Environmental historian Vicki Szabo and her team of archaeologists, historians, folklorists and geneticists are trying to figure out medieval Icelanders' attitudes to blue whales. Did they revere them as their protectors? Did they hunt them for food? Was it both? @hakaimagazine's Andrew Chapman reports on the work of this multi-disciplinary team, and what their findings might tell us about historical and modern whale populations.
And I have a cover for my forthcoming book! Due out in July from the University of Chicago Press. If you just want an e-copy, though, don't pre-order -- it will be available to download for free, #openaccess
This is where you will find all the information about the Associate Laboratory for Research and Innovation in Heritage, Arts, Sustainability and Territory, such as the Thematic Lines, ongoing Exploratory Projects and much more!
🏅 We end the week by congratulating José Miguel Ferreira, whose doctoral thesis received an Honourable Mention in the 32nd edition of the Victor Sá Prize for Contemporary History, awarded by the Cultural Council of the University of Minho. 🥳
"Peat is a good storyteller. It preserves atmospheric fallout – pollen and spores, dust, volcanic ash, pollutants – and the larger remains of insects, plants (including tree roots, trunks and branches) and animals once living on or near the peatland."
📘 Hot off the presses and new at your bookstore, the new book co-edited by Cristina Joanaz de Melo (with Koldo Trapaga Monchet and Álvaro Aragón-Ruano): "Roots of Sustainability in the Iberian Empires", aiming to clarify the roots of sustainability in the Iberian Peninsula that lie in the interrelations between #shipbuilding and #forestry.
The Pyrocene: How We Created an Age of Fire, and What Happens Next
By Stephen J. Pyne
"The #Pyrocene tells the story of what happened when a fire-wielding species, humanity, met an especially fire-receptive time in Earth's history. Since terrestrial life first appeared, flames have flourished. Over the past two million years, however, one genus gained the ability to manipulate fire, swiftly remaking both itself & eventually the world."