Iceland by examining the archaeological record of a district-center farm, Skútustaðir, first settled during Iceland's initial settlement period (871-950 CE) and occupied through to the present. During this farm's long history, inhabitants experienced economic consolidation, colonialism, changes in land tenure and land use in addition to fluctuations in their natural environment including climactic change and soil depletion. These factors interacted directly with subsistence practices (McGovern et al. 2007, McGovern et al. 2006). Long term sites such as Skútustaðir would have been the social and economic backbone of their regions. Their study is crucial to generating the long term picture of settlement history, ecological history and social history in this region though time. Theoretical foundations of this research include Historical Ecology in archaeology as laid out by Carole Crumley (1994) with its concern for historical context and emphasis on long term investigations of landscapes changing through time while dialectically influenced by human activity. The project's main method is zooarchaeology which is particularly relevant in Iceland as the vast majority of dietary subsistence and economic transactions were based on animal products. The proposed field research includes the excavation of additional zooarchaeological material (animal bones) as evidence of subsistence practices from the middle ages to complete the chronology of this long term site. The research proposed includes the analysis of dated samples of eggshell already excavated- evidence of a sustainable long term tradition of egg harvesting at Skútustaðir a tradition with social and ecological dimensions in the most diverse waterfowl habitat on earth (Lake Mývatn). Archival work proposed will provide a rich social context for archaeological remains.

本研究项目将为博士生M·希克斯（M. Hicks）在T·麦戈文博士（Dr. T. McGovern）指导下开展的博士研究提供支撑。本项目为斯库图斯塔季尔百年尺度人类生态动力学（Centennial Scale Human Ecodynamics at Skútustaðir），将通过对冰岛北部一处地区中心农场——斯库图斯塔季尔的考古记录展开系统研究，助力学界深化对冰岛北部长期经济与生态实践的认知。该农场始建于冰岛首批殖民定居时期（公元871-950年），并持续沿用至今。在其漫长的发展历程中，当地居民经历了经济整合、殖民统治、土地所有制与土地利用方式的变革，同时也面临着自然环境的波动，包括气候变化与土壤退化。这些因素与当地生计实践直接相互作用（McGovern等人，2007、2006）。像斯库图斯塔季尔这样的长期定居点，曾是所在区域的社会与经济支柱。对其展开深入研究，对于完整勾勒该区域随时间推移的定居史、生态史与社会史全貌至关重要。本研究的理论基础源自卡罗尔·克拉姆利（Carole Crumley，1994）提出的考古学历史生态学（Historical Ecology in archaeology），该理论重视历史语境，强调对随时间变迁且受人类活动辩证影响的景观展开长期研究。本项目的核心研究方法为动物考古学（zooarchaeology），这一方法在冰岛极具适用性，因为当地绝大多数生计饮食与经济活动均以畜产品为基础。本次拟开展的野外研究包括发掘更多的动物考古遗存（动物骨骼），以此作为中世纪时期生计实践的实物证据，以完善这一长期定居点的年代序列。此外，本研究还将对已发掘的蛋壳测年样本展开分析——这些样本可证明斯库图斯塔季尔存在可持续的长期拾蛋传统，而该传统在地球上物种最丰富的水禽栖息地——米湖（Lake Mývatn）兼具社会与生态维度。本次拟开展的档案研究将为考古遗存提供丰富的社会语境。