Re: Cod Fish, Walrus, and Chieftains


<sigvald@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1132596953.326066.77920@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Philip Deitiker wrote:
>> In sci.archaeology, Peter Alaca created a message ID
>> news:4381d39e$0$76650$dbd41001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:
>>
>> > The Icelanders drew upon an Iron Age heritage to
>> > intensify a staple goods economy based
>> > increasingly upon preserved cod-family fish that
>> > ultimately linked them closely to the expanding
>> > proto-capitalist economies of later medieval
>> > Europe.
>> > Greenlanders instead intensified the hunting of
>> > walrus to produce the prestige goods component
>> > of the Viking Age chiefly economy.
>> > As social and environmental change intensified in
>> > the later Middle Ages, Greenland's economy failed
>> > and the colony became extinct while Icelanders
>> > survived. New zooarchaeological approaches to
>> > the study of pre-state chiefly economics are
>> > transforming our understanding of the history of
>> > this key region.
>>
>> Iceland has trees although not a great many, Greenland did
>> not. Its hard to work Iron without wood.
>> Iceland was frozen in a few times, also population
>> collapses did occurred.
>
> It is estimated that ca 30-40% of Iceland was tree covered when it was
> settled but the tree cover declined slowly at first until the almost
> the entire tree cover had disappeared by the end of the 19th century.
> (ca 2% of Iceland is tree covered today)
> Iceland was never "frozen" since the end of the last ice age, the
> glaciers started to grow after 1400 and reached maximum around 1880,
> they have been slowly reatreating since then, with the exception of the
> period 1970-2000 when many of the glaciers started to grow again.
> The population of Iceland did never collapse, it is estimated to have
> been around 75 000 in 930 and slowly declined until the late 18th
> century when the population was around 40 000 after a volcanic eruption
> that devastated a large area in the south east of Iceland.
>

Maybe Philip considered having almost the half the population die off as
being a population collapse? I would.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Cod Fish, Walrus, and Chieftains
    ... >> of the Viking Age chiefly economy. ... > Iceland has trees although not a great many, ... It is estimated that ca 30-40% of Iceland was tree covered when it was ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: News: Scientists Debate Dinosaur Demise
    ... There was once a Nova program on PBS made before the Yucatan crater ... Iceland happens to be on the mid-ocean ridge, ... Iceland is about 65 million years old, just the right age. ... Do you remember the age of the ones off the Carolinas? ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: News: Scientists Debate Dinosaur Demise
    ... There was once a Nova program on PBS made before the Yucatan crater ... Iceland happens to be on the mid-ocean ridge, ... The suggestion was that perhaps an asteriod punched ... Iceland is about 65 million years old, just the right age. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Cod Fish, Walrus, and Chieftains
    ... settled but the tree cover declined slowly at first until the almost the entire tree cover had disappeared by the end of the 19th century. ... http://tinyurl.com/b3tqw 850 BP Settlement Period ... Birch and willowcover up to1/4 of Iceland. ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: Cod Fish, Walrus, and Chieftains
    ... was settled but the tree cover declined slowly at first until the almost the entire tree cover had disappeared by the end of the 19th century. ... 1900 to present - Modern Era Iceland now consists of 1% shrub and woodland, <25% vegetated 750,000 sheep ... Small numbers of Rowan however spread along within the birch stands. ... from historical data it is not known what the vigor of the birches were. ...
    (sci.archaeology)