have differed significantly from contemporary urban Oslo (Kenward 1980 ), York (Ken-
ward and Hall 1995 ) or Dublin (Coope 1981 ).
In Iceland, local crop production was clearly early supplemented by imported cereals,
evident in the insect pest faunas of grain weevil, Sitophilus granarius, and saw-toothed
grain beetle Oryzaephilus surinamensis. The former is not recorded in the modern fauna
of the country, but both appear in the midden at Bessastaðir in the twelfth century
(Amorosi et al. 1992 ), probably having been deposited in human faeces. The relative
frequency of this fauna on this site, compared with material from the more extensively
sampled lesser farm at Stóraborg on the south coast, is probably an indication of site
status. Large numbers of false puparia, probably of the Hessian fly, Mayetiola sp., in a
medieval pit within the Stóraborg farm might reflect the difficulty of sieving this
important field pest out of imported grain (Buckland et al. 2005 ). The connection
between exported fish and imported grain is particularly evident at the medieval fishing
station at Langenes in the Norwegian Arctic, where insect pest faunas are supplemented
by accidental import of more southerly beetles (Buckland et al. 2006 ).
BIBLIOGRAPHYAmorosi, T., Buckland, P.C., Dugmore, A.J., Ingimundarson, J.H. and McGovern, T.H. ( 1997 )
‘Raiding the landscape: human impact in the Scandinavian North Atlantic’, Human Ecology,
25 : 491 – 518.
Amorosi, T., Buckland, P.C., Edwards, K.J., Mainland, I., McGovern, T.H., Sadler, J.P. and
Skidmore, P. ( 1998 ) ‘They did not live by grass alone: the politics and palaeoecology of fodder
on the North Atlantic islands’, Environmental Archaeology, 1 : 41 – 54.
Amorosi, T., Buckland, P.C., Ólafsson, G., Sadler, J.P. and Skidmore, P. ( 1992 ) ‘Site status and
the palaeoecological record: a discussion of results from Bessastaðir, Iceland’, in Ch. Morris
and J. Rackham (eds) Norse and Later Settlement and Subsistence in the North Atlantic, Glasgow:
Dept. of Archaeology, University of Glasgow.
Arneborg, J., Heinemeier, J., Lynnerup, N., Nielsen, H.L., Rud, N. and Sveinbjarnardóttir,
A.E. ( 1999 ) ‘Change of diet of the Greenland Vikings determined from stable isotope analysis
and 14 C dating of their bones’, Radiocarbon, 41 ( 2 ): 157 – 68.
Buckland, P.C. ( 1992 ) ‘Insects and the pre-Norse settlement of Faeroe: a case not proven’,
Fróðskaparrit, 38 / 39 : 107 – 14.
Buckland, P.C., Buckland, P.I. and Skidmore, P. ( 1998 ) ‘Insect remains from GUS: an interim
report’, in J. Arneborg and H.C. Gulløv (eds) Man, Culture and Environment in Ancient
Greenland, Copenhagen: Danish National Museum and Danish Polar Centre.
Buckland, P.C. and Dinnin, M.H. ( 1998 ) ‘Insect faunas at landnám: a palaeoentomological study
at Tjørnuvík, Streymoy, Faroe Islands’, Fróðskaparrit, 46 : 277 – 86.
Buckland, P.C., Edwards, K.J., Blackford, J., Dugmore, A.J., Sadler, J.P. and Sveinbjarnardóttir,
G. ( 1995 ) ‘A question of Landnám: pollen, charcoal and insect studies on Papey, eastern
Iceland’, in R. Butlin and N. Roberts (eds) Ecological Relations in Historical Times, Oxford:
Blackwell.
Buckland, P.C., Panagiotakopulu, E., Buckland, P.I., Perdikaris, S. and Skidmore, P. ( 2006 )
‘Insect faunas from medieval Langenes, Arctic Norway’, in R. Engelmark and J. Linderholm
(eds) Proceedings of the 8 th Nordic Conference on the Application of Scientific Methods in Archaeology,
Umeå, Sweden 2001 (Archaeology and Environment 21 ), Umeå: Dept. of Archaeology,
University of Umeå.
Buckland, P.C., Panagiotakopulu, E., Skidmore, P. and Buckland, P.I. ( 2005 ) ‘Insect remains
from Stóraborg, Iceland’. (Unpubl. File Report, National Museum of Iceland.)
–– chapter 43 ( 1 ): The North Atlantic farm––