Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2011, Page 40

TRBOJEVIC N., MOONEY D. E. AND BELL A. J.
contribution towards determining the total
extent of woodlands that would have been
cleared to provide sufficient firewood on a
yearly basis, and hence over the period of
the first 60 years of human habitation.
However, this study has focused solely
on the domestic requirements of early
Icelandic households, without taking into
account the further wood-cutting entailed
by charcoal production for metalworking
and iron smelting. Charcoal production
requires considerable quantities of wood,
with 100 kg of fresh wood yielding
approximately 18 - 25 kg of charcoal
(Gjerloff & Sorensen 1997). Further to
this, smelting requires a 1:1 ratio of
charcoal to iron ore, with additional
charcoal essential to heat the fumace to a
suitable temperature. This necessitates
around 60 kg of charcoal (from c. 300 kg
of fresh wood) to smelt 15 kg of iron ore
(Gjerloff & Sorensen 1997). Combining
this data with the measurements from
Eiríksstaðir, it can be demonstrated that
the smelting of 15 kg of iron ore would
require the equivalent of 5.48 days worth
of wood at domestic use rates: the
clearance of approximately 60 m2 of
woodland. Adding these requirements to
the domestic prerequisites outlined by this
study, it is clear to see that in areas where
wood was the sole or main fuel, the
demands placed on the Icelandic
woodlands would be huge, and the sheer
quantities of wood required oblige
researchers to consider the question of
woodland management.
Historical sources suggest that some
level of woodland management did take
place in pre-modem Iceland. Surveys have
shown that in the 18th century,
approximately half of Icelandic farms still
had access to woodland for firewood
collection (Vésteinsson & Simpson 2004,
Dugmore et al 2005), which questions the
scale of deforestation and invites
investigations into the stability of
woodland resources after landnám. In
Þjórsárdalur, in south-west Iceland, it has
been inferred from rates of sediment
accumulation that the survival of woodland
here is due to management, beginning
around the 13th century (Dugmore et al
2007). Indeed, managed woodland
landscapes are not unknown in modem
Iceland. Stands of coppiced woodland
remain at various locations in Iceland,
including Þórsmörk, Hallormsstaður and
Fnjóskadalur (Dugmore et al 2005). It has,
however, been posited that woodland
management was introduced much earlier
on other parts of the country than in
Þjórsárdalur. An example of this comes
from Mývatnssveit, at the sites of Hofstaðir
and Sveigakot. Soil micromorphological
analysis of sediments from pre- and
post-AD 950 show that while the presence
of wood ash residues remains constant at
Hofstaðir, after AD 950 at Sveigakot there
is an increased reliance on less efficient
fuels such as animal dung (Simpson et al
2003). It is suggested that afler this time
regulation of access to fuel resources and
management of woodlands raised the
productivity of woodlands for use by
higher-status sites (e.g. Hofstaðir), while
occupants of lower-status sites (e.g.
Sveigakot) were driven to resort to more
marginal fiiel resources (Simpson et al
2003, Simpson 2009). However,
palynological studies from this region
suggest a steady decline in woodland from
38