Problematic but promising ponds? Palaeoenvironmental evidence from the Norse Eastern Settlement of Greenland

Abstract

Pollen-and related proxy-based studies of human-environment interactions during the Norse and later periods within Greenland have primarily involved the investigation of peat, lake and soil deposits, all of which have taphonomic and sampling problems. Many small ponds exist, but they seem to have been relatively ignored in investigations of palaeoecologically based environmental history. To evaluate their usefulness for studies of ecologically related cultural history, especially where sites are in intimate association with the archaeology, a pond in the Norse Eastern Settlement has been examined to investigate three principal questions: (i) Does such a site contain a useful record of environmental history? (ii) Does it offer a record of sufficient resolution and sensitivity for the study of anthropogenic landscape impacts? (iii) Are there any apparent drawbacks to these sequences? Using data obtained from palynological, diatom, sedimentological and radiocarbon analyses, it is concluded that environmental data for each proxy -aside from 14 C dating -are clearly capable of being explained in a reasonably straightforward and compatible manner and fulfil the hopes for the sampling medium.

Towards a First Chronology for the Middle Settlement of Norse Greenland: 14C and Related Studies of Animal Bone and Environmental Material

“…Table 1) show that 9 14 C dating estimates fit totally or substantially within the nominal period of Norse settlement (cal AD 985-1450; Arneborg 1996; Seaver 2010; see discussion in Edwards et al 2011), while a tenth date (SUERC-38642) does so partly. The suspicion that 3 samples from site M21 might be modern, or perhaps non-contemporaneous with the group of bones that had a more aged aspect, would appear to be borne out by the 14 C estimates on 2 Ovis/Capra samples (both from house 1-2), which range from cal AD 1516-1953 (Raven et al 2002), differing significantly from terrestrial C 3 plants.…”

A multiproxy evaluation of Holocene environmental change from Lake Igaliku, South Greenland

“…Yet, Holocene climate records show distinct differences between the outer and the inner coastal region elsewhere in Greenland (Perren et al this volume) and the inner fjord regions represent an important ecoclimatic zone, which is unique in Greenland. Existing paleoenvironmental archives from this inner fjord region have mainly been studied for the evaluation of Norse impact during the last millennium (e.g., Fredskild 1992;Edwards et al 2011) as has the Lake Igaliku site (Gauthier et al 2010;Massa et al 2012;Perren et al 2012). However, in addition to its archaeological significance, this lacustrine sequence situated in the Norse Eastern Settlement contains an archive of *10,000 years of natural climatic and environmental evolution in a critical location for paleoclimatic studies in the North Atlantic.…”

Taphonomy or signal sensitivity in palaeoecological investigations ofNorselandnáminVatnahverfi, southernGreenland?

“…; Edwards et al . ), these studies are from minerotrophic mires with small relevant source areas for pollen (RSAPs; cf. Sugita ; Bunting et al .…”

“…Problems with radiocarbon dating (Edwards et al . , ) and hiatuses within the sediment column (Schofield et al . ; Schofield & Edwards ) have also been encountered.…”