Chiefdom to Manor: An archaeological settlement survey of Viking Age and Medieval Skagafjordur, Iceland

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，约翰·斯坦伯格博士和他的同事们将在冰岛北部的斯卡加菲约杜尔地区进行两个季节的考古实地考察。实地考察的目的是调查这个重要的冰岛峡湾山谷的五个地区的26个农场，以了解从维京时代到早期丹麦统治（公元874-1800年）的定居模式的变化。在此期间，冰岛从一个酋邦制度转变为一个庄园组织，并入了更大的挪威国家。这项研究试图概述这种转变所涉及的因素和时机。具体来说，Skagafjordur考古聚落调查（SASS）将对选定的农场进行900多年的跟踪调查，以评估每个农场在建筑建设和经济潜力方面的变化。这项工作的结果将是家庭经济的考古特征，然后可以将其与书面来源中描述的更大的、有文件记录的政治经济联系起来。中世纪的传说写于13世纪，描述了冰岛定居（公元874-930年）和联邦（公元930-1264年）的事件。在中世纪晚期（1264-1500年）和丹麦时期（1500-1800年），一系列的税收记录揭示了庄园组织的许多情况。在殖民地和联邦时期，冰岛的社会结构从一个各自拥有大片土地的自治农民的集合，转变为一个全国性的酋长大会，最后转变为国家。在此期间，气候变得更加多变和凉爽。与此同时，过度放牧和森林砍伐破坏了相当大比例的生产性土地。中世纪和丹麦时期见证了庄园制度的兴衰。在我们的研究区域，H-lar主教辖区和其他教会组织拥有超过65%的农场。独立的农民，在第一时期受到当地酋长的追捧，最终成为了土地上的农奴。虽然消息来源告诉我们谁成功了，谁失败了，但他们没有告诉我们为什么。这个时期的大多数建筑都是用草皮建造的，现在被埋在很深的风吹沉积物中，因此几乎不可能系统地识别它们。1999年，斯坦伯格博士的nsf资助的“高风险实验研究”用电磁遥感技术解决了这些考古问题。研究表明，特定的电导率特征表明，深埋的维京时代房屋有时保存完好。一旦这些埋藏的结构被定位，用火山层序来确定它们的构造年代是常规的。如果这些传说是正确的，那么在没有强大中央政府存在的情况下，殖民时代的冰岛是相对少数几个产权形成的例子之一。另一个值得注意的例子是1849年至1852年的加利福尼亚（在它成为一个州之前），当时矿工们建立了地区。解决埋地结构问题使冰岛得以审查从最初形成产权，到发展酋长管辖地，再到并入挪威国家所发生的人口变化。SASS项目收集的考古数据将使学者们更好地了解最先定居的优势，农业经济潜力对政治成功的重要性，以及土地和劳动力比例的变化与领主和庄园制度的衰落。

With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. John Steinberg and his colleagues will conduct two seasons of archaeological fieldwork in the Skagafjordur region of Northern Iceland. The goal of the fieldwork is to survey 26 farms in five areas of this important Icelandic fjord valley to understand the changes in the settlement pattern from the Viking Age through Early Danish Rule (AD 874-1800). Over this period, Iceland was transformed from a system of chiefdoms to a manorial organization incorporated into the larger Norwegian State. The research seeks to outline the factors and timing involved in this transition. Specifically, the Skagafjordur Archaeological Settlement Survey (SASS) will track the selected farms over 900 years to assess the variation in building construction and the economic potential of each farm. The result of this work will be an archaeological characterization of the household economy, which can then be related to the larger, documented, political economy described in the written sources. The Medieval sagas, written down in the 13th century, describe the events of the Settlement of Iceland (AD 874-930) and of the Commonwealth (AD 930-1264). For the Late Medieval (1264-1500) and Danish periods (1500-1800) a series of tax records tell much about the manorial organization. During the Settlement and Commonwealth periods, Icelandic social structure changed from a collection of autonomous farmers who each held large territories, to a nationwide assembly of chieftains, and finally to state. Over this period, the climate became more variable and cooler. At the same time, overgrazing and forest clearance destroyed a substantial percentage of the productive land. The Medieval and Danish periods saw the rise and fall of the manorial system. In our study area, the Bishopric of H-lar and other church organizations owned upwards of 65% of the farms. The independent farmer, wooed by the local chieftains of the first period, ended up a serf on the land. While the sources tell us who was successful and who failed, they do not tell us why. Most buildings from these periods were constructed of turf and are now buried in deep wind-blown deposits, thereby making them almost impossible to identify systematically. In 1999, Dr. Steinberg's NSF-funded "High Risk Experimental Research" addressed these archaeological problems with electro-magnetic remote sensing techniques. The research showed that specific electrical conductivity signatures signaled deeply buried and sometimes well preserved Viking Age houses. Once these buried structures are located, dating their construction with the sequence of volcanic tephra layers is routine. If the sagas are correct, Settlement Age Iceland is one of the relatively few examples of the formation of property rights without the presence of a strong central government. The other notable example is that of 1849-1852 California (before it became a state) when miners formed districts. Solving the buried-turf-structure problem opens up Iceland to the examination of the demographic changes that took place from the initial formation of property rights, through the development of chiefdoms, and to the incorporation into the Norwegian State. The archaeological data gathered by the SASS project will allow scholars to better understand the advantages of being the first to settle a landscape, the importance of farm economic potential for political success, and the changing ratio of land and labor to the fall of the chiefly and manorial systems.