School of Geography - Faculty of Environment

Charcoal pit excavation. Charcoal production by the Norse settlers in Iceland is thought to have been partly responsible for the destruction of large expanses of birch woodland (c. 800AD). Today only dwarf birch grows in the areas where we find charcoal pits but the pits contain pieces of charcoal so large that they can only have come from tree birch. Radiocarbon dating of these pieces allows us to reconstruct the pattern and timing of deforestation.