Governance and Globalization in the North Atlantic

Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Governance and Globalization in the North Atlantic," at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The colonization of the North Atlantic and the immediate, persistent engagement in interrregional trade represents the earliest known transatlantic commercial and political projects. Since their settlement, these islands and archipelagoes (Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Shetland Islands, Orkney Islands) have undergone social and political transitions in which distinct forms of interregional economies, governance, and cultures congeal. We might contend that North Atlantic societies moved through several thresholds of globalization that manifested materially in conjunction with highly specific social institutions. This session seeks to move conversations and debates beyond the presentation of evidence for long-distance exchange, which is robust for this region, and instead use material evidence as a springboard for understanding how interregional economies in the North Atlantic were structured and mediated via specifically governed and institutionalized relationships.

Other Keywords
Iceland • Church • Land Use • Economy • Zooarchaeology • Marine Resources • Environmental Archaeology • Christianization • Social institutions • globalization

Geographic Keywords
North Atlantic • Iceland • Vesturland (State / Territory) • Vestfirdhir (State / Territory) • Reykjavik (State / Territory) • Sudhurland (State / Territory) • Republic of Iceland (Country) • Nordhurland Eystra (State / Territory) • Austurland (State / Territory) • Nordhurland Vestra (State / Territory)

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-5 of 5)

  • Documents (5)
Documents
  • Christian Conversion and the Emergence of Local Political Economies in 11th Century Iceland (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Douglas Bolender.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Governance and Globalization in the North Atlantic", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. The Christian conversion of Iceland at the beginning to the 11th century marks the integration of the island into the broader European religious community and the institutional hierarchy of the Catholic church. Archaeological work shows that the conversion entailed a rapid replacement of pagan practice and adoption of...

  • Dried Fish Trade and the Social and Political Landscape of Viking Age Iceland (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Grace M Cesario.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Governance and Globalization in the North Atlantic", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Evidence of small, non-independent dwelling sites on Hegranes, located in Skagafjörður, north Iceland, dates back to the Viking Age settlement of the region. These sites specialized, among other things, in the production of dried gadid fish products which were an early artisanal precursor to the more standardized stockfish...

  • The Ecclesiastical Economy. The Power of the Church in Post-Reformation Iceland (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Gavin M. Lucas.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Governance and Globalization in the North Atlantic", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. This paper explores the way the Bishop's seat of Skálholt in south Iceland managed its diocese during the 17th and 18th centuries and especially, its role in mediating the global and the local through its administrative structure. Drawing on both the rich archaeological research at the site and a wealth of documentary...

  • The Icelandic Cooperative Movement: Constitutive Practices and Localized Influences (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Megan T. Hicks.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Governance and Globalization in the North Atlantic", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. In the late 19th century, farmers in Þíngeyjarsýsla, Northern Iceland collectively organized in order to claim greater sovereignty over their interactions with international capitalist markets in an economic scene dominated by Danish merchants. This Kaupfélag movement soon became an island-wide phenomenon. This paper...

  • Meeting a Region of Archaeology within its History of North Atlantic Market Relations (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Ramona Harrison.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Governance and Globalization in the North Atlantic", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. This paper presents a interdisciplinary perspective on the long-distance market relations between and within the regional Hinterlands of an Icelandic trading station, and the socio-economic organization and structures in place.   While the main part of the presentation will focus on the 12th to 14th century evidence from both...