Norse North Atlantic Marine Mammal Project: The History and Archaeology of North Atlantic Whale Use, 800-1800 CE

Humans and Materiality and Environmental Humanities research groups jointly present: 

Vicki Szabo (PhD), Western Carolina University

This presentation offers a synopsis of an ongoing research project that considers the historical, literary, archaeological, and biomolecular evidence for whale use across the North Atlantic, ca. 800-1800 CE, with particular attention to medieval Iceland. Literature, maps, and manuscript illuminations show us that medieval Scandinavians and Icelanders watched whales closely, providing remarkable observational data. Historical evidence from northern Iceland reveals well managed and precise strategies for division of whale products, while sagas use stranded whales as an opportunity to create dramatic conflicts. Biomolecular data tells a new story, revealing demographic transformations of whales present in Icelandic waters, perhaps due to a changing climate, but also due to human exploitation. Finally, transdisciplinary analysis reveals surprising stories of individual cetacean species, including the North Atlantic right whale and the blue whale, 
two species whose populations are intertwined with North Atlantic populations, both then and now. 

Dr. Vicki Szabo, author of Fishes and the Mead Dark Sea (Brill 2008), is an associate professor of ancient, medieval, and environmental history at Western Carolina University. Current research focuses on interdisciplinary reconstruction of medieval Norse exploitation of cetaceans through archaeology, history, and ancient DNA analysis, funded by the Arctic Social Sciences Program at the US NSF. Szabo is currently working on a monograph focusing on medieval and early modern wildlife.