Theme:
5. (Extreme) Environments – Islands, Coasts, Margins, Centres
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
CANCELLED Environmental and Economic Divergence or Convergence in the Coastal Islands of Europe [PaM]
Content:
The small islands off the coasts of Europe present archaeologists with the opportunity to study the sustainability and resilience of complex socioecological systems over time using both traditional and new methodologies. Do these islands lack socioecological resilience as vividly stated by Ellwood (1968) “over one thousand people crowding on to Rathlin's flat windswept mass is almost an insult to nature” or is this just a modern perception? These questions can only be tackled by diachronic or historical approaches. At first glance the dramatic histories of population loss, even abandonment, of many coastal islands would seem to support such views. But was this always true, was it inevitable, and were there divergences from such narratives and if so, why? Underpinning these questions is the relative resource advantages/disadvantages and cultural significance of islands - which includes aspects of marine resources, protection and communications.
The semi-bounded nature of islands also allows and closer match between environmental data (from pollen to sedaDNA) and the local economy. Such questions have underlain archaeological investigations in the last few years in the Celtic Sea, N Ireland and S Hebrides, Northern and Outer Hebrides, Northern Isles, Mid and Northern Norway, Baltic Sea as well as many areas of the Mediterranean. Islands can also be challenging for the elucidation of environmental histories with a limited range of suitable sites and sometimes significant logistical challenges. Most studies have used traditional environmental techniques from geoarchaeology and palaeoecology supported by radiocarbon dating, but also new methods such as sedaDNA, biomarkers (e.g. fecal stanols, bile acids, leaf waxes and other biomarkers) and direct sediment dating (e.g. luminescence methods) have high potential especially in coastal contexts. This is exemplified by studies that can extend the subsistence-base that can be derived from studies of middens and refuse mounds. This session welcomes papers using all approaches to island habitation histories from the Palaeolithic to the Post-medieval periods.
Keywords:
insularity, palaeoeconomy, defense, environmental archaeology, fishing, agricultural subsistence
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
PaM
Main organiser:
Antony Brown (United Kingdom) 1
Co-organisers:
Stephen Wickler (Norway) 2
Jen Harland (United Kingdom) 3
Affiliations:
1. Palaeo Lab, University of Southampton, UK
2. University Museum, Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
3. Archaeology Institute, University of the Highlands and Islands, Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland
THIS SESSION CAN NOT BE SELECTED AT THIS MOMENT