Metallurgical findings from a Viking Age chieftain’s farm in Iceland

The metalworking, metal import, and use of metal in medieval Iceland is still little understood. When the Scandinavian settlers colonized Iceland in the 9th c. AD, the island was found to contain no useful metal deposits save for bog iron, and the deforestation that followed the settlement resulted in a scarcity of wood. Only in the last decades have archaeological excavations begun to unravel how the first Icelanders dealt with this lack of resources. This paper presents the metallurgical findings from a Viking Age chieftain's farmstead at Hrísbrú in the Mosfell valley, located just outside Iceland’s present-day capital Reykjavik. The excavated metal objects had all been crafted with good workmanship employing technology similar to that used in mainland Scandinavia. However, most excavated metal finds show evidence of re-use, which together with the second-grade metal in some of the objects indicates a shortage of raw material that prompted the Icelandic colonizers to improvise and make do with whatever material was at hand.     

Diatoms as bioindicators of site use: locating turf structures from the Viking Age

Diatoms recovered from archaeological features on a Viking Age farmstead excavation in the Mosfell Valley in southwestern Iceland are utilized as microscopic indicators of turf-based structures. Eroded turf can be difficult to distinguish macroscopically from naturally occurring sediments because turf foundations erode and melt into the landscape over time, leaving minimal evidence of site use. Turf was a principle building component in Iceland until the early 20th century. Turf strips and blocks were harvested from lowlands where organically rich peat and abundant water contributed to the development of bog plants with thick root mats that produced premium turf. Diatoms embedded in turf reflect the ecological conditions of the peat-bog at the time of deposition. Turf was cut from the bog and transported to higher elevations where drainage was more conducive to house construction. Siliceous diatom frustules are resistant to decay and preserve well archaeologically. The presence of diatoms in archaeological sediments is considered a marker of sediment provenience and an indication of human site use and anthropogenic modification of natural substrates. This paper demonstrates how diatom analysis can determine the presence and delimitation of archaeological features otherwise difficult to distinguish with the naked eye.     

Faces of Archaeology: A Photographic Portrait Study from the Seventh World Archaeological Congress

During the Seventh World Archaeological Congress (WAC-7), convened in Jordan in January of 2013, the Faces of Archaeology project captured over 100 portraits of the attendees. This project was formed to document the diverse population of archaeologists and other heritage workers from around the world and to explore and make visible more intangible questions of identity and representation in archaeology. The portraits were subsequently displayed online and at the Theoretical Archaeology Group Meetings in the USA and Turkey. This combined article and photo essay presents a selection of these photos, discusses unexpected outcomes of the project, and provides thoughts on diversity and representation in world heritage.     

Paying attention to dreams in early medieval normative sources (400–900): countering non‐Christian practices or negotiating Christian dreaming?

Early medieval Christian cultures found important roles for dreams and visions, while at the same time perpetuating learned traditions advising suspicion of dreams and warning of the dangers of the wrong kinds of dreams. This article examines prohibitions against the heeding or interpretation of dreams and the transmission of these prohibitions in early medieval normative sources (canonical collections, penitentials, and royal and episcopal capitularies). It argues that such prohibitions were less likely related to any non‐Christian practices involving dreams than they were motivated by a need to define conceptual places for Christian dreaming. On the one side lay concerns about dreams arising from patristic writings, chiefly those of Gregory the Great; on the other was the importance of dreams in Christian cult and thought.     

Wetland assessment and impact mitigation decision support framework for linear development projects: The Louis Riel Trail,Highway 11 North project,Saskatchewan, Canada

Next to agriculture, road development is one of the most significant sources of stress to wetlands in Prairie Canada. However, there currently exists limited guidance for incorporating direct, indirect, and induced effects to wetlands in impact assessment and mitigation planning for small and often routine developments, including access roads or highway improvement initiatives. Based on the Louis Riel Trail, Highway 11 North twinning project in Saskatchewan, Canada, this article demonstrates a methodological approach and decision support framework for assessing and managing direct, indirect, and induced effects to wetlands from linear developments. No regulatory‐based environmental assessment was required for the highway project; effects were deemed to be insignificant under current wetland mitigation practices. However, our results show that 1115 ha of potentially affected wetlands are located within a 500 m impact zone on either side of the proposed highway. More than 50 percent of these wetlands are seasonal, less than 1 ha in size, and typically not included in mitigation planning. An expert‐based multi‐criteria evaluation of impact and mitigation options for wetlands in the study area indicated “no net loss” as a planning priority, and a preference for a spatially ambitious mitigation plan focused on direct, indirect, and potentially induced impacts. In practice, however, mitigation is often restrictive, focused on mitigating only direct impacts within the project's right‐of‐way, in this case less than 50 ha of wetlands, resulting in the potential for significant net loss of wetland habitat and function. If the risk to wetlands is to be given due consideration in project planning and development for roads and road improvement initiatives, then structured assessment methods and decision support frameworks should be sensitive to the time and resource constraints of small projects and screening‐type assessments. This requires also that wetland mitigation policies are developed and implementation plans formulated as part of project planning and assessment initiatives for linear developments.     

Growing older and social sustainability: considering the ‘serious leisure’ practices of the over 60s in rural communities

The important role which older people play in rural community development through their various activities has become a substantive area of interest across social science disciplines, including gerontology, sociology, psychology and human geography. Reflecting the demographic shift of an ageing countryside within many parts of the global north, the future of rural social policy initiatives will increasingly depend on a nuanced appreciation of the social and voluntary activities undertaken by the growing older population. We seek to expand this focus to consider the social value of these practices for both the individual and the particular communities of which they are a part, and make a case for ‘serious leisure theory’ (Stebbins 1982) as a potentially rich seam for exploring these relations. This is put into practice through a case study involving the over 60s residents of a village in rural Wales, and through in-depth interviews we draw attention to their role in securing socio-economic sustainability in the locality through voluntary, hobby-based and amateur pursuits. In conclusion, we consider the analytical merits and limitations of serious leisure theory and, more broadly, the implications of the political fashioning of community-engaged older people as exemplar public citizens in the context of ongoing neoliberal welfare reforms.     

Terra Economica: Waste and the Production of Enclosed Nature

Abstract: This essay provides an analysis of the “dirty” history and geography of enclosure, as both an instance of primitive accumulation and a production of nature. Specifically, I reconsider the English enclosures as a struggle over the land‐use designation of “waste”. Whereas both open fields and common waste lands were an essential and valuable part of the common right economy, advocates of enclosure came to see these same lands as wasted commons; lands that were potentially, but not yet, improved. This dialectic of waste and potential permeates the fabric of the nature produced through enclosure, which I name terra economica. Typically, this terrain has been understood as a passive repository of free resources, extending across absolute space. While such accounts consider the making of nature into a universal means of production, it is equally important to consider the ways in which nature is produced as a universal condition of production.