Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2011, Qupperneq 40

Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2011, Qupperneq 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
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Archaeologia Islandica

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