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• 1 2017-05-22T08:45:58-07:00 Iron Fishhook 6 object page plain 2017-09-21T23:04:23-07:00 This is an Iron Fishhook, roughly 4 centimeters long, excavated in 2004. The artifact was found in northern Iceland, slightly southeast of Akureyri. The site is dated to between the 10th and 12th century. We see a straight piece of iron with a curl on the end, heavily distorted by corrosion and accreted material. This fishhook is a useful view into the lives of the Norse who lived in harsher climates. Fish was likely the most important component of diet in the any area of concentrated population, and was absolutely crucial as you ventured northward.^[1] This hook shows the attempt to extract calories from any thawed body of water, as the site is significantly inland. Further, there will be significantly different cultural values in a gatherer culture vs a farming culture. Although farming is not fundamentally predictable, it is more consistent than fishing is. While you may have knowledge of optimal locations, management of harvest and planning is simply impractical. Thus, there is a greater emphasis on individual exploration and transportation than in cultures of more static food source. The Norse were not exclusive fisherman, in Iceland most people were farmers and raised livestock, but it was necessary to augment their diet with fish and game. The Norse were farmers, but not immobile ones, the relatively harsh environment necessitated gathering as well. The Norse stand in contrast to the Sami people described as described in  The Voyage of Ohthere, who follow their reindeer in the winter and the fisheries in the summer.
  
  A further consequence of fish as a staple is a core relationship between those peoples and seafaring. We have an expectation of universal seafaring competency and a cultural value on sailing then from Norse communities, especially those closer to the coast and further north.  This is certainly consistent with our medieval texts, with the seafaring nature of the Norse being perhaps their most consistently reported feature. This fishhook represents the complexity of the Norse diet and how connected the Norse people were with the sea and its fisheries.