The Missing Medieval in the North Atlantic

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Mind the Gap: Exploring Uncharted Territories in Medieval European Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeological research in the North Atlantic has overwhelmingly focused on the long-term political and environmental impacts of the Viking Age colonization of these remote, marginal islands. In places like Iceland, these impacts were profound and resulted in the radical transformation of the previously uninhabited island and the establishment of a farming landscape the has endured over the past millennium. This remarkable continuity can give the illusion of an unchanging and stable society and aspects of the archaeology, such as the enduring settlement pattern and relative paucity of preserved artifacts, make investigation of the medieval period difficult. The archaeological emphasis on the impacts of Viking Age colonization and the development of a basic Icelandic ecological pattern has resulted in a flattening of time between the Viking Age and the historically documented early modern period that tends to elide the Middle Ages as a distinct period. This paper will address the methodological difficulties of accessing and interpreting medieval Iceland and suggest ways to move forward.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Mind the Gap: Exploring Uncharted Territories in Medieval European Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22903