Transforming Marginality in Medieval Iceland: Landscape Reorganization on Hegranes, Skagafjörður

Summary

Eleventh century Iceland was a period of transition. The settlement of the island two centuries earlier set off cascading environmental and landscape changes whose agricultural consequences were then evident, including deforestation, erosion, and wetland alteration. Meanwhile, the rise of a wealthy landowning class altered the economic basis of society from primarily household production towards more centralized structures of rent extraction and tenancy. On Hegranes, a region in Skagafjörður, North Iceland, numerous small settlements on the margins of modern farm properties were abandoned during the 11th century. These sites are in localized areas of deep, dry soils between eroded bedrock and wetland, and while some may represent independent households, others likely served specialized functions in the service of larger farmsteads. After the sites ceased to be inhabited, they were used sporadically for livestock management over the next eight centuries. This rapid reorganization of settlement patterns and landscape use reflects simultaneous and interconnected transformations in ecological and social practice. This paper explores how the changing practices of marginal households both contributed and responded to this moment of transformation, as environmental and political factors came together to alter the material ways in which social inequality was organized and maintained.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 19910