By Jennifer Lien
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The immigration of the Viking pioneers to the North Atlantic islands was a period of expansive exploration, settlement, and colonization. Primary sources such as the King’s Mirror and Erik the Red’s Saga inform us about the lifestyles and the journeys of the Norse into the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean that led to the discovery of habitable islands such as the Faroes, Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland. The Norse settlement at Greenland in the 10th century is unique because it was completely abandoned in the 15th century. The reason for the Norsemen’s abandonment of the site is still unclear, and the study of the history of their lives at the settlement is a common topic of inquiry by scholars. Beginning in the 13th century, there is evidence for a change in subsistence from domestic livestock to aquatic mammals at the site of Brattahlid North. Soil and paleoclimate analyses and archaeological remains at the Norse site of Brattahlid provide specific insight into the life-history of the Norse Greenlanders, and may pertain to the final abandonment of the site in the 15th century.
Colonizers settled in the uncharted territory of present day Greenland for various reasons. The historical text King’s Mirror states that individuals went to Greenland for fame and rivalry, curiosity, and/or gain.[1] The Book of the Icelanders states the complete settlement of Iceland occurred within sixty years of its initial occupation around the 870s AD, subsequently requiring Norsemen to find new locations to live.[2] Greenland appeared to be a suitable location, for it had geographical terrain similar to Norway, along with many natural resources for economic trade.[3] There was also a Medieval Warm Period in Greenland from 900–1350 AD, which created favorable conditions for the settlers.[4] The emigrants were likely able to adapt to their new surroundings with ease, responsibly managing their new environment. Greenland was also uninhabited in the south, which diminished any threat of resistance from the native Inuits.[5] However, the location proved to be uninhabitable for permanent occupation since the site was ultimately abandoned. The final abandonment was likely influenced by climatic deterioration beginning in the 13th century. The environmental changes caused by the Little Ice Age in Greenland from 1350–1800 AD possibly forced the Norse Greenlanders to face new and difficult challenges.
Archaeological investigations of historic sites have provided scholars with physical remains that can relate to events or places referenced in primary sources. The site of Brattahlid North is an eastern settlement of Norse Greenland, and is located in the present-day settlement of Qassiarsuk. It is often cited as the farm of the pioneering Norwegian, Erik Thorvaldsson—better know as Erik the Red—and has been subject to numerous excavations by archaeologists and explorers from the 18th through the 21st centuries. In 1751, the Dano-Norwegian Arctic explorer Peder Olsen Walloe traveled through the fjords in southern Greenland and documented a large number of ruins at the site.[6] Later in the mid-1930s and 1960s, the site was unsystematically excavated and the trenches were disturbed. These historic excavations, as well as present-day farming and construction, have disturbed the site, and it is likely that these excavations damaged the archaeological sample size that is used in the site’s analysis.
From 2005 to 2006, the first systematic excavation at the site was conducted. The main goal of the 2005 excavation was to locate the trench opened in 1932 and retrieve any remaining archaeological material in the refuse layer. In 2006, the aim was to excavate the undisturbed middens.[7] The team used an open area method, where a 10×10 meter unit is excavated. The youngest, top-most layer was excavated by cleaning, photographing, planning, and removing the material. After the top layer was removed, the team continued excavating each chronological layer until nothing remained except the soil prior to the colonization. All the deposits were sieved with four-millimeter mesh to collect small bones (e.g. any fish remains), wood, and artifacts. Surface finds were collected and recorded.[8]
The zoological remains from the 2005–2006 excavations show an intensified use of aquatic mammal resources, such as seal, during the time of the Norse occupation in Greenland. The aquatic mammal assemblages consist primarily of seal, with small proportions of whale, porpoise, and walrus. The site of Brattahlid North yields an abundance of different species of seal bones—a trend that is commonly found at Greenlandic Norse sites. A large increase in seal bones is represented in the archaeological record beginning in the 13th century. The geologic layer from the early 11th century yielded twenty-five seal (Phocidae) bone fragments, which increased to 410 fragments by the early 13th century. The maximum amount of 692 seal bone fragments was found from the later 13th century, and 374 fragments were found from the 14th–15th centuries.[9] From the archaeological evidence, it is reasonable to deduce from the large quantity of seal bone remains that seals constituted a large portion of the Norse Greenlanders’ diet.
It is interesting to acknowledge that fish remains were not found during the 2005–2006 excavations. Major sieving techniques were enforced, yet fish remains were absent in the archaeological record.[10] Fish bones are small and fragile and are thus susceptible to taphonomic processes—increasing their likelihood of deteriorating over time, and therefore, not being recoverable in the archaeological record. However, different Norse sites with comparable or even worse environmental conditions for preservation yield large quantities of fish remains, e.g. Iceland. Using fish as a subsistence and trade resource did not seem to be imperative for the Greenlanders, which is contrary to economic strategies of neighboring Scandinavian settlements.[11] Christian Keller (2010) hypothesizes in his publication, Furs, Fish, and Ivory: Medieval Norsemen at the Arctic Fringe, that the “escalating fishing industry in Iceland may have left the Norse Greenland colonies in an economic backwater.”[12] Since the trading of valuable fish was nearly monopolized by other Nordic cities, Greenland could have focused on other materials for export, such as ivory, for example.[13]
Aside from aquatic mammal remains, the domestic mammal assemblage from the archaeological layers consists primarily of sheep, goat, and cattle. This representation is common for Greenlandic Norse settlements, with other sites including a higher representation of pig bones—likely due to an increased focus on pig husbandry. The geologic layer from the early 11th century yielded fifteen domestic mammal bone fragments, and increased to 168 fragments by the early 13th century. The maximum amount of 239 seal bone fragments was found in the later 13th century, but drastically decreased to ninety-two fragments by the 14th and 15th centuries. Archaeologist Ragnar Edvardsson analyzed the marine versus terrestrial mammal representation in the archaeological record at Brattahlid. The representation of domestic mammals at the site indicate that the Norse living at the settlement were utilizing resources imported from other lands as sustenance, but relied primarily on aquatic mammals.[14]
Osteological remains offer primary evidence from once-living individuals of a change in subsistence strategy during the period of Norse occupation on Greenland. Jette Arneborg et al. analyzed the diet of twenty-seven Norse Greenlanders that lived from the 10th to 15th century through stable carbon isotope analysis and Carbon-14 dating.[15] Carbon-14 dating of the osteological remains allowed Arneborg et al. to measure the deterioration of C-14 in the organic material after it was no longer living to determine the estimated, chronological age of the material. The δ¹³C of bone collagen (which is the fractional deviation of the ¹³C/¹²C ratio from the standard used for verifying the accuracy of mass spectroscopy) can indicate the primary diet of an individual. The composition of the bone collagen determines the components of a marine/terrestrial food protein or plants of C3 and C4 photosynthesis.
The analysis of the stable carbon isotope Carbon-13 from the bone allowed Arneborg to determine the predominant food source. The osteological remains from the 10th through the 12th centuries show a diet consisting primarily of domestic terrestrial food. However, the analysis of osteological remains from the 13th through the 15th centuries show a diet consisting primarily of marine food found in the area which was likely from aquatic mammals such as seals, not fish.[16] This is suggested through the absence of fish remains found in the archaeological assemblages. Arneborg et al. found an increase in marine consumption over time at Greenland sites in association with the cooling temperature in the Arctic.[17] This supporting evidence for a subsistence change is significant because it is found directly from human remains, and doesn’t extrapolate concepts from admissible evidence.
To settle in Greenland, the Norse needed to establish and maintain a type of agricultural system to support the livestock on the island. Overgrazing by common livestock such as sheep, goat, and cattle would lead to soil erosion—a natural process that can be seen in the abnormal dental deterioration of the fossil goat and sheep teeth found at the site. The abnormal deterioration of the fossil teeth found at the site led Adderley and Simpson to analyze the soil and paleo-climate at Qassiarsuk. They found that there was a frequent requirement for irrigation at the site.[18] To do this, they used the winter Dye 3 ice core δ¹⁸O record to reconstruct the paleo-temperature at Norse Greenland. Adderley and Simpson used paleo-soil samples to measure the moisture deficiencies in relation to the duration and intensity of winter temperatures found from ice-cores and concluded that the longer the winter, the more moisture-deficient the soil.[19] In addition, Adderley and Simpson found that when the Little Ice Age began around 1350 AD, the colder climate would have produced moisture-deficiencies, affecting how much grassland and fodder resource was available to grazing animals. With a limitation in available natural resources to support the domestic mammals, Norse Greenlanders were likely required to shift their subsistence reliance to aquatic animals.
Primary sources such as Eiríks saga rauða [Saga of Erik the Red] and Konungs skuggsjá [The King’s Mirror] provide additional information about the lifestyle of the Norse Greenlanders. The King’s Mirror, written c. 1250 AD, includes sections that detail “The Marvels of the Waters about Greenland: Monsters, Seals, and Walruses,” “The Animal Life of Greenland and the Character of the Land in those Regions,” and “The Products of Greenland.”[20] It lists in Norse colloquial terms the numerous species of seal found in the North Atlantic ocean such as “corse seal,” “erken-seal,” “flett-seal,” “bearded-seal,” “saddleback-seal,” and “short-seals”and notes that seal and whale where common food sources, and that seal skin was a common trade good.[21] The walrus hide is stated to be thick and exceptional to make rope out of, and “can be cut into leather strips of such strength that sixty or more men may pull at one rope without breaking it.”[22] The importance of trade is explicitly stated in The King’s Mirror: “everything that is needed to improve the land must be purchased abroad, both iron and all the timber used in building stones.”[23] The information stated in the primary sources coincides with the archaeological evidence found at the site of Brattahlid.
The saga also comments on the climate of Greenland and states that overpowering cold covers the land with ice in the summer and in the winter.[24] Since the text was written c. 1250, the Little Ice Age had not yet begun. The onset of the colder climate would have dramatically affected the Greenlanders lifestyle. This description, to some extent, supports the previous hypothesis stated by Adderley and Simpson (2006) of a decrease in temperature.
“Eirik the Red’s Saga” composed c. 1265, mentions the struggles the Norse endured. A great famine occurred at Herjolfsnes, an eastern settlement south of Brattahlid, when Thorbjorn, a chieftain of Laugarbrekka, Iceland, visited Greenland. The men who had “gone out fishing caught poor catches, and some never came back.”[25] Later in the saga, Erik the Red articulates his embarrassment with visiting merchants because he is unable to provide a lavish feast for the annual Christmas celebration. The merchants assure Erik the Red that they don’t mind, but offer the goods stored aboard their ship of malt and corn to alleviate his anxiety. It states that once the feast was prepared, the others “had rarely seen such high living in a poor country.” [26] Both of these literary sources detail the lifestyle of the Norse Greenlanders. The archaeological remains found at the site of Brattahlid concur with the information in the primary sources and help establish their information as reliable.
In conclusion, the archaeological remains at Brattahlid suggest a subsistence change during the Norse occupation of Greenland. Edvardsson found an increasing number of seal bones present in the archaeological assemblages from Brattahlid North, and a decreasing number of domestic, terrestrial animals such as cattle, goat, and sheep.[27] Contrary to other Scandinavian sites, fish bones are absent, and thus, the primary subsistence strategy in the later centuries of Norse occupation was likely focused on aquatic mammals. In addition, stable carbon isotope analysis of the skeletal remains of the Norse Greenlanders’ bone collagen indicate a diet largely comprised of marine animals post-1300 AD, as Edvardsson demonstrates.[28] Analyses by Adderley and Simpson of the paleo-climate and soil show that Brattahlid experienced moisture deficiencies in the soil, due to a decrease in the overall temperature of the region.[29] A decrease in the amount of moisture and grassland would have had an impact on the diet of Norse Greenlanders, who likely consumed increasing numbers of aquatic animals during these times in order to conserve moisture and allow the grass to grow.
Primary sources such as The King’s Mirror and Erik the Red’s Saga provide information about the Norse occupation of Greenland that concurs with the archaeological remains found at Brattahlid North. Seal and walrus were stated as important resources in the literary sources, and they are represented in large quantities at the site. Erik the Red’s Saga tells of the hardships that the Greenlanders had to endure—their lifestyle was likely experimental as the land was uncharted. They had to learn how to navigate the landscape and utilize the natural resources. Zoological, osteological, soil, and paleoclimate analyses have revealed a subsistence change for the Norse during their brief occupation of Greenland. At the beginning of the Norse settlement, their predominant diet consisted of domestic terrestrial animals such as goat, sheep, and cattle. From the 14th to 15th century, their diet shifted to primarily aquatic animals, specifically seal. This shift in subsistence was likely the result of environmental pressures affecting the natural resources. This consequence could have motivated the final abandonment of the island.
The evidence presented is significant for further studies about historic Scandinavian life and civilization, for the development and decline of the Norse settlement in Greenland influenced the lives of those living on and beyond the island. The Norse economy was likely affected once Greenlandic exports were no longer in circulation, and the individuals abandoning the settlement had to reestablish their livelihood in countries they had never seen before. By studying the site of Brattahlid, scholars can further construct a comprehensive history of Scandinavia.
Bibliography
Adderley, W. Paul, and Ian A. Simpson. “Soils and Palaeo-Climate Based Evidence for Irrigation Requirements in Norse Greenland.” Journal of Archaeological Science 33 no. 12 (2006): 1666–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2006.02.014.
Arneborg, Jette, Niels Lynnerup, Jan Heinemeier, Jeppe Møhl, Niels Rud, and Árný E. Sveinbjörnsdóttir. “Norse Greenland Dietary Economy Ca. AD 980-ca. AD 1450: Introduction.” Journal of the North Atlantic 301 (2012): 1–39. doi:10.3721/037.004.s303.
Edvardsson, Ragnar. Archaeological Excavations at Qassiarsuk, 2005 – 2006 (field report). Bolungarvík, Greenland: Náttúrustofa Vestfjarða, NABO, Grønlands Nationalmuseum & Arkiv, 2007.
“Eirik the Red’s Saga.” The Sagas of Icelanders: A Selection. Translated by Keneva Kunz. New York: Penguin Books, 2000.
Eirik the Red and Other Icelandic Sagas. Translated by Gwyn Jones. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Enghoff, Inge Bødker. Hunting, Fishing and Animal Husbandry at The Farm Beneath the Sand, Western Greenland: An Archaeozoological Analysis of a Norse Farm in the Western Settlement. Copenhagen: Danish Polar Center, 2003.
Keller, Christian. “Furs, Fish, and Ivory: Medieval Norsemen at the Arctic Fringe.” Journal of the North Atlantic 3 (2010): 1–23. https://doi.org/10.3721/037.003.0105.
The King’s Mirror (Speculum regale-Konungs skuggsjá). Translated by Laurence Marcellus Larson. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1917.
McGovern, Thomas; Pálsdóttir, Albína Hulda. Preliminary Report of a Medieval Norse Archaeofauna from Brattahlið North Farm (KNK 2629), Qassiarsuk, Greenland. New York: CUNY Northern Science and Education Center, 2006.
Somerville, Angus A., and Russell Andrew McDonald. The Viking Age: A Reader. North York, Ontario, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 2010.
Star, Bastiaan, James H. Barrett, Agata T. Gondek, and Sanne Boessenkool. “Ancient DNA Reveals the Chronology of Walrus Ivory Trade from Norse Greenland.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 285 no. 1884 (2018), https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.0978.
Þorgilsson, Ari. The Book of the Icelanders. Translated by Halldór Hermannsson. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Library, 1930.
Endnotes
[1] The King’s Mirror (Speculum regale-Konungs skuggsjá), trans. Laurence Marcellus Larson (New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1917), 135–145.
[2] Ari Þorgilsson, The Book of the Icelanders, trans. Halldór Hermannsson (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Library, 1930).
[3] Christian Keller, “Furs, Fish, and Ivory: Medieval Norsemen at the Arctic Fringe,” Journal of the North Atlantic 3 (2010), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.3721/037.003.0105.
[4] Inge Bødker Enghoff, Hunting, Fishing and Animal Husbandry at The Farm Beneath the Sand, Western Greenland: An Archaeozoological Analysis of a Norse Farm in the Western Settlement (Copenhagen: Danish Polar Center, 2003), 18.
[5] Angus A. Somerville and Russell Andrew McDonald, The Viking Age: A Reader (North York, Ontario, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 2010), 74–5,
[6] Ragnar Edvardsson, Archaeological Excavations at Qassiarsuk, 2005 – 2006 (field report), (Bolungarvík, Greenland: Náttúrustofa Vestfjarða, NABO, Grønlands Nationalmuseum & Arkiv, 2007), 5–6.
[7] Thomas McGovern and Albína Hulda Pálsdóttir, Preliminary Report of a Medieval Norse Archaeofauna from Brattahlið North Farm (KNK 2629), Qassiarsuk, Greenland (New York: CUNY Northern Science and Education Center, 2006), 2.
[8] McGovern and Pálsdóttir, Preliminary Report of a Medieval Norse Archaeofauna from Brattahlið North Farm, 2.
[9] Edvardsson, Archaeological Excavations at Qassiarsuk, 2005 – 2006 (field report), 22–8.
[10] Edvardsson, Archaeological Excavations at Qassiarsuk, 2005 – 2006 (field report), 36.
[11] Keller, “Furs, Fish, and Ivory: Medieval Norsemen at the Arctic Fringe,” 15.
[12] Keller, “Furs, Fish, and Ivory: Medieval Norsemen at the Arctic Fringe,” 15.
[13] Bastiaan Star, James H. Barrett, Agata T. Gondek, and Sanne Boessenkool, “Ancient DNA Reveals the Chronology of Walrus Ivory Trade from Norse Greenland,” Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 285 no. 1884 (2018), https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.0978.
[14] Edvardsson, Archaeological Excavations at Qassiarsuk, 2005 – 2006 (field report), 35.
[15] Jette Arneborg, Niels Lynnerup, Jan Heinemeier, Jeppe Møhl, Niels Rud, and Árný E. Sveinbjörnsdóttir. “Norse Greenland Dietary Economy Ca. AD 980-ca. AD 1450: Introduction,” Journal of the North Atlantic 301 (2012), 22, doi:10.3721/037.004.s303.
[16] Jette Arneborg, et al. “Norse Greenland Dietary Economy Ca. AD 980-ca. AD 1450: Introduction,” 160.
[17] Jette Arneborg, et al. “Norse Greenland Dietary Economy Ca. AD 980-ca. AD 1450: Introduction,” 166.
[18] Paul W. Adderley and Ian A. Simpson, “Soils and Palaeo-Climate Based Evidence for Irrigation Requirements in Norse Greenland,” Journal of Archaeological Science 33 no. 12 (2006), 1667, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2006.02.014.
[19] Adderley and Simpson, “Soils and Palaeo-Climate Based Evidence for Irrigation Requirements in Norse Greenland,” 1675–76.
[20] The King’s Mirror (Speculum regale-Konungs skuggsjá), 135–145.
[21] The King’s Mirror (Speculum regale-Konungs skuggsjá), 139–140.
[22] The King’s Mirror (Speculum regale-Konungs skuggsjá), 142.
[23] The King’s Mirror (Speculum regale-Konungs skuggsjá), 142.
[24] The King’s Mirror (Speculum regale-Konungs skuggsjá), 147.
[25] “Eirik the Red’s Saga,” The Sagas of Icelanders: A Selection (New York: Penguin Books, 2001), 658.
[26] “Eirik the Red’s Saga,” 665.
[27] Edvardsson, Archaeological Excavations at Qassiarsuk, 2005 – 2006 (field report), 35.
[28] Edvardsson, Archaeological Excavations at Qassiarsuk, 2005 – 2006 (field report), 35.
[29] Adderley and Simpson, “Soils and Palaeo-Climate Based Evidence for Irrigation Requirements in Norse Greenland.”