Natural experimental approach to vulnerability, resilience and adaptation in historic Greenland (2020)

Rowan Jackson (2020) Natural experimental approach to vulnerability, resilience and adaptation in historic Greenland. University of Edinburgh, Unpublished PhD thesis.

The overall aim of this thesis is to investigate long-term cultural processes associated with human adaptation to environmental change in the sub-arctic context of Medieval Greenland (AD 985-1500), and the wider relevance of this iconic case study in contemporary climate adaptation debates. Studies of how human societies adapted to environmental change have a long history in archaeology and other historical sciences, reflecting the multiple research paradigms and geographical contexts in which knowledge is produced. Studies examining cultural capacities and limits to adaptation in past societies have been used in so-called ‘natural experiments’ recently, to observe the long-term challenges associated with adaptation to climate change. Archaeological datasets have significant potential to offer diachronic evidence of human-environmental interactions throughout periods of climate stability and instability. However, debates about the utility of historical data still cloud questions of what relevance archaeological data has to understanding human adaptation to climate change and what, if anything, pre-modern data can tell us about societies today.

By studying cultural processes, and how humans interact with their environments over centennial timescales, I aim to distinguish information that is relevant to addressing contemporary challenges associated with the human dimensions of global environmental change. Human and environmental data from the Norse settlement areas of Greenland offer a ‘completed experiment’ with which to examine resilience, adaptation and vulnerability to exogenous changes, including climate variability and cooling, regional economic and socio-political changes and contact with the Thule culture. This thesis provides a novel interdisciplinary approach to examine: (i) changing research themes in Norse Greenland archaeology and to analyse how evidence is interpreted differently by North Atlantic researchers; (ii) archaeological and modelling evidence for cultural path dependence and limits to adaptation in the broader context of environmental and social change in the North Atlantic from 10th-15th centuries AD; and (iii) what contribution studies of long-term adaptation to climate change have to understanding the human dimensions of global change today. These themes are examined using a mixed methodology and a range of theoretical approaches from science and technology studies, archaeology and anthropology and historical geography.

The first section of the study explores research context and debates through a systematic review of the Norse Greenland literature (chapter 3) and interviews with leading researchers to examine how the decline of Norse settlement in Greenland has been conceptualised differently (chapter 4). Systematic review results show a general trend away from the environmental determinism of the 1980s and 1990s and the adoption of global change discourse from the mid-2000s. Following the publication of Jared Diamond’s Collapse in 2005, research becomes increasingly oriented towards the use of Norse Greenland as an ‘experiment’ through which to examine adaptation to climate change. It is notable, however, that while research orientations change disagreement about the fate of the Norse remains— although it is not acknowledged in the literature. Results from interviews with leading researchers of Norse Greenland revealed a broad disagreement about the fate of the Norse settlers (migration/famine). Significantly, researchers interpreted the same evidence in different ways and qualified their arguments using a range of analogies. We can conclude from this that archaeological theory and research context have a strong bearing on the interpretation of human and environmental records of the past.

The second section of this study draws greater attention to the long-term (macroevolutionary) processes of cultural adaptation. The relationship between cultural path dependence and social learning are balanced using a niche construction perspective. This perspective focuses on the long-term accumulation of environmental knowledge and what role this plays in the human capacity to adapt. Archaeological and environmental records from Norse settlements in Greenland are examined using niche construction theory to interpret the balance between cultural conformity and change (chapter 5). Further analysis of child artefacts from Norse Settlements in Greenland and the wider North Atlantic provide evidence of cultural transmission of knowledge and social learning practices that conform to Norse sedentism and farming. Evidence from Thule sites in Greenland, to the contrary, suggest flexible learning practices that allowed technologies and practices to be adjusted to environmental change (Chapter 6). Chapter 7 tests the impacts of a combined farming-hunting economy in Norse Greenland. If—as archaeological evidence suggests—the Norse increased their reliance on hunting, but sustained farms simultaneously optimum foraging theory suggests that energetic returns would decline because of increased mobility demand. By analysing the influence of cultural limits to adaptation, we can conclude that the Norse were unable to sustain a culturally acceptable lifestyle as sustained cooling and increased climate variability commenced in the mid-13th century.

The third and final section finds that although archaeologists have steadily increased their contributions to understanding the human dimensions of climate change, archaeological research still lacks visibility and adequate representation in the literature. Chapter 8 summarises five associated research projects that fit into three themes: first, what forms of archaeological data are ‘relevant’ to planning for future change; second, how archaeologists can increase their visibility through collaboration, publication strategy and public communication; and third, how archaeological research fits with existing global targets, such as the sustainable development goals. In all, these studies concluded that archaeologist are well positioned to make valid contributions to scenario planning, developing adaptive strategies and understanding long-term human impacts on the environment.

Collectively, these studies conclude that archaeological research should remain explicitly focused on understanding human adaptation in the past without biasing studies to reflect research priorities in global change research. Uncovering the past should therefore remain a pursuit independent of contemporary relevance, but historical disciplines equally have an obligation to consider what contributions can be made to further our understanding of global environmental change.

View Book 2, which consists of the Appendices and published papers.

climate change farming Greenland Hunting learning Medieval Norse Thule

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