Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures, Maps, Photos, Plates and Tables
- Acknowledgments
- I Introduction
- II Reviewing Viking Studies and North Atlantic Realm Archaeological Research
- III Interdisciplinarity and Environmental History: Setting the Methodology
- IV Sagas and Archives
- V Modelling the Exploitation of Aquatic Resources and the Emergence of Commercial Fishing in Iceland and the Faeroes
- VI Geoarchaeology of the Emergence of Commercial Fishing: Testing Historical and Environmental Reconstructions of the Emergence of Commercial Fishing
- VII Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures, Maps, Photos, Plates and Tables
- Acknowledgments
- I Introduction
- II Reviewing Viking Studies and North Atlantic Realm Archaeological Research
- III Interdisciplinarity and Environmental History: Setting the Methodology
- IV Sagas and Archives
- V Modelling the Exploitation of Aquatic Resources and the Emergence of Commercial Fishing in Iceland and the Faeroes
- VI Geoarchaeology of the Emergence of Commercial Fishing: Testing Historical and Environmental Reconstructions of the Emergence of Commercial Fishing
- VII Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
On the basis of our so-called evidence, we have to piece together a coherent account of what must have happened […] We seek explanations for the meanings of historical episodes (but not only) when we are puzzled because something does not ‘fit’. We want a more coherent understanding […] We demand that historical accounts render the past intelligible – the more intelligible the better. This involves, as I suggested, fitting what we know about individual historical episodes into a coherent account, so that we are not puzzled by what we think was going on.
Raymond MartinResearch, understanding and exploitation of documents are central to historical knowledge. While those documents can be seen as History, they can also be perceived as links connecting historians to the past to reconstruct History. Yet, it must be admitted that there exist few primary sources dealing with fish and marine resources for the countries that are under investigation. Shortage of such resources has been known to lead to historians’ disinterest in a subject since retrieval of what exists can be time-consuming and often equate with searching for a needle in a haystack. Moreover, this unavailability or invisibility seems to drive historians to overuse some better-known sources to the detriment of others. There is no articulated body of theory to determine what is pertinent in history, it is rather that the historian should draw on whatever he can find among all sorts of theories and common-sense beliefs which may be used to explicate the events in which he happens to be interested.
By reviewing and evaluating primary sources and archives, it is possible to extract data that can be used to build up the literary theory on the exploitation of fish and the subsequent fish based economy developed by Iceland's settlers and to a certain extent the Scandinavian colonies of the Faeroes Islands. Additionally, excerpts of sagas as well as various archives related to fishing are thematically presented to illustrate the role and place of fish in Icelandic narratives and laws.
Part 1: Icelandic and Faeroese primary sources and the writing of History
In the medieval period, writings could be classified as ‘romantic’ and ‘realist’. The majority of literature contemporary to the sagas was idealistic.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Fish Trade in Medieval North Atlantic SocietiesAn Interdisciplinary Approach to Human Ecodynamics, pp. 65 - 102Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2018