arkeologisk tidsskrift
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Primitive tider utgis av Marie Ødegaard (redaktør), Hege Skalleberg Gjerde, Gaute Reitan, Marte Spangen, Vibeke M. Viestad og Mari Arentz Østmo
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ISSN 1501-0430
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Forsideillustrasjon: Handelsrelaterte gjenstander fra Vikingtid. Foto: Åge Hojem, NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet.
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Anmeldelse av utstillingen VÍKINGR, Kulturhistorisk Museum, Universitetet i Oslo
Brita Brenna
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In this work, based on Dufeu’s PhD thesis in the field of medieval environmental history, the author describes her research goal as ‘trying to date the emergence of commercial fishing in Iceland’ (13). Dufeu intends to answer this research question by combining archaeology, environmental sciences, and environmental history. In particular, information from historical sources, sagas, archaeozoological remains such as fish bones, and soil micromorphology analyses are employed. The author has undertaken archaeological, zooarchaeological, and geo- archaeological fieldwork, which is reflected in her argumentation.
The research focus lies on the ninth to fourteenth centuries AD, but later time periods are also taken into account (e.g. the period of intense English and Hanseatic trade with Iceland from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century). The book begins with a comprehensive summary of research undertaken in history, environmental sciences, archaeology, zooarchaeology, anthro- pology, and geoarchaeology of Iceland and the Faroes, followed by a chapter that extensively discusses different methodological and theoretical approaches to the historical research in respect of the topic. In the following chapters, the available Icelandic and Faroese archival sources and sagas are introduced. Thus, the book is based on a thorough literature review covering various disciplines and including
Dufeu, Val (2018): Fish Trade in Medieval North Atlantic Societies - An Interdisciplinary Approach to Human Ecodynamics, Amsterdam
Hans Christian Küchelmann
German Maritime Museum, Leibniz Institute for German Maritime History, Bremerhaven
most of the available primary and secondary sources concerned with the subject. The multi- disciplinary research concept is ambitious, but well designed and grounded in the existing research on the topic in the different scientific fields. The combination of the consulted disciplines shows a far-sighted and open-minded vision and approach towards the research question and makes the reader curious about the results and conclusions to come.
Dufeu then attempts to apply the outlined theoretical concepts and frameworks to the Icelandic and Faroese conditions by developing a model with categories of settlements defined by specific criteria (high-status farm, mid-rank- status farm, permanent and seasonal fishing station), which are then compared to historical, archaeological, zooarchaeological, and geo- archaeological data from four sites in Iceland (Gjögur, Akurvik, Vatnsfjörður, Skútustaðir) and two in the Faroes (Undir Junkarinsfløtti, Á Sondum).
As a result of the research, the following core hypotheses are proposed:
• The Icelandic economy was based on fisheries from the landnám period onwards, including not only for local subsistence but also to produce a commercial surplus for the European market.
• Icelandic merchants were trading regularly with Norway and other parts of Europe using their own ships.
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• Iceland and the Faroes were in the core of an economic commonwealth in the North Atlantic realm, as opposed to present-day perceptions of them being in the periphery and economically marginal. Iceland was on an equal footing with Norway in terms of trade due to the former's pro- viding the mainland regularly with dried fish.
In order to document the social and economic importance of fishing activities, Dufeu first searched historical sources and sagas for relevant evidence. Of particular interest here are property rights of coastal settlers established in the Icelandic law Grágás. For example, according to paragraph 211, the property of the landowner reaches as far out in the sea as an unsplit cod of a specific size aboard a fishing boat is visible from the coastline. The gathered evidence from historical sources and sagas is then contextualised with zooarchaeological and soil micromorphological data from settlements in the Westfjords and the Lake Myvatn region. Dufeu’s conclusion here is that fishing had a much more prominent role in the Icelandic economy from the landnám period onwards. This is much earlier than previously assumed in most historic literature. However, this argument has already been made on the basis of results of a substantial amount of zooarchaeological studies in Iceland (see e.g. Edvardsson 2005:51; 2010; Vésteinsson 2016) as well as by the historian Knut Gjerset (1922; see also Dufeu 2018:23). Thus it is not a completely new insight, though Dufeu’s research adds interesting information from historic sources and sagas as further support.
Dufeu then extends her hypothesis, suggesting that the fishing activities consisted not only of local subsistence production, but also of commercial stockfish production for the European market from the ninth century onward. This, however, is doubtful and remains so even after her arguments are presented. Several zooarcha- eological studies have elaborated a set of criteria for interpreting archaeological fish remains and retrieving information about the beginning of commercial fishing (see e.g. Perdikaris 1997;
Edvardsson 2005:63). As Ragnar Edvardsson (2005:64–5) has proven, there is evidence for
an intensive Icelandic domestic fish trade during the ninth to twelfth centuries, and this is also reflected in some of the saga sources quoted by Dufeu. Zooarchaeological signatures of highly standardised production methods, characteristic for a strictly regulated overseas trade (e.g. size standardisation), however, are observable only from the late thirteenth century onwards (e.g.
Edvardsson 2005:64–5). Corresponding with the zooarchaeological data, the ninth-to-twelfth- century sources mention export of Icelandic fish only once (Oddr in the Bandamanna saga), while the main export good mentioned regularly is vaðmal (Ebel 1977:13; 1985:119). Grágás (chapter 221) contains a list of legal currencies, among these vaðmal, but it does not include fish (Ebel 1985:117). According to Bruce E.
Gelsinger (1981: 187–8) the change to cod (skreið) as Icelandic currency occurred in the early fourteenth century. Relevant in this aspect may be the recent proof for the import of cod of the North-East Arctic Atlantic population into Viking-Age (ninth to eleventh centuries) Hedeby in Northern Germany by DNA analysis (Star et al. 2017), showing that the Norwegian Lofoten stockfish export trade was active at that time. Another interesting hint in this respect (not mentioned by Dufeu) is the Egils saga’s (chapter 17) account of the Icelander Þórólfr, who exported Norwegian stockfish from Norway to England (Ebel 1977:15; 1985: 121).
Both pieces of evidence point towards supply of stockfish in Norway and demand in England and Germany. Dufeu quotes several of the relevant papers discussing this issue, but overreaches in her conclusions. In my view, the regular export of Icelandic stockfish cannot be proven with the evidence at hand. In his analysis of the development of commercial fishing in Iceland, which utilises historical and zooarchaeological data, Orri Vésteinsson (2016:75) comes to a more convincing conclusion: ‘While it is clear that Icelanders were significant consumers of marine fish from the beginning of settlement, there is no indication of any increase in fishing that might be related to a commercialisation of the industry until the late thirteenth century’.
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Dufeu’s next hypothesis also fails to convince, as she argues that Icelandic merchants were trading regularly with Norway and other parts of Europe using their own cargo ships. To support this hypothesis, Dufeu cites Icelandic tax legislation for overseas merchants written down in 1096 (141; Diplomatarium Islandicum Vol. 1:125–7) and quotes overseas merchant activities mentioned in the Icelandic sagas (86, 101, 159). But while these sources support that Icelanders did engage in overseas trade, what remains unanswered is the extent of the trade activities, the principal actors, main locations, main goods, and developments and changes in trade activities, etc. To investigate and potentially support this hypothesis, a systematic survey of all text sources dealing with Icelandic merchant activities in the time period under study would have been necessary. Instead, the presented evidence is scattered throughout the book, and the hypothesis thus remains an insufficiently backed assumption.
The contrary view has in fact been argued quite convincingly by Else Ebel (1977; 1985), based on her analysis of Icelandic trade activities in the ninth to twelfth centuries that are mentioned in Icelandic sagas and legal sources. She lists all cases of Icelanders engaged in overseas trade mentioned in the sagas and compares them with the frequency of foreign merchants mentioned as trading in Iceland. She also points towards heritage laws for foreign merchants dying in Iceland as well as Icelanders dying abroad (Grágás, chapter 248). Her conclusion is that overseas trade was undertaken by Icelanders, on their own expense as well as in trade communities with foreign merchants (félag), but the more common pattern was that of foreign merchants (predominantly from Norway) coming to Iceland to sell their goods in the harbours (Ebel 1977:5, 16–20; 1985:112–5, 124–5). Given the present state of evidence, Ebel’s conclusion seems to be the more reliable.
Finally, Dufeu discusses the economic position of Iceland within the North Atlantic common- wealth, suggesting it was the core (‘major provider of a resource’) of the trading network
(133). While it is beyond doubt that Norse sailors were covering vast distances at sea, and that they were extraordinary skilled navigators, this is not, in my view, sufficient evidence for the far-reaching conclusion about Iceland’s position in the commonwealth. Geographically, Iceland is not well-suited to be in a centre position for the historically well-documented trade between Norway and Scotland. It is in a favourite position for trade between Greenland, North America, and Europe. There are historical sources and archaeo- logical finds making such trade connections west of Iceland likely: e.g. the Groenlendinga saga, which even describes a trade connection between Vinland and Bremen via Iceland and Norway in 1011 (chapter 9) or the Icelandic Annals, which mention a trade journey to Markland in 1347 (Ebel 1985:125). However, while such evidence is very interesting in respect of the development of globalisation, etc., an economic core position is of a different scale, for which there is presently insufficient evidence.
An interesting and convincing part of the book is the chapter dealing with soil micro- morphology analysis. With this method, it was possible to confirm the presence of fish and mammal bones in the soil by the analysis of decomposition products, where morphological analysis would not have been able to identify such bones. Regularly applied, this method could add significant new data to zooarchaeological and archaeobotanical research.
The author’s background in history may be the reason for what appears to be a limited biological knowledge, which results in the partially incorrect use of biologically defined terms like ‘species’,
‘sub-species’, or scientific taxon names. This may cause confusion, especially for readers who are also without biological knowledge. Phrases like ‘[the] total absence of animal and the sole presence of fish bones’ (190) leave, at least this reviewer as a biologist, somewhat bewildered, even if the inaccurate terminology usually can be decoded through the context (in this case the term ‘animal’ indicates ‘domestic mammals’).
While interdisciplinary approaches have much to recommend themselves, these errors may
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illustrate a common difficulty when a single researcher tries to combine many types of source materials and methods in which he or she has not specialised. This is not to discourage such efforts; on the contrary, the interdisciplinarity is a strength of Dufeu’s study. However, when she claims, on page 222, that her interdisciplinary approach to this research area is an innovation, this is simply not correct. For approximately twenty years, a considerable amount of inter- disciplinary research on fishing history, combining marine environmental history, zooarchaeology, historical marine ecology, and so forth, has been undertaken, for instance in studies related to the Oceans Past Initiative (OPI;
see Orton 2016; Poulsen 2016 or Schwerdtner- Mañez 2016 for research summaries) and the
‘Medieval Origins of Commercial Sea Fishing Project’ (e.g. Barrett 2009; Barrett and Orton 2016).
To conclude, the research is based on a stout theoretical base and shows a considerable depth of knowledge in the different fields. The introductory chapters present an interesting and far-sighted approach to the chosen topic and the interdisciplinary efforts to investigate them are commendable. However, while the hypotheses presented in the book are interesting, unfortunately, only the hypothesis concerning the extent of the ninth-to-twelfth-century fishing activities is borne out by sufficient evidence. The other conclusions are too far-reaching for the evidence and reasoning presented in the book.
Therefore, the last part of the book does not meet the expectations built up in the introductory chapters.
References:
Barrett, J. H. 2009 Cod bones and commerce: the medieval fishing revolution. Current Archaeology 221:20-25.
Barrett, J. H. and D. C. Orton (eds.) 2016 Cod & Herring.
The Archaeology & History of Medieval Sea Fishing.
Oxbow, Oxford.
Ebel, E. 1977 Kaufmann und Handel auf Island zur Sagazeit. Hansische Geschichtsblätter 95:1-26.
Ebel, E. 1985 Der regionale Handel am Beispiel Islands zur Sagazeit (dargestellt nach altnordischen Quellen).
In Untersuchungen zu Handel und Verkehr der vor- und
frühgeschichtlichen Zeit in Mittel- und Nordeuropa, Teil I: Methodische Grundlagen und Darstellungen zum Handel in vorgeschichtlicher Zeit und in der Antike, K.
Düwel, H. Jankuhn, H. Siems and D. Timpe (eds.). s.
109-126. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen.
Edvardsson, R. 2005 Commercial and Subsistance Fishing in Vestfirdir. A Study in the Role of Fishing in the Icelandic Medieval Economy. Archaeologia Islandica 4:51-67.
Edvardsson, R. 2010 The Role of Marine Resources in the Medieval Economy of Vestfirdir, Iceland. PhD-thesis.
University of New York, New York.
Gelsinger, B. E. 1981 Icelandic Enterprise. Commerce and Economy in the Middle Ages. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia.
Gjerset, K. 1922 History of Iceland. George Allen & Unwin, London.
Orton, D. C. 2016 Archaeology as a Tool for Understanding Past Marine Resource Use and Its Impact. In
Perspectives on Oceans Past. A Handbook of Marine Environmental History, K. Schwerdtner Máñez and B.
Poulsen, B. (eds.). s. 47-69. Springer, Heidelberg.
Perdikaris, S. 1997 The Transition to a commercial Economy: Lofoten Fishing in the Middle Ages, a preliminary Report. Anthropozoologica 25/26:505-510.
Poulsen, B. 2016 Human Archives: Historians' Methodologies and Past Marine Resource Use. In Perspectives on Oceans Past. A Handbook of Marine Environmental History, K. Schwerdtner Máñez and B.
Poulsen, B. (eds.). s. 71-87. Springer, Heidelberg.
Schwerdtner Máñez, K. and B. Poulsen 2016 Perspectives on Oceans Past. A Handbook of Marine Environmental History. Springer, Heidelberg.
Star, B., S. Boessenkool, A. T. Gondek, E. A. Nikulina, A.k.
Hufthammer, C. Pampoulie, H. Knutsen, C. André, H.
M. Nistelberger, J. Dierking, C. Petereit, D. Heinrich, K. S. Jakobsen, N. C. Stenseth, S. Jentoft, J. H. Barrett, 2017 Ancient DNA reveals the Arctic origin of Viking Age cod from Haithabu, Germany. – Public Library of Science one.
online: https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/
early/2017/08/01/1710186114.full.pdf; accessed 9.8.2019.
Vésteinsson, O. 2016 Commercial Fishing and the Political Economy of Medieval Iceland. In Cod & Herring. The Archaeology & History of Medieval Sea Fishing, J. H.
Barrett and D. C. Orton (eds.). s. 71-79. Oxbow, Oxford.
Primary sources:
Bandamanna saga, Íslenzk Fornrit VII, 1936
Diplomatarium Islandicum - Íslenzkt Fornbréfasafn, sem hefir inni að halda Bréf og Gjörninga, Dóma og Máldaga, og aðrar Skrár, er snerta Ísland eða Íslenzka Menn. 16 vols. Copenhagen, Reykjavik, 1857-1972
Egil’s saga, Íslenzk Fornrit II, 1932
Grágás, edited by Vilhjálmur Finsen, København 1852
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Grágás, Laws of Early Iceland, The Codex Regius of Grágás I-II, translated by Andrew Dennis, Peter Foote and Richard Perkins, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg 1980 Groenlendinga saga, The Sagas of Icelanders, Penguin Press Islandske Annaler indtil 1578, edited by G. Storm, 2000
Christiania 1888