Zooarchaeology and the Archaeology of Early Modern Iceland

Abstract This paper presents the bulk of existing early modern Icelandic zooarchaeological data together for the first time. The early modern period in Iceland was generally a time of great stress and hardship. These zooarchaeological data present a view of the responses to these hard times and suggest, contrary to a number of historical interpretations, that the people of Iceland often adapted to harsher conditions in dynamic ways. Given the growing effort in archaeology for this period in Iceland as well as the rest of the North Atlantic, these data are presented in the hope that it will stimulate further work and facilitate larger Atlantic comparisons.

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