Greenland’s Changing Climates
In Episode 3, Rebecca talks to Rowan Jackson at the School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh about his work on how the Norse adapted their way of Scandinavian way of living to the harsh climate of Greenland. We talk about the hows and whys of these lifestyle choices, before discussing the successes and failures of the Vikings in Greenland. Moving on from this, we talk more generally about Rowan’s work on global change research and climate change archaeology. 730 - audiogram -915 7,15 Value of archaeological record. 9,30 Why did the Norse move to the North Atlantic? 12,00 Pull to Greenland - walrus ivory & (relatively) mild climate 13,30 Population estimates & peak settlement in Greenland 16,00 Viking farming toolkit 18,00 Hunting strategies & adaptation strategies 19,00 Landscape learning 22,00 Greenland's short active season 26,45 TEK (Traditional Ecological Knowledge) & cultural landscapes in Greenland 29,00 Adaptive toolkit responds to changes in seal populations 30,45 Transposing children's learning landscapes, Viking v Thule - cultural transmission 34,00 Miniature objects - toys & material culture 37,30 Children in urban contexts 40,30 Hegemonic masculinities & identities in urban contexts 49,00 Climate changes in the 14th century & TEK becomes less relevant 52,00 Cultural path dependence leaves the Norse less able to react to these changes 54,00 Changing European demands and politics affect Greenland 56,00 Population changes impact the abilities of the Norse to get to those resources that they need 60,00 Norse adaptive capacity is pushed to the limit, beyond capacity? 65,00 Evidence for leaving? Or a bias in the record? 72,30 What's the most important thing you can tell me about this? 75,00 The hermeneutic cycle of interpretation and reinterpretation 77,45 What is Global Change Research? What is Archaeology's role in GCR? 80,00 Shifting baselines, e.g. cod fishing & contribution of archaeological research to reconstructing historical cod populations 82,00 Discrete archaeological examples of change/adaptation/collapse and the lessons we can learn from these examples for the future. 85,00 Adaptation, vulnerability, and social context. 87,30 Social Contract & working with local communities 90,30 Relationships between communities, museums as trusted spaces, and potential for archaeologists to engage via exhibitions.