From Staple to Shameful (and Back Again?): The Changing Fortunes of Seaweeds in the North Atlantic

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeophycology: New (Ethno)Archaeological Approaches to Understand the Contribution of Seaweed to the Subsistence and Social Life of Coastal Populations" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Seaweeds are in vogue: new initiatives tout seaweed farming as a solution to global problems of food insecurity that can simultaneously combat climate change through carbon sequestration and regenerate damaged marine environments. However, seaweed consumption is often presented as challenging for Western palates, requiring a significant cultural shift in order to become widely accepted. This presentation argues that seaweed exploitation was in fact widespread in the North Atlantic region until the twentieth century, and that the lack of seaweed consumption in the present day is less influenced by tradition than by industrialization, capitalism, and ideas of “modernity.” Archaeological finds of charred seaweed fragments will be interpreted in the light of ethnohistorical evidence to explore the importance of seaweeds in agriculture, diet, craft, and industry in the past, with particular reference to finds from Iceland and Norway. It is proposed that better understanding of past human relationships with seaweeds can make their use and consumption more appealing to modern consumers. However, this presentation also acknowledges the limitations of current archaeological practice and the consequent focus on finds of charred seaweed fragments and examines how we might gain a fuller understanding of past seaweed exploitation practices in regions with poor organic preservation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeophycology: New (Ethno)Archaeological Approaches to Understand the Contribution of Seaweed to the Subsistence and Social Life of Coastal Populations   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38304.0