Anne Birgitte Gotfredsen

Primary fields of research

QUATERNARY ZOOLOGY: Faunal history of Greenland mainly addressing: palaeo-ecological reconstructions, palaeo-geography, zoogeography, climatic changes and microevolution. Research is based on bone materials from archaeological excavations covering the period from c. 4500 BP to the present time. Focal subject: the prehistoric avifauna of Greenland with special emphasis on geese genera Anser & Branta.

ARCHAEOZOOLOGY: The husbandry of Danish prehistoric sites primarily from the Iron Age, Viking Age and the Middle Ages. Analyses of animal bones from graves and other ritual contexts from the Iron Age and the Viking Age.

Current research

Denmark

2011-2014 Rituals and Pre-Christian Cult - an interdisciplinary research program on the pagan religion of the Iron Age and the Viking Age. Housed at the National Museum of Denmark.

Further information: http://vikingekult.natmus.dk/ 

Sacrificial animals in graves of princes, graves of the aristocracy and graves of the peasants - Zealand graves from the Younger Roman Iron Age - an interdisciplinary corporation with Kroppedal Museum.

Greenland

2007-2010 GeoArk an interdisciplinary research programme exploring the dynamics of the High Arctic environment - climate, coasts, natural resources - and the cultural strategies applied by the native cultures of North East Greenland in order to cope with ever changing life conditions. The GeoArk-project is an integral part of the IPY (International Polar Year) -initiative # 6: ‘Dynamic Social Strategies in Arctic Environments'. Geographers from Department of Geography and Geology, Copenhagen University and archaeologists from SILA, the National Museum are participating in the project.