Landscapes of Contrast in Viking Age Iceland and the Faroe Islands

Abstract

The arrival of the Vikings in the Faroe Islands and Iceland in the ninth century AD from Scandinavian and British Isles homelands essentially represented the colonisation of virgin landscapes. Environmental investigations show that their imported agricultural package was supplemented in coastal areas by bird and marine resources which, for the Faroes at least, continued to be of significance. The Faroese also developed appropriate land management practices such as outfield grazing and soil augmentation to counteract any detrimental affects arising from, for instance, reductions in the bird population, soil and slope erosion and the lack of naturally fertile soils. It seems that there had always been sufficient resources available for an enterprising human population and that the Faroes did not exceed their carrying capacity during the Norse period. The Icelanders faced different challenges: a more extreme climate, the rapid and substantial erosion of volcanic soils following settlement and the disappearance of what had probably been a substantial woodland resource. Actions were taken to conserve woodlands before they were completely destroyed and regulatory mechanisms assisted the maintenance of grazing, but did not stem soil erosion.