John M. Steinberg

The Viking Age settlement pattern of Langholt, North Iceland: Results of the Skagafjörður Archaeological Settlement Survey

An archaeological survey of the Viking Age settlement pattern in the Langholt region of North Iceland suggests that being early in this sequence conferred tremendous advantages to the settlers of this previously uninhabited landscape. Many of the farms established during the settlement of Iceland (which began about a.d. 870) are in use today. However, accessing the Viking Age landscape is difficult. In Langholt the earliest layers of most farmsteads are buried under a thousand years of occupational debris, while the abandoned sites have been covered by extensive soil deposition. Here we report on our coring and test excavation results that outline Viking Age farmstead location, establishment date, and maximum size by the end of the Viking Age. There is a strong correlation between farmstead size and establishment date. This correlation suggests that during the rapid settlement of Iceland, the farmsteads established by earlier settlers were wealthier and that wealth endured.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARASITES AS INDICATORS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE IN URBANIZING LANDSCAPES: IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL STATUS

Using archaeological data of two human intestinal parasites from seventeenth- to early twentieth-century contexts, we explore the intersection of biological and cultural variables that shaped the ecology of cities in northeastern North America during the modern period. These parasites are useful because they require a developmental period in the soil, thus providing a link between human activities and changing environments. Prior to the last decades of the eighteenth century, Trichuris eggs dominate the archaeoparasitological assemblage. Around 1800, there is a shift to increasing proportions of Ascaris eggs, which appears to be largely complete by 1850—a period of increasing urbanization in the northeast United States. Both environmental and behavioral factors play a role in this shift and include the relationship between parasite biology and changing microenvironments, attempts to deal with waste, and use of urban spaces. During this period, poorer households would likely have been at greater risk of parasites because of the ways they used yard spaces, their delayed access to sanitary technology, and the changing nature of urban vegetation in densely occupied neighborhoods. Utilizando datos arqueológicos sobre dos parásitos intestinales humanos recuperados en contextos que datan desde el siglo XVII hasta principios del siglo XX, exploramos la intersección entre las variables biológicas y culturales que dieron forma a la ecología de las ciudades en el noreste de América del Norte durante el período moderno. Estos parásitos son indicadores útiles porque requieren un período de desarrollo en el suelo, proporcionando así un vínculo entre las actividades humanas y su entorno cambiante. Antes de las últimas décadas del siglo XVIII, los huevos de Trichuris dominan el conjunto arqueo-parasitológico. Esto cambia alrededor de 1800 con un incremento en la proporción de huevos de Ascaris, aumento que parece concluir alrededor de 1850 —un período de urbanización creciente en el noreste de Estados Unidos—. Factores ambientales y comportamentales influyeron en este cambio. Estos incluyen la relación entre la biología de los parásitos y los microambientes cambiantes, las diferentes estrategias de manejos de desechos y el uso de los espacios urbanos. Durante este período es probable que los hogares más pobres estuvieran en mayor riesgo de tener parásitos debido a la forma en que se utilizaban los espacios abiertos, retrasos en el acceso a la tecnología sanitaria y la naturaleza cambiante de la vegetación urbana en los barrios densamente ocupados.