Doctoral Dissertation Research: Centennial Scale Human Ecodynamics at Skutustadir Iceland

本研究项目，将支持博士研究生M·希克斯在T·麦戈文博士的指导下进行的博士生研究。斯库图斯塔的百年人类生态动力学项目将通过考察一个以地区为中心的农场斯库图斯塔的考古记录，帮助理解冰岛北部的长期经济和生态实践，斯库图斯塔的农场最初是在冰岛的最初定居期(公元871-950)期间定居的，一直居住到现在。在这个农场漫长的历史中，居民经历了经济巩固、殖民主义、土地保有权和土地使用的变化，以及自然环境的波动，包括气候变化和土壤枯竭。这些因素与维持生计的做法直接相互作用(麦戈文等人)。2007年，麦戈文等人。2006)。像斯库图斯塔这样的长期地点将成为其地区的社会和经济支柱。他们的研究对于通过时间生成该地区聚落历史、生态历史和社会历史的长期图景至关重要。这项研究的理论基础包括Carole Crumley(1994)提出的考古学中的历史生态学，它关注历史背景，强调长期研究受人类活动辩证影响而随时间变化的景观。该项目的主要方法是动物考古学，这在冰岛特别相关，因为绝大多数的饮食、生存和经济交易都是以动物产品为基础的。拟议的实地研究包括挖掘额外的动物考古材料(动物骨骼)，作为中世纪生存习俗的证据，以完成这一长期遗址的年代学。建议进行的研究包括对已经出土的蛋壳样本进行分析--这是Skútusta iir可持续的长期采蛋传统的证据，这一传统在地球上最多样化的水禽栖息地(Mèvatn湖)具有社会和生态层面。提出的档案工作将为考古遗迹提供丰富的社会背景。

This research project, will support the PhD research of doctoral student M. Hicks under the supervision of Dr. T. McGovern. The project Centennial Scale Human Ecodynamics at Skútustaðir will contribute to the understanding of long-term economic and ecological practices in N. Iceland by examining the archaeological record of a district-center farm, Skútustaðir, first settled during Iceland's initial settlement period (871-950 CE) and occupied through to the present. During this farm's long history, inhabitants experienced economic consolidation, colonialism, changes in land tenure and land use in addition to fluctuations in their natural environment including climactic change and soil depletion. These factors interacted directly with subsistence practices (McGovern et al. 2007, McGovern et al. 2006). Long term sites such as Skútustaðir would have been the social and economic backbone of their regions. Their study is crucial to generating the long term picture of settlement history, ecological history and social history in this region though time. Theoretical foundations of this research include Historical Ecology in archaeology as laid out by Carole Crumley (1994) with its concern for historical context and emphasis on long term investigations of landscapes changing through time while dialectically influenced by human activity. The project's main method is zooarchaeology which is particularly relevant in Iceland as the vast majority of dietary subsistence and economic transactions were based on animal products. The proposed field research includes the excavation of additional zooarchaeological material (animal bones) as evidence of subsistence practices from the middle ages to complete the chronology of this long term site. The research proposed includes the analysis of dated samples of eggshell already excavated- evidence of a sustainable long term tradition of egg harvesting at Skútustaðir a tradition with social and ecological dimensions in the most diverse waterfowl habitat on earth (Lake Mývatn). Archival work proposed will provide a rich social context for archaeological remains.