Case Studies:Case study 23

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Fuel Resource Utilisation between c. AD871 to 1000 at Mývatnssveit in Northern Iceland
The Norse settlement at Mývatnssveit in Iceland, between c. AD871-1000, involved landscape clearance for buildings, livestock grazing and fuel utilisation. Fuel ash residues are frequently found in middens of archaeological sites. Their analysis offers the opportunity to consider the role of fuel resources in site function and landscape resource utilisation in the changing social and environmental contexts. Fuel ash residues are usually mixed with other forms of occupational debris and have been subjected to post-depostional processes including bioturbation, freeze-thawing and wetting-drying. Sediment thin section micromorphology analyses and image analyses techniques has the potential to discriminate between different fuel ash residues. Site fuel resources included peat, mineral based turf and birch wood. Residues from low temperature combustion of mineral-based turf are evident throughout the stratigraphy, although more concentrated during the earliest phases of midden formation. In contrast, wood ash residues from low and high temperature combustion become more prevalent during the later phases of midden formation. Peat utilisation is almost entirely associated with high temperature combustion and evident throughout the stratigraphy.

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[[media:Case study 23.pdf|Fuel Resource Utilisation between c. AD871 to 1000 at Mývatnssveit in Northern Iceland]]

The full article is Simpson, I.A., O. Vésteinsson, W.P. Adderley and T.H. McGovern (2003) Fuel Resource utilisation in landscapes of settlement Journal of Archaeological Science 30: 1401-20

Keywords: Viking, Mývatnssveit, Iceland, fuel resources, thin-section micromorphology, image analyses techniques, midden deposits

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