We present palaeoenvironmental, geomorphological, archaeological, and place-name data which allow a holistic assessment of the history of landscape change on Sandoy, Faroe Islands, especially in terms of the changes that occurred in response to the colonization of the island by humans. In contrast to other situations in the North Atlantic region, there is considerable continuity in the patterns and processes of landscape evolution across the initial Lawson et al. settlement horizon. Many of the characteristic features of post-settlement North Atlantic landscapes-absence of trees, widespread blanket mires, high rates of soil erosion-were already in place when the first people arrived.Although human impact on Sandoy appears to have been light, conversely, the unusual environment forced major alterations of the subsistence economy imported by the colonists. Settlement-era archaeological records suggest that, from the start, patterns of resource use differed substantially from the regional norm, and these differences became amplified over time as the Faroese economy created a locally sustainable cultural landscape.

Hovsdalur, an area delimited by the great cirques of upland central Su uroy, draining into the valley of the Hovsá and terminating in the east at the coastal amphitheatre of Hovsfjørdur, is a microcosm of the Faroes. The area contains the physical and economic features which characterize the greater part of the island group-mountain, valley, and coast, and marine, cultivation, and grazing environments. Data comprising mainly geomorphological, palynological, and pedological evidence, covering the period prior to and subsequent to the initial Norse settlement (landnám), are used to test a series of hypotheses which exemplify the human ecology of the area. Not all the hypotheses, or aspects of them, proved acceptable-the Norse period clearly coincided with a number of vegetational and pedological changes, but this must be set partly against a backdrop of long-term geomorphological activity.

Citation for published item:ghurhD wF tF nd hugmoreD eF tF nd wirsD uEeF nd willrdD eF nd gookD qF F nd veinjrnrd¡ ottirD qF nd esoughD F eF nd xewtonD eF tF nd ououxD uF @PHHUA 9ghrol prodution during the xorse nd erly medievl periods in iyjfjllhreppurD outhern selndF9D dioronFD RW @PAF ppF TSWETUPF Further information on publisher's website: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. ABSTRACT. Timber procurement and the use of woodlands are key issues in understanding the open landscapes of the Norse and Medieval periods in the North Atlantic islands. This paper outlines evidence for the timing and mechanisms of woodland use and deforestation in an area of southern Iceland, which is tracked through the mapping and analysis of charcoal production pits. Precise dating of the use of these charcoal production pits within a Bayesian framework is demonstrated through the combination of tephrochronology, sediment accumulation rates, and multiple radiocarbon dates on the archaeological charcoal. Two phases of charcoal production and woodland exploitation have been demonstrated, the first within the first 2 centuries of settlement (cal AD 870-1050) and the second phase over 100 yr later (cal AD 1185-1295). The implications for using charcoal as a medium for 14 C dating in Iceland and the wider North Atlantic are then explored. Archaeobotanical analysis of the charcoal sampled from the pits has indicated that birch roundwood was the dominant wood used, that the roundwood was stripped from larger shrubs/trees in late spring/early summer, and that certain sizes and ages of roundwood were harvested. Finally, the timing of the charcoal production is placed into the wider debate on deforestation across Iceland during the Norse and early Medieval periods.

The hugely disruptive Eyjafjallajökull eruptions of 2010 AD are well known, but the recent history of the volcano is not, which compromises both Icelandic and international hazard assessments and risk planning. This paper identifies and dates the floods caused by two flank eruptions (the c. 920 AD eruption of the Skerin ridge and 6–7th century AD activity around Miðtungugil) and clarifies understanding of c. 6th century AD central vent eruption. These specific contributions to volcanic history are used to illustrate applications of tephrochronology with widespread relevance: how to date eruptions that generate little tephra, better understand the flood hazards presented by glaciated, mountainous volcanoes and the relationship between long‐term patterns of activity in neighbouring volcanoes, in this case Eyjafjallajökull and its close (and much larger) neighbour, the volcano Katla. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.