Ramona Harrison

Associate Professor, Archaeological Methods with focus on Zooarchaeology

Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion

E-mailRamona.Harrison@uib.no
Phone+47 55 58 89 10
Visitor Address
Øysteinsgate 1

5007 Bergen

Room
307
Postal Address
Postboks 7805

5020 Bergen

I am an environmental archaeologist who specializes in Zooarchaeology to study past human and environmental interactions and how past human behavior can better inform our presence and future actions. I am a longstanding member of the North Atlantic Biocultural Organization (NABO, www.nabohome.org) and the Global Human Ecodynamics Association (GHEA, www.gheahome.org) and have been actively involved with archaeological projects in the North Atlantic for close to two decades. In Iceland, I have co-directed the Eyjafjörður Ecodynamics Project since 2006, and the Siglunes Research and Rescue Project since 2011 and am part of the IHOPE-hosted effort to address threats to Heritage and Long Term Observing Networks of the Past (DONOP) brought by Global Climate Change (http://ihopenet.org/global-environmental-change-threats-to-heritage-and-...).

Upon completion of my PhD at the City University of New York (CUNY) in 2013, I took up the position of research associate and post-doctoral fellow at the City University of New York and University of Maryland.

I was appointed Associate Professor to the University of Bergen in October of 2015 where I work on continuing and expanding my research, connect with interested scholars from related disciplines, and inspire students to engage in the archaeology of long-term human ecodynamics of the North Atlantic.

Here two links to the 2018 project at Sandvík, Strandir Region, Icelandic West Fjords.

https://www.uib.no/fg/coastark/113775/aktiviteter#sandv-k-strandas-sla-p...

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmjZDwcncSu/

ARK 100

ARK 113

ARK 214

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ARK 301

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Academic article

Show author(s) (2022). Genetic examination of historical North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) bone specimens from the eastern North Atlantic: Insights into species history, transoceanic population structure, and genetic diversity. Marine mammal science.

Show author(s) (2021). Machine learning ATR-FTIR spectroscopy data for the screening of collagen for ZooMS analysis and mtDNA in archaeological bone. Journal of Archaeological Science. 1-13.
Show author(s) (2021). A millennium of trophic stability in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua): transition to a lower and converging trophic niche in modern times. Scientific Reports.

Show author(s) (2019). Specialized sledge dogs accompanied Inuit dispersal across the North American Arctic. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences. 1-10.
Show author(s) (2019). A millennium of Icelandic archaeological fish data examined against marine climate records. Quaternary Research. 64-80.

Show author(s) (2018). Archaeological Sites as Distributed Long-term Observing Networks of the Past (DONOP). Quaternary Research.

Show author(s) (2015). Was it for walrus? Viking Age settlement and medieval walrus ivory trade in Iceland and Greenland. World archaeology.
Show author(s) (2015). Islands of change vs. islands of disaster: managing pigs and birds in the Anthropocene of the North Atlantic. The Holocene.

Show author(s) (2012). Urbanization in Reykjavík: Post medieval Archaeofauna from the Downtown Area. Journal of the North Atlantic.

Show author(s) (2010). Small Holder Farming in Early Medieval Iceland: Skuggi in Hörgárdalur. Arcaeologia Islandica.

Academic anthology/Conference proceedings

Show author(s) (2014). Human Ecodynamics in the North Atlantic: A Collaborative Model of Humans and Nature through Space and Time. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Academic chapter/article/Conference paper

Show author(s) (2014). Sorting Sheep & Goats in Medieval Iceland and Greenland: Local Subsistence or World System?
Show author(s) (2014). Humans - a Force of Nature.
Show author(s) (2014). Connecting the land to the sea at Gásir: International Exchange and Long-term Eyjafjörður Ecodynamics in medieval Iceland.

More information in national current research information system (CRIStin)

Selected Peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals and monographs

Smiarowski, K., R. Harrison, S. Brewington, M. Hicks, F. J. Feeley, C. Dupont-Hebert, B. Prehal, G. Hambrecht, J. Woollett, T. H. McGovern. (in press – publication target: Autumn 2016). Zooarchaeology of the Scandinavian Settlements in Iceland and Greenland: Diverging Pathways. In Albarella, U., H. Russ, K. Vickers & S. Viner-Daniels (eds.), Handbook of Zooarchaeology. Oxford University Press.

Karin M. Frei, Ashley N. Coutu, Konrad Smiarowski, Ramona Harrison, Christian K. Madsen, Jette Arneborg, Robert Frei, Gardar Guðmundsson, Søren M. Sindbæk, James Woollett, Steven Hartman, Megan Hicks & Thomas H. McGovern (2015): Was it for walrus? Viking Age settlement and medieval walrus ivory trade in Iceland and Greenland, World Archaeology, DOI: 10.1080/00438243.2015.1025912

Harrison, R. 2014. Connecting the land to the sea at Gásir: International Exchange and Long-term Eyjafjörður Ecodynamics in medieval Iceland. In Harrison, R. & Maher, R. (eds.). Human Ecodynamics in the North Atlantic: A Collaborative Model of Humans and Nature through Space and Time. Lexington Publishers, Lanham, Maryland, pp. 117-136.

Maher, R. A. and R. Harrison. 2014. Humans - a Force of Nature. In Harrison, R. & Maher, R. (eds.). Human Ecodynamics in the North Atlantic: A Collaborative Model of Humans and Nature through Space and Time. Lexington Publishers, Lanham, Maryland, pp. 1-19.

McGovern, T.H., R. Harrison, K. Smiarowski. 2014. Sorting Sheep & Goats in Medieval Iceland and Greenland: Local Subsistence or World System? In Harrison, R. & Maher, R. (eds.). Human Ecodynamics in the North Atlantic: A Collaborative Model of Humans and Nature through Space and Time Lexington Publishers, Lanham, Maryland, pp. 153-176.

Harrison, R. & M. Snæsdóttir. 2012. Urbanization in Reykjavík: Post medieval Archaeofauna from the Downtown Area. In JONA (Journal of the North Atlantic) 19, pp. 1-17. Eagle Hill Foundation.

Harrison, R. 2010. Small Holder Farming in Early Medieval Iceland: Skuggi in Hörgárdalur. In Gavin Lucas (ed.). Archaeologica Islandica, pp.51-76, Reykjavik, Iceland.

Harrison, R., H. M. Roberts, W. P. Adderley. 2008. Gásir in Eyjafjörður: International Exchange and Local Economy in Medieval Iceland. Journal of the North Atlantic 1 (1):99-119. Eagle Hill.

Selected Field-and Zooarchaeological Reports

Harrison, R., and H. M. Roberts. 2014. Investigations into the Gásir Hinterlands and Eyjafjörður Human Ecodynamics: Preliminary Field Report of the 2013 Skuggi and Staðartunga Excavations in Hörgárdalur, Eyjafjörður. Report: FS538-06384, FSÍ, Reykjavík and CUNY NORSEC, New York.

Harrison, R. 2014. The Siglunes 2011/12 Archaeofauna. Interim Report on the Fishing Station’s Sampled Faunal Remains. NORSEC/HERC Zooarchaeology Laboratory Report No. 62.

Harrison, R. 2011. Oddstaðir in Hörgárdalur, N. Iceland: Preliminary Report of the 2009 Archaeofauna. NORSEC/HERC Zooarchaeology Laboratory Report No. 58. www.nabohome.org

Harrison, R. 2011. Möðruvellir in Hörgárdalur, N. Iceland: General Overview of the Faunal Remains Analysed from the 2006-08 Midden Mound Excavations. NORSEC/HERC Zooarchaeology Laboratory Report No. 59. Download at www.nabohome.org

Harrison, R. (edt.). 2010. Gásir Hinterlands Project 2009: Midden Prospection and Excavation. FS440-06384, FSÍ, Reykjavík and NORSEC, New York. Download at www.nabohome.org

Harrison, R. 2010. Skuggi in Hörgárdalur, N. Iceland: Preliminary report of the 2008/2009 archaeofauna. NORSEC lab report Nr. 50. Download at www.nabohome.org

Konrad Smiarowski & R. Harrison. 2009. Establishing Age and Season of Death from Incremental Annual and Seasonal Dentine & Cementum Layers of Phocid Teeth - A Practicum at the Laboratory for Prehistory & Bioarchaeology at Laval University, Québec City, Canada, December 2009.

Roberts, Howell M., O. Vésteinsson, T. Brorsson, H. Konráðsdóttir, R. Harrison, S. Ólafsson, G. A. Gísladóttir & M. Snæsdóttir. 2009. Gásir Post Excavation Reports -I. FS423-010712, FSI, Reykjavik

Harrison, R. 2009. The Gásir Area A Archaeofauna: An Update of the Results from the Faunal Analysis of the High Medieval Trading Site in Eyjafjörður, N Iceland. NORSEC lab report Nr. 44.

Harrison, R. 2008. Midden Excavation at Möðruvellir, and Prospection in Hörgárdalur: Interim Field Report, Gásir Hinterlands Project 2008. FS402-06383, FSÍ, Reykjavík and NORSEC, CUNY.

Harrison, R. 2011. Oddstaðir in Hörgárdalur, N. Iceland: Preliminary Report of the 2009 Archaeofauna. NORSEC/HERC Zooarchaeology Laboratory Report No. 58. www.nabohome.org

Harrison, R., F. Feeley, M. Gorsline, M. Hicks & S. Mitrovic. 2007. Interim Report of Faunal Analysis from the 2005 Excavation at Aðalstræti Nr. 10. Reykjavík, Iceland. NORSEC lab report Nr 40. Monograph result of supervision of postgraduate students from the 2007 Zooarchaeology Seminar.

Harrison, R. The medieval trading station at Gásir, Eyjafjörður, N Iceland: Interim Report of faunal analysis from the 2006 Excavations. NORSEC lab report # 30. Also in: Excavations at Gásir 2006: An Interim Report/Framvinduskýrsla. Lilja Björk Pálsdóttir and Howell Roberts (eds). FS355 -010710, July 2007, Reykjavík, Iceland.

Excavation and post-excavation:

CIE (Comparative Islands Ecodynamics) - Investigating Vatnahverfi Settlement History of the Greenlandic Norse

Project Management, Project Direction, Excavation, post-excavation

IPY - Hörgárdalur Investigations at VA and medieval farm sites Skuggi, Oddstaðir, and Staðartunga, N Iceland.

Gásir Hinterlands Project (GHP)

Siglunes Rescue and Research Project

Topics and themes of interest:

Zooarchaeology

Social Archaeology

North Atlantic Environmental Archaeology - all time periods

Environmental Archaeology

Isotope and aDNA studies