Paleoenvironmental perspectives on prehistoric human settlement of Arctic Norway: Implications for climate, sea-level, and land-use changes during the Iron Age

该项目将调查环境变化与挪威北极地区早期定居特征之间的关系。研究将有助于了解人类如何应对环境变化，并评估边缘地区定居点的敏感性和复原力。挪威北极地区是社会生态研究的一个重要地区，因为早期的定居点位于农业的北部边界，农业和海洋经济混合，容易受到气候和海平面变化的影响。研究将在罗弗敦群岛的遗址进行，那里的定居点在铁器时代（公元前500年-公元1100年）维京酋长统治下，从小型的开创性农业前哨发展成为重要的权力和贸易节点。这些部落的崩溃发生在铁器时代晚期，当时这些社会与向西迁移到其他北大西洋岛屿有关，这有助于传播农业、海洋和文化知识，这些知识后来被适应了这些新环境。因此，挪威北极地区的铁器时代标志着北大西洋人类历史上的一个重要时期，关于环境变化（自然的和人为的）在这段历史中为北大西洋扩张铺平道路的作用的悬而未决的问题仍然存在。拟议的项目将采用跨学科的地质考古方法来重建人与环境的相互作用。威廉玛丽学院和哥伦比亚大学的科学家和学生将与挪威考古学家一起工作：利用挪威文化遗产数据库中大部分未发表的信息，汇编和综合大量铁器时代考古研究，以便在知情的文化框架内评估自然环境变化的影响，并发展持续的、利用关键聚落附近恢复的湖泊沉积物和应用生物地球化学技术直接将人类活动与景观变化联系起来，以高分辨率重建人类对景观的影响。研究的主要目标是：(1)建立对铁器时代文化发展的更全面的理解，特别是在环境变化方面；(2)记录该地区向权力和贸易中心转变时人类住区模式的变化；(3)检验气候变率和海平面变化对人类住区模式的影响。该项目还将通过吸引本科生参与国际和跨学科研究来促进教学和培训。它将在美国和挪威的机构之间建立强有力的伙伴关系，并有包括公开讲座和开发一个全面的博物馆展览在内的外联部分，这将大大促进考古和环境科学与公众的学习和交流。

This project will investigate the relationship between environmental change and characteristics of early settlement in Arctic Norway. Research will contribute toward understanding how humans respond to environmental change, and evaluate the sensitivity and resilience of settlements in marginal locations. Arctic Norway is an important region for socio-ecological research because early settlements were at the northern limits for agriculture and had mixed agricultural and maritime economies that were susceptible to changes in climate and sea level. Research will be conducted at sites in the Lofoten Islands, where settlements developed from small pioneering agricultural outposts to prominent nodes of power and trade under Viking chiefdoms during the Iron Age (c. 500 BC-AD 1100). The collapse of these cheifdoms occurred during the late Iron Age at which time these societies were associated with westward migrations to other North Atlantic islands, which helped spread agricultural, maritime, and cultural knowledge that was subsequently adapted to suit these new environments. The Iron Age in Arctic Norway therefore marks an important period in the human history of the North Atlantic and outstanding questions remain concerning the role of environmental changes (both natural and anthropogenic) in this history that paved the way for North Atlantic expansion.The proposed project will take an interdisciplinary, geo-archaeological approach to reconstruct human-environment interactions. Scientists and students from the College of William & Mary and Columbia University will work alongside Norwegian archaeologists to: compile and synthesize a large number of Iron Age archaeological studies, using mostly unpublished information within Norwegian cultural heritage databases, in order to assess the influence of natural environmental changes within an informed cultural framework, and develop continuous, high-resolution reconstructions of human impacts on the landscape by using lake sediments recovered near key settlements and by applying biogeochemical techniques to directly link human activity with landscape changes. The main objectives are: (1) to establish a more comprehensive understanding of cultural development during the Iron Age, particularly with respect to environmental changes, (2) document the changing patterns of human settlement as the region transformed to a center of power and trade, and (3) test the hypothesis that climate variability and sea-level variations had an impact on patterns of human settlement. The project will also promote teaching and training by engaging undergraduate students in international and interdisciplinary research. It will create strong partnerships among institutions within the U.S. and in Norway, and has outreach components that involve public lectures and the development of a comprehensive museum exhibit that will significantly promote learning and communication of archaeological and environmental sciences with the general public.