Showing papers in "Geografisk Tidsskrift-danish Journal of Geography in 2010"

Urbanisation of rural areas: A case study from Jutland, Denmark

Abstract: Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(1):47–63, 2010 The growth of urban areas is one of the most important characteristics of spatial development in Europe during the past decades and is traditionally described with a few indicators on a relatively coarse spatial scale. However, urbanisation is not only a matter of land use change, but also socio-economic changes, which may or may not manifest itself as physical changes in built-up area and land use. It is therefore useful to analyse the urbanisation patterns along an urban-rural continuum, based on a broad range of indicators. This paper analyses urbanisation patterns in rural areas of Region Midtjylland, Denmark using socio-economic data from the entire rural population aggregated at parish level to investigate if this method may contribute to existing classifications. Through multivariate analysis and GIS analysis, five types of urbanization were identified and their spatial distribution analysed. The results indicate that rur...

Influence of perennial colonies of piscivorous birds on soil nutrient contents in a temperate humid climate

Abstract: Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(1):25–35, 2010 During the last decades, the number of perennial colonies of piscivorous birds especially cormorant colonies in North-western Europe has grown rapidly due to protection Their impact on vegetation has been recognized, as many trees containing perennial colonies of piscivorous birds have collapsed, but the bird's influence on the soil conditions has only in few cases been studied in detail In this study the influence of perennial colonies of piscivorous birds on soil nutrient contents and accumulation of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in a humid climate has been determined by measuring pH, electric conductivity and content of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium and potassium in a reference area and in two cormorant sub-colonies In general, the soils exposed to cormorant guano had lower pH and higher contents of plant available phosphorus, calcium and potassium compared to the control reference soil, especially in the top hor

Interdisciplinarity at the Human-Environment interface

Abstract: Current environmental problems increasingly call for research - as well as education - which crosses the traditional divides between well-established scientific disciplines and between the natural sciences, technical sciences, social sciences and the humanities. This paper addresses the issue of what interdisciplinarity, at the interface between the natural and human sciences, entails and the theoretical problems and obstacles interdisciplinarity encounters. A number of attempts to institutionalize interdisciplinarity, at the HumanEnvironment interface, in ‘fields of study’ or even ‘disciplines’, are briefly discussed, including Geography, Human Ecology, Environmental Studies, Environmental Management, Ecological Economics, Sustainability Science and Earth System Science. Key problems of carrying out interdisciplinary research are identified, including differences of both an ontological, epistemological and methodological nature. Particular attention is paid to differences between disciplines in the way they ‘explain’ and ‘interpret’ phenomena and regularities, and in ‘world-views’, pre-analytic assumptions and in time scales.

Zooarchaeological Analysis of a Late Dorset and an Early Thule Dwelling at Cape Grinnell, Northwest Greenland

Abstract: Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):315–336, 2010 Excavations were undertaken at the site of Cape Grinnell, Northwest Greenland, by the Inglefield Land Archaeology Project in 2008. A well-preserved Late Dorset semi-subterranean mid-passage dwelling and an early Thule semi-subterranean sod-block house yielded radiocarbon dates of ca. 700–500 cal. B.P. Faunal remains from both structures had marked differences in species diversity suggesting Late Dorset had a wider diet breadth and made more intensive use of locally available resources than early Thule. Spatial analysis of the house interiors revealed that Late Dorset tended to concentrate carcass processing and discard at the rear of their dwelling and bone burning is minimal. The early Thule processed their food in two main areas: in front of the sleeping platform and on the central paving stones adjacent to the storage alcove. Burned bone was concentrated near the sleeping platform and to a lesser extent on the central pavin...

Faunal Remains from the Wollaston Forland—Clavering Ø Region, Northeast Greenland—Thule Culture Subsistence in a High Arctic Polynya and Ice-edge Habitat

Abstract: Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):175–200, 2010 The GeoArk project conducted interdisciplinary studies between 2003 and 2008 to investigate the Thule culture (c. 1400 AD until c. 1850 AD) in the Wollaston Forland- Clavering O region (74°N). Faunal remains of recent excavations and re-analyses of previous excavations of Thule culture seasonal features, winter houses and middens are presented, with an emphasis on the two winter sites of Fladstrand and Dodemandsbugten. The faunal assemblages showed ringed seal (Phoca hispida) to be the key game species, although, with important contingents of narwhal (Monodon monocerosj and caribou (Rangifer tarandus) Thule subsistence was highly dependent on having a well developed procurement system and the sea- and landscape was used differentially during the annual cycle. Hvalros O, located at the recurring Sirius Water Polynya, was used as a seasonal aggregation site especially for hunting walrus (Odobenus rosmarusj) throughout the entire...

Oakes Bay 1: A Preliminary Reconstruction of a Labrador Inuit Seal Hunting Economy in the Context of Climate Change

Abstract: Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):245–259, 2010 This paper presents results of recent archaeological research at the site of Oakes Bay 1 (HeCg-08), on Dog Island, Labrador, dated from the late 17th to late 18th century. Analyses of faunal remains provide a means of reconstructing the site's subsistence economy. The site's inhabitants practiced a very consistent mode of hunting throughout this time period, depending heavily on adult ringed seals taken on the fast ice in winter and spring. Juvenile ringed seals, taken at the ice edge in the spring were a secondary resource. A lack of evidence for the hunting of harp seals in the fall and of ringed seal pups in late spring suggests that the site had a relatively short season of occupation. The consistent pattern of hunting through time suggests that the impacts of climatic variability on Inuit subsistence in the Nain region were relatively limited, moderated by their capacity for mobility on the sea ice rather than by whole sc...

The Inglefield Land Archaeology Project: Introduction and Overview

Abstract: Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):279–296, 2010 Archaeological field research was undertaken in northwestern Greenland between 2004 and 2009 by the Inglefield Land Archaeology Project (ILAP). Over 2400 cultural features were recorded during foot survey, with additional sites located during helicopter reconnaissance. Focusing on the late prehistoric to historic transition, excavation of two Thule-Inughuit winter houses and adjacent middens was carried out at Iita, Foulke Fjord, western Inglefield Land, in 2006. Although constructed during the mid-1800s to early 1900s, the structures were dug into early through late Thule and Paleoeskimo deposits. At Cape Grinnell, in central Inglefield Land, three Thule sod-block houses, a Thule fall-winter qarmat, a Thule cache, a Late Dorset axial-feature, and an early Paleoeskimo axial-feature were excavated. Radiocarbon analysis revealed a tight cluster of dates, ca. AD 1200–1420, from the Late Dorset and Thule features. Preliminary anal...

The Danish fabricated metal industry: A competitive medium-low-tech industry in a highwage country.

Abstract: This paper aims to contribute to the knowledge on innovation processes in low- and medium-low-tech industries. Today, industries characterised as high-tech are perceived to be central to economic development, as the research intensity shields them from competition from low-wage countries. This is less the case for low-tech industries, but their economic importance continues to be large, however. It is thus interesting to analyse how they manage to remain competitive. The analysis focuses on a case study of the fabricated metal industry by identifying the innovation strategies followed by firms located in a part of Jutland, where this industry has experienced growth. It is found that the ability to create tailor-made solutions is central to the competitiveness of these medium-low-tech firms. Knowledge is thus highly important, yet in different ways than for high-tech industries. This illustrates the importance of industrial policies that take these differences into account. (Less)

Beach Ridge Geomorphology at Cape Grinnell, northern Greenland: A Less Icy Arctic in the Mid-Holocene

Abstract: Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):337–355, 2010 In northern Greenland, the Cape Grinnell beach ridge plain offers a 9,000year multi-proxy record for isostatic recovery, storm...

The Northeast Greenland Sirius Water Polynya dynamics and variability inferred from satellite imagery

Abstract: Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):131–142, 2010 One of the most prominent polynyas in Northeast Greenland, already noted by the early expeditions in the area, is located around Shannon O and Pendulum Oer between 75° and 74°N in the transition zone between the fast ice and pack ice. This study names the polynya the ‘Sirius Water Polynya’, and examines its spatial and temporal dynamics by analysis of recent satellite imagery, modelled meteorological data and historical data covering the last decade. The dominating mechanisms to form and sustain the polynya are inferred and the persistence and inter-annual variability of the phenomenon are estimated. The polynya formation is predominantly governed by mechanical forcing caused by northerly gales, and it is classified as a wind-driven shelf water polynya. A marked seasonal difference in the surface wind field, together with the obvious seasonal cycle in insolation, creates distinct winter and summer regimes in the seasonal evolu...

Horse keeping in Urban and Peri-Urban Areas: New Conditions for Physical Planning in Sweden

Abstract: Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(1):81–98, 2010 An increasing number of land use conflicts involving planning practice, equine activities and businesses and neighbouring landowners and residents have occurred in Swedish peri-urban areas. In a case study the disturbances and benefits arising from horses experienced by residents in two different areas of Sweden were investigated, together with a study of the attitudes of local planners to horse keeping near residential areas and subsequent policy documents. The results from the study found few conflicts between residents and horse keeping but revealed diverging practice and policy between municipalities, which may create a legal insecurity for the involved stakeholders. The results were mirrored in the broader perspective of spatial planning facing new challenges in the wake of the urban-rural diffusion. This was obtained by means of current planning theory discourse in examining the effects of set-back distance from rural cont...

Inuit landscape use and responses to climate change in the Wollaston Forland—Clavering Ø region, Northeast Greenland

Abstract: Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):155–174, 2010 The Thule culture of the Wollaston-Clavering O area is analysed and their settlement pattern as recorded within the area is presented and analysed in relation to the following high arctic seasons: winter, spring and summer. From the analysis it is seen that a defined and stable seasonal mobility between coast, fjords and inland existed and that the “Sirius Water Polynya” off Wollaston Forland and Sabine O, holds the key to understanding the human economy and settlement patterns in the research area, as well as in the region. The cooling of the Little Ice Age, interpreted from the analysed data, does not affect the Inuit exploitation of the research area or their material culture in general. The main Inuit response to the cooling is migration, a response that can only be analysed when Northeast Greenland is studied regionally and interregionally. As migration is defined as an important part of prehistoric ‘Inuit being’, the Inu...

Thule Fishing Revisited: The Economic Importance of Fish at the Pembroke and Bell Sites, Victoria Island, Nunavut

Abstract: Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):261–278, 2010 In a comprehensive overview of evidence for fishing in the Thule period of the eastern North American Arctic, Whitridge (2001)...

Coastal environments around Thule settlements in Northeast Greenland

Abstract: Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):143–154, 2010 Inuit have travelled to and settled in the coastal landscapes of Northeast Greenland for several longer periods during the latest ca. 4500 years. Most recently the Thule culture Inuit lived in the region from around 1400 until 1850 AD. The access to partly and periodically ice covered near coastal waters has been crucial to the primarily marine based subsistence strategy of the Thule Inuit culture, and their settlements are therefore found immediately at the coast. Changing geological and geomorphologic settings strongly influence the coastal morphodynamics, and only specific locations offer stable and protected conditions needed for proper winter settlements. The comprehensive study of coastal environments and Thule culture winter settlements in the Young Sound region show an accumulation of winter settlements, nearly all located either in protected pocket beaches or on stable basalt capes. The Thule culture abandoned Northea...

In search of Thule children: Construction of playing houses as a means of socializing children

Abstract: Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):201–214, 2010 During the last decade, the subject of the individual agent and the conveyance of knowledge have become essential concerns in prehistoric archaeology. However, children are often entirely absent or passive in archaeological interpretation when considering their participation in a variety of economic or social tasks. This paper examines the miniature playhouse structures of Thule children that date from the pre-contact Thule period of approximately 1400–1800 AD. Implemented during the 2008field season, the study explored the region of Wollaston Forland in Northeast Greenland. Previous research suggested the arrangement of these features most likely referenced superstitious or spiritual activity. However, this study reveals the concept and organization of these features in the landscape, and offers insight into specifically arranged constructions that depict miniature versions of Thule houses.

Commercial hunting activities in the Greenland Sea: The impact of the European blubber industry on East Greenland Inuit societies/Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating of Inuit settlement structures in coastal landscapes of Northeast Greenland

Abstract: Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):357–363, 2010 Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):365–371, 2010

The Qijurittuq site (IbGk-3), Eastern Hudson Bay: An IPY Interdisciplinary Study

Abstract: An interdisciplinary study was conducted at Qijurittuq (IbGk-3), an archaeological site located on Drayton Island along the eastern shore of Hudson Bay, Nunavik. Local Inuit made important contributions to the research. High school students participated in the field school, and elders shared their traditional knowledge. The elders expressed an interest in the source of the wood used to construct Qijurittuq's semi-subterranean dwellings, and this inspired us to expand our research in that direction. This interdisciplinary study included a reconstruction of the geomorphological and environmental history of Drayton Island, wood provenance and dendrochronology studies, research on house architecture and settlement patterns, and a zooarchaeological analysis. This paper synthesizes the preliminary results of this interdisciplinary investigation within the context of climate change. We discuss the persistence of semi-subterranean dwellings in eastern Hudson Bay long after they had been abandoned elsewhere. At Qijurittuq, their abandonment corresponds with the end of Little Ice Age. However, at the same time, the development of more permanent contact with Euro-Canadians was having a strong impact upon Inuit culture.

The History of Archaeological Research in North East Greenland: Putting the GeoArk Project into Perspective

Abstract: Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):117–129, 2010 Starting with a brief presentation of the GeoArk Project and its goals, this paper focuses on the archaeological research history of North East Greenland, in particular the area of Sabine O and Clavering O, in order to view the current project in a wider context. The paper questions the myths about the ‘virgin’ land and it demonstrates how a number of expeditions, activities of professional hunters and trappers, and geopolitical matters in dispute between Denmark and Norway during the 1930s dramatically determined the quite ill fortune of the archaeological sites and monuments of the Thule culture in the study area.

Archaeological Survey in the Foulke Fjord Region, Inglefield Land, Northwestern Greenland

Abstract: Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):297–314, 2010 The Inglefield Land Archaeology Project undertook archaeological survey of three areas of Foulke Fjord in 2006, during which 639 archaeological features were recorded, exclusive of the large Reindeer Point Longhouse site (Darwent et al., 2008). Basedon comparisons with surveys completed in Eastern Inglefield Land (Darwent et al., 2007), the density of features in Foulke Fjord substantially exceeded those from other regions of Inglefield Land. The most parsimonious explanation for the higher occurrence of features in this region is the presence of little auk colonies on the scree slopes of the inner fjords. These birds, which roost in the millions, served as a reliable summer food source, but their feces likely provided enrichment for the local ecosystem, increasing the numbers of terrestrial and marine fauna in the region. Based on excavations at Iita (Etah) and densities of features in the fiord, Foulke Fjord appears to have ...

The salt industry on the Danish Kattegat island of Læsø (1150–1652): Hypersaline source, climatic dependence, and environmental impact

Abstract: Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(1):1–24, 2010 Around 1,700 ruins of Medieval salt production huts have been identified on the island of Lœso. It has been uncertain what the production's raw material was, how important the production was, when and why the industry expanded and declined, and what the industry's natural causes and environmental effects were. It is shown that present-day settings of hypersaline groundwater accumulations are comparable to the palaeo-settings of the Medieval salt production and that up to 135 production huts were simultaneously active during more than 400 years from the production began around 1150–1200 until the industry culminated around 1585 and completely ceased only a few decades later. The growth and decline in number of active production huts seems clearly related to climatically induced control of the length of accessible coastal stretches where hypersaline groundwater could be formed. During the 17th century's reinforcement of the Little ...

Dynamic Inuit Social Strategies in Changing Environments: A Long-Term Perspective

Abstract: This paper presents an overview of the International Polar Year (IPY) research programme Dynamic Inuit Social Strategies in Changing Environments: A Long-Term Perspective. For this project, research teams from six separate multi-year subprojects performed fieldwork across much of the Canadian Arctic. Fieldwork and analysis revolved around two primary processes critical to the understanding of Inuit history: first, is the migration from Alaska to the east by the earliest Inuit, known as ‘Thule’, an apparently rapid event which replaced populations of the earlier, and culturally very different Dorset tradition; second, is the transformation of Thule Inuit into their more diverse recent cultural forms, involving abandonment of some regions, combined with major changes in settlement patterns, artifact form, architecture, economy, and social organization. The ultimate goal of the project is to understand the variable roles of climate change and social structures on the culture change which can be observed during the past 800 years of Inuit history.

A zoning approach to development regulation: Applied to a coastal area in Jiangsu province, East China

Abstract: Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(1):99–110, 2010