Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2015, Page 71

Harp Seals in the Icelandic Archaeofauna: Sea Ice and Hard Times
increase in the presence of harp seal bone
in the archaeological record in the 14th cen-
tury intimates a significant alteration to
the bio-geography of the harp seal at this
time. This may be linked either to a change
in capelin migratory habits and a genuine
shift in climate or, a population increase
in the Greenland Sea, perhaps linked to
the NAO (Haug et al. 1996; Hauksson &
Bogason 1997; Folkow et al. 2004: Rose
2005; Johnston et al. 2012).
Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank Sandra Granquist (Icelan-
dic Seal Centre, Hvammstangi) and Erling-
ur Hauksson (Marine Research Centre of
Breiðafjörður, Ólafsvík) for helpful advice
on the ecology and the distribution of harp
seals in Iceland. Similarly, thanks to the par-
ticipants of the Human Seal Interrelations
Workshop, University of Stockholm, No-
vember 2014, for further useful insights into
seal and human relations across northern
Europe; in particular Konrad Smiarowski
(City University of New York) for the up-to-
date information on the Svalbarð excava-
tion. I’d also like to thank Glóey Finnsdóttir
and Guðrún Þráinsdóttir for help with the
translation of Icelandic sources. Thanks
also go to the anonymous reviewers and the
editor for taking the time to provide both
positive encouragement and constructive
feedback on this paper. The responsibility
for any erroneous interpretation of data or
sources lies exclusively with me.
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