Objects of Adaptation: The Role of Play Objects in Adaptation to Environmental Change in the North Atlantic Islands

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeology and Landscape Learning for a Climate-Changing World" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

We present a comparative analysis of Norse and Thule play objects and practices (i.e., toys and games) in the North Atlantic islands, focusing on their role in enculturation and information transmission between generations. When considered together with environmental records, this information offers insights into processes of cultural path-dependence and limits to adaptation. We explore key differences in the adaptive toolkits of Norse and Thule cultures, and their role in the contrasting fates of these cultures during the Little Ice Age. A limited but steady growth of publications has drawn attention to the formative years in Viking society, where toys delivered vital information for surviving in environment and society alike. This paper builds on the concept of landscape learning by situating the context of spatial and limitational knowledges in the social knowledge that is passed between generations as cultural adaptations. We consider toys as progenitors of cultural and environmental knowledges for the Norse and Thule cultures, and integral to how they made sense of their environments. By comparing the style and symbolism of these artifacts, and using historical and ethnographic analogies, it is possible to explore the growing divergence of adaptive strategies in the changing environments of the medieval North Atlantic.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)   •
• Archaeology and Landscape Learning for a Climate-Changing World

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37680.0