DOCSLIB.ORG

ARCH 1870 Environmental Archaeology, Fall 2015

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
ARCH 1870 Environmental Archaeology, Fall 2015 ARCH 1870 Environmental Archaeology, Fall 2015 Tuesday and Thursday 1:00-2:20 pm, Location: Rhode Island Hall 108 Instructor: Brett Kaufman [email protected] ARCH 1870 Environmental Archaeology Brett Kaufman Office Hours: Tuesday, 2:30-4:30 pm Rhode Island Hall 007 This presentation and the images within are for educational purposes only, and are not to be distributed. Cultural Ecology and Political Economy of the North Atlantic Viking Islands (Iceland and Greenland) Cultural Background Political Economy and Cultural Ecology of Viking Iceland, and Review of Byock 2001 Paleoenvironment and Subsistence Practices Foundation and Decline of Viking Age Greenland, and Review of Dugmore et al. 2012 Cultural Background Chronology Settlement Period Phase, 870-930 AD Development of the Icelandic Free State Phase, 930-1150 AD Big Chieftain Phase, 1150-1262 AD End of Free State, 1262-1944 AD Kellogg and Smiley 2001 In 860 AD, Harald Fairhair became the first king of Norway. Until this point, autonomous Norse landowning chieftains vied for property and followers and settled their disputes at local legal assemblies (things). In the process of King Harald’s formation of a monarchic state, several landowners and holders of noble titles found themselves at odds with the new king. Instead of capitulating or standing up to an army, they took their chances with their households and migrated to Iceland and several other islands such as the Faroes, Hebrides, Shetlands, and Orkneys. Norse maritime routes and settlement (Byock 2001) The Viking Age is dated from around 800-1100 AD. Viking society converted in waves from the Norse religion (Odin, Thor, Freyja, elves), to Christianity (King (St.) Olaf in Norway began this process), however many Norse religious traditions persist today such as diverting infrastructure construction away from places believed to be elf habitat. After conversion, the writing system of the Norse shifted from runes to sheepskin parchment (vellum) text. The descendants of early Vikings in Iceland began writing down family histories (sagas). https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/M%C3%B6%C3%B0ruvallab%C3%B3k_f13r.jpg Historical evidence comes from dozens of sagas, but despite comprising one of the largest corpora of Medieval Europe these were largely ignored until recently due to the fact that they were written in Old Icelandic, an uncommon language of scholarship. From the Norwegian side of things, we have the Heimskringla, or the History of the Kings of Norway (however, this was written by Icelander Snorri Sturluson). But to a certain extent, we have both what can be considered insider ethnohistorical documents outlining contemporary and related chieftain and state level societies. Knörr Viking Age merchant vessel (left, Byock 2001); warships in naval battle formation (right, Hollander 1991 ) Data bias: What does this leave us in the way of reliable historical data? In essence, the sagas are family histories written in the 13th century about their 10th century ancestors, and were at times likely used to bolster 13th century property claims or other ways to improve the standing of the lineage. That being said, much of the data regarding subsistence patterns, available resources, and sociopolitical organization can be gleaned “between the lines.” Furthermore, until recently Icelandic archaeologists largely ignored the historical texts even though many characters are listed in land registry sources such as the landnamabok. It was foreign scholars who fostered a shift toward including the data. Have we seen anything like this before? Land titles as recounted by the Book of Settlements in Iceland (Byock 2001) Political Economy and Cultural Ecology of Viking Age Iceland and Greenland, and Review of Byock 2001 Byock mentions that Iceland “is a fascinating social laboratory.” This is because it is seen as a prime example for the “chiefdom” level of sociopolitical organization. Viking Iceland was characterized by a lack of a centralized top- down approach, and society was held together instead by respect for law and social consensus. It is a rare instance of colonization that does not involve cultural interaction between two previously unfamiliar groups. Viking chieftain longhouse and conversion-era church, Mosfell, Iceland (Byock and Zori 2013) Iceland is also an excellent ecological laboratory, because it involved the transplantation of the European Iron Age basket of animal husbandry and limited cereal agriculture to the environmental fringe of where these economic practices could thrive. As we read about, Greenland was the extreme endpoint of this fringe; the Norse agro-technological bundle was eventually unable to withstand climatic fluctuation. Reconstruction of Mosfell longhouse (Byock and Zori 2013) Byock calls the shift from Norwegian statehood to Icelandic chiefdom a “devolution,” and if we follow Service’s model strictly it is, but in light of what we have learned about “reversions” or “Dark Ages” it may be classified anthropologically more accurately as a culturally-driven adaptation. Elites that had been disenfranchised by a new ideological system (kingship) were forced to renegotiate their standing in the hierarchy and opted for migration. Excavations of the chiefly longhouse at Mosfell (Byock and Zori 2013) Adapting the Norwegian system of Things (assemblies) but without an executive power, the Althing of Iceland became Europe’s earliest parliament. It had a well-defined body of law, and was divided into four regions. The highest official position was that of Lawspeaker, who tended to be the most respected judicial authority and who could recount the finer points of law for cases brought to the Althing. http://www.thingsites.com/assets/images/enlargeable/thing-sites/iceland/Thingvellir%2011.jpg Law Rock of the Althing Individual chieftains (godi) and their free farmer allies (thingmenn) had to choose between compromise and violence. The sagas consistently relate that if a contentious legal claim would be brought to the Althing, both sides would try to convince as many thingmenn as possible to ride with them, thereby increasing their odds of forcing a compromise due to the threat of violence. Man in his mid-40s buried at Mosfell, died from axe or sword wound to the head, radiocarbon dated to saga age, ~950-1025 AD (Byock and Zori 2013) If a verdict was deemed to be unfair, the loser could preemptively or later appeal through a challenging the opponent to a duel, winner take all. From a resource acquisition perspective, this served as a levelling mechanism to greed or abuse of legal precedent, but also shows that those who could not muster allies had diminished access to justice in the eyes of society. After conversion to Christianity, the function of the chieftains remained much the same, with priestly as well as political responsibilities. (Byock and Zori 2013) Failure to follow the law could result in outlaw status, at which point the outlaw could be killed with impunity. Looking at it another way, the enforcement of the law was left to civilians, without any institutional police or military force. http://blog.parrikar.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/hlidarendi-1.jpg Gunnar Hámundarson’s homestead at Hlíðarendi with modern church For those of you wanting to work in Iceland… Paleoenvironment and Subsistence Practices Iceland is a volcanic island. The environment is subarctic, with much less timber than Norway meaning most wood had to be imported, in addition to most metal (aside from low grade bog iron ore) and other durable goods. The only habitable zones were the coast and immediate interior, although ritual sacrifice activity is recorded in mountain caves. Caught between the warm North Atlantic Drift and the East Greenland polar current, temperature and weather are often unstable. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Sn%C3%A6fellsj%C3%B6kull_in_the_Morning_(7622876302).jpg Snæfellskjökull volcano There are 200 volcanoes in Iceland, and the soil surface cover sits on top of basaltic bedrock. Abundant moss and lichen lent itself to the construction of turf housing, which served as a water-resistant insulator and also provided sheep the ability to graze on the https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Glaumbaer.jpg roof. Well-built turf houses could last for several generations, and are partially in use today. https://guidetoiceland.is/image/194997/x/0/bustarfell-turf-house-in-east-iceland-1.jpg The rough winters forced Icelanders to live inside for more than half of the year, which is one of the reasons why they developed such a rich literary tradition (time to write). The volcanic ecology provided more than 250 hot springs, which allowed people to wash themselves and their clothes, boil and steam foods, and also to socialize outdoors in what at times was an otherwise inhospitable environment. https://thetragiclifeoffrank.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/bluelagoon2.jpg Field mice, arctic foxes, and the occasional stray polar bear were the indigenous mammal life before Norse settlement. The settlers brought dogs, cats, pigs, goats, sheep, cattle, horses (northern variety breed versus later Arabian horses on European mainland), as well as lice, fleas, and dung beetles. The lack of natural predators was a boon to animal husbandry, but within a hundred years of unchecked herd expansion goats and pigs destroyed the grasslands and by 1000 only sheep and cattle were husbanded. It is likely that walrus went extinct soon following Norse settlement. http://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-100415-iceland-volcano/ss-100417-iceland-07.ss_full.jpg Following a severe reduction in island biomass concomitant with Norse settlement, productive decline was compounded as the climate began to become cooler in the 13th century. By the 16th century cereal agriculture became impossible (Dugmore et al. 2012), and lasted this way through the Little Ice Age into the early 18th century. Greenland ice core temperature history as measured through thermally equilibrated borehole – relative current temperature of ice is used to reconstruct paleotemperature (Dahl-Jensen et al.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Marine and Terrestrial Investigations in the Norse Eastern Settlement, South Greenland
    Marine and terrestrial investigations in the Norse Eastern Settlement, South Greenland Naja Mikkelsen,Antoon Kuijpers, Susanne Lassen and Jesper Vedel During the Middle Ages the Norse settlements in included acoustic investigations of possible targets Greenland were the most northerly outpost of European located in 1998 during shallow-water side-scan sonar Christianity and civilisation in the Northern Hemisphere. investigations off Igaliku, the site of the Norse episco- The climate was relatively stable and mild around A.D. pal church Gardar in Igaliku Fjord (Fig. 2). A brief inves- 985 when Eric the Red founded the Eastern Settlement tigation of soil profiles was conducted in Søndre Igaliku, in the fjords of South Greenland. The Norse lived in a once prosperous Norse settlement that is now partly Greenland for almost 500 years, but disappeared in the covered by sand dunes. 14th century. Letters in Iceland report on a Norse mar- riage in A.D. 1408 in Hvalsey church of the Eastern Settlement, but after this account all written sources remain silent. Although there have been numerous stud- Field observations and preliminary ies and much speculation, the fate of the Norse settle- results ments in Greenland remains an essentially unsolved question. Sandhavn Sandhavn is a sheltered bay that extends from the coast north-north-west for approximately 1.5 km (Fig. 2). The entrance faces south-east and it is exposed to waves Previous and ongoing investigations and swells from the storms sweeping in from the Atlantic The main objective of the field work in the summer of around Kap Farvel, the south point of Greenland.
    [Show full text]
  • Sheep Farming As “An Arduous Livelihood”
    University of Alberta Cultivating Place, Livelihood, and the Future: An Ethnography of Dwelling and Climate in Western Greenland by Naotaka Hayashi A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Anthropology ©Naotaka Hayashi Spring 2013 Edmonton, Alberta Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission. Abstract In order to investigate how Inuit Greenlanders in western Greenland are experiencing, responding to, and thinking about recent allegedly human-induced climate change, this dissertation ethnographically examines the lives of Greenlanders as well as Norse and Danes in the course of past historical natural climate cycles. My emphasis is on human endeavours to cultivate a future in the face of difficulties caused by climatic and environmental transformation. I recognize locals’ initiatives to carve out a future in the promotion of sheep farming and tree-planting in southern Greenland and in adaptation processes of northern Greenlandic hunters to the ever-shifting environment.
    [Show full text]
  • THE DANISH-GREENLANDIC ENVIRONMENTAL COOPERATION Twelve Stories About Environmental Projects in Greenland 14633-BOOK GB 08/01/2002 10:20 Side 2
    14633-BOOK_GB 08/01/2002 10:20 Side 1 THE DANISH-GREENLANDIC ENVIRONMENTAL COOPERATION Twelve stories about environmental projects in Greenland 14633-BOOK_GB 08/01/2002 10:20 Side 2 CONTENTS THE ARCTIC – A PART OF THE WORLD Preface by Svend Auken, Minister for Environment and Energy 3 GREENLAND IS DEPENDENT ON NATURE BEING VITAL AND HEALTHY Preface by Alfred Jakobsen, Home Rule Minister for Health and Environment 4 THE PROTECTION OF NATURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN GREENLAND Dancea is working for environmentally sustainable development in the Arctic 5 01 HUNTERS AND RESEARCHERS Controlling the hunt 10 02 BELUGAS IN ROUGH SEAS The debate about quotas on belugas 18 03 THE CLIMATE IN ZACKENBERG, GREENLAND, THE WORLD A research station with international duties 26 04 LIFE-GIVING AND LETHAL The omnipresent sun, for better and for worse 36 05 TINY ANIMALS OF GREAT SIGNIFICANCE Greenlanders are not interested in insects – yet 44 06 THE DIRTY DOZEN Environmental poisons accumulate in the Arctic 48 07 GREENLANDERS, ENVIRONMENTAL POISONS AND BEING OVERWEIGHT Eating habits are changing fast in some Greenlandic hunting areas 56 08 REINDEER AND MUSK OXEN ARE MEAT AND ADVENTURE How big game animals can best be utilized 64 09 SLIPSHOD WORKMANSHIP FROM VIKING TIMES The church ruin in Hvalsey 72 10 FROM GARBAGE DUMP TO MODERN REFUSE MANAGEMENT Urban waste management plans in Greenland 76 11 NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND INFORMATION DISSEMINATION Biologists and hunters meet at the community center 80 12 ON LAND, AT SEA AND IN THE AIR Can tourism become a leading industry in Greenland? 88 THE BIGGEST ISLAND IN THE WORLD Information about Greenland 96 Map of Greenland 97 2 DET DANSK-GRØNLANDSKE MILJØSAMARBEJDE 14633-BOOK_GB 08/01/2002 10:20 Side 3 THE ARCTIC – A PART OF THE WORLD Denmark has a long tradition of supporting can, for example, measure a decline in the environmental work in the Arctic.
    [Show full text]
  • 219 Chapter 7 Clerical Administration 7.1 A
    Christian Keller (1989) The Eastern Settlement Reconsidered. Some analyses of Norse Medieval Greenland. University of Oslo, Unpublished PhD Thesis, 372 pp. 219 CHAPTER 7 CLERICAL ADMINISTRATION 7.1 A PARISH SYSTEM IN GREENlAND? 7.1.1 The problem: In order to properly understand Norse Greenland it is imperative to find out what kind of church-organization existed there, as this has important bearings on other aspects of the society. To illustrate this topic. we must utilize both the archaeological and historical sources. Below, I have listed a number of questions I wish to answer. 1. How was the church in Greenland organized? Was it based on a proprietary church system, like in Iceland, or was it more In line with, for instance, the Norwegian Church? 2. What do we know about the Church as a landowner in Greenland? Did it own a considerable part of the productive areas, as in contemporary Norway. where the church owned more land than elsewhere in Europe (Bagge 79:212)? 3. Did Greenland have a parish system? If so, IS it possible to reconstruct the panshes? If so, is it possible to identify the church ruins? Attempts to link the place-names in the written sources with the archaeological material has been tried for more than 100 years, with few reliable results other than a basic topography. In the following, I have tried to analyze the material from other angles. First, I will discuss the church lists, especially the Description of Greenland by Ivar Baardson. which proves to be a central source. Second, the question of the church as a landowner will be raised in connection with the analyses of Baardson's text.
    [Show full text]
  • Medieval Iceland, Greenland, and the New Human Condition: a Case Study MARK in Integrated Environmental Humanities
    Global and Planetary Change 156 (2017) 123–139 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Global and Planetary Change journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/gloplacha Medieval Iceland, Greenland, and the New Human Condition: A case study MARK in integrated environmental humanities ⁎ Steven Hartmana,b, , A.E.J. Ogilvieb,c, Jón Haukur Ingimundarsonb,d, A.J. Dugmoree,f, George Hambrechtg, T.H. McGovernh,b a Mid Sweden University, Department of Tourism Studies and Geography, 831 25 Östersund, Sweden b Stefansson Arctic Institute, Borgir, Norðurslóð, IS-600 Akureyri, Iceland1 c Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA d University of Akureyri, Faculty of Social Sciences, Borgir, Norðurslóð, IS-600 Akureyri, Iceland e Institute of Geography, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, Scotland, UK f School of Human Evolution and Social Change, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, USA g University of Maryland College Park, Anthropology Department, College Park, MD 20742, USA h Zooarchaeology Laboratory, Anthropology Department, Hunter College CUNY, 695 Park Ave NYC, 10065, USA ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: This paper contributes to recent studies exploring the longue durée of human impacts on island landscapes, the Environmental humanities impacts of climate and other environmental changes on human communities, and the interaction of human Global change societies and their environments at different spatial and temporal scales. In particular, the paper addresses Historical climatology Iceland during the medieval period (with a secondary, comparative focus on Norse Greenland) and discusses Historical ecology episodes where environmental and climatic changes have appeared to cross key thresholds for agricultural Icelandic sagas productivity.
    [Show full text]
  • Iceland to Greenland: in the Wake of the Vikings
    ICELAND TO GREENLAND: IN THE WAKE OF THE VIKINGS The Norse originally set sail from Iceland in search of plentiful farmland, and their search was rewarded in the beautiful and fertile fjords of Greenland. Follow Erik the Red’s original route to explore this seldom-seen coastline, visiting important archaeological sites and modern Greenlandic communities along the way. ITINERARY Day 1: Reykjavík, Iceland The Adventure Begins Iceland’s cosmopolitan capital, Reykjavík was established in the year 874 CE. Powered by geothermal energy, Reykjavík is widely considered one of the cleanest, greenest cities on Earth. Food, culture, and nightlife abound. The National Culture House preserves treasures like the Poetic Edda and the Norse Sagas in their original manuscripts. We depart Reykjavík in the evening aboard the Ocean Endeavour. Day 2: At Sea Set Sail like the Vikings 0800 945 3327 (within New Zealand) | +64 (0) 3 365 1355 | 1800 107 715 (within Australia) [email protected] | wildearth-travel.com Sailing west from Iceland, we are truly in the wake of the Vikings. We’ll be The Sermersooq region of Greenland has a stunning myriad of mountain watching for whales and seabirds as we sail the Denmark Strait. Our onboard peaks, glaciers, and deep fjords. Our time will be spent on the western coast program will prepare you for the archaeology, history, culture, and wildlife that of the region, where records of human habitation stretch back over 1,500 awaits us in Greenland! years. We’ll explore by Zodiac or by foot, as landing conditions permit. We’ll keep a look out for nattoralik (white-tailed eagles), seabirds, and marine Day 3-5: East Greenland Fjords, Icebergs, and Whales mammals, and enjoy the lush vegetation of southwest Greenland.
    [Show full text]
  • Medieval Iceland, Greenland, and the New Human Condition a Case
    Edinburgh Research Explorer Medieval Iceland, Greenland, and the New Human Condition: A case study in integrated environmental humanities Citation for published version: Hartman, S, Ogilvie, AEJ, Ingimundarson, JH, Dugmore, A, Hambrecht, G & McGovern, TH 2017, 'Medieval Iceland, Greenland, and the New Human Condition: A case study in integrated environmental humanities', Global and planetary change, vol. 156, pp. 123-139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2017.04.007 Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2017.04.007 Link: Link to publication record in Edinburgh Research Explorer Document Version: Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Published In: Global and planetary change General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorer content complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 25. Sep. 2021 Global and Planetary Change xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Global and Planetary Change journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/gloplacha Medieval Iceland, Greenland, and the New Human Condition: A case study in integrated environmental humanities ⁎ Steven Hartmana,b, ,1, A.E.J. Ogilvieb,c, Jón Haukur Ingimundarsonb,d, A.J.
    [Show full text]
  • Interplays of Site and Situation Along Tunulliarfik Fjord, South Greenland
    Centre for Research on Settlements and Urbanism Journal of Settlements and Spatial Planning J o u r n a l h o m e p a g e: http://jssp.reviste.ubbcluj.ro Interplays of Site and Situation along Tunulliarfik Fjord, South Greenland Anthony J. DZIK 1 1 Shawnee State University, Department of Social Science, Portsmouth, Ohio, USA E-mail: [email protected] K e y w o r d s: site, situation, Greenland, climate change, Norse, Narsaq, Narsarsuaq A B S T R A C T Site and situation are dynamic factors in the origin, success, demise, and adjustments of human settlements. Over a period of 3500 years, human settlement in the environs of Tunulliarfik Fjord in southwest Greenland has undergone a number of changes brought about by the interplays of site and situation. While climate variability over time is at the forefront of most discussions on the human history and geography of Greenland, it is more appropriate to examine the interactions between climate, ecosystem, resource usage, and extrinsic influences in presenting a regional study of settlement over time. Through field work and literature review, these interactions were examined and analyzed from the early Saqqaq and Dorset cultures through the Norse colonization and up to the present time. Climatic shifts appear to be influential in the rise, adjustment, and demise of settlements along the fjord, but extrinsic factors and events have also played important roles, especially in the case of the Norse era, the economy of Narsaq, and in the founding of Narsarsuaq. 1. INTRODUCTION here first [3], [4] [correspondence with personnel at the Narsaq Museum, June and August, 2014].
    [Show full text]
  • The Viking Age: an Overview Hen a Band of Raiders from Scandinavia Time
    The Viking Age: An Overview hen a band of raiders from Scandinavia time. In fact, their raids on monasteries are mainly attacked the English monastery at Lind- explained by the fact that they were not Christian Wisfarne, in Northumbria, in 793 AD, the at the time, and thus felt no sacrilege in attacking these wealthy, unprotected places. VIKING SOCIETY Overall, most of the Norse people were peaceful farmers, attached to the land and particularly able to raise cattle and livestock which they even traded to their neigh- bors. Throughout the Norse or Vikings? Viking Age, there was Although we generally refer to medieval also a lot of peace- Scandinavians as Vikings, people in their time ful trading between called them the Norse, Danes, Rus or simply, Scandinavia and the the Northmen. The word Viking largely emerged surrounding countries, The church and norman abbey ruins at in the last 200 years, even though it has its Lindisfarne, England, site of the first recorded even as raids and wars roots in the old Norse word vik or “bay”, or in Viking raid in Europe of conquest continued the expression “i viking” which meant to go all over Europe. terror they caused was so great that news of it raiding. To better represent the importance of quickly spread all around Europe. The fact that Social organization was farmers, traders or craftsmen in the “Viking” they had attacked a house of God made the men dominated by the pow- world, it is more exact to use the word “Norse”, from the North seem like particularly ruthless war- er of local chieftains which emphasizes the common Nordic culture riors, a reputation that still dominates our vision who came together at of these peoples who settled everywhere from of the Vikings today.
    [Show full text]
  • Christian Keller Furs, Fish and Ivory – Medieval Norsemen at the Arctic Fringe
    1 SUBMISSION OF PAPER TO THE JOURNAL OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC (JONA) Christian Keller Furs, Fish and Ivory – Medieval Norsemen at the Arctic Fringe DECLARATION: This paper was originally written after a discussion at a conference in Aberdeen in 2004, and was submitted for publication in the Proceedings of that conference in 2005. For reasons unknown to me, the Proceedings were never published, but the manuscript had been submitted and I needed a confirmation that I could submit it for publication elsewhere. This confirmation was finally received this fall (September 2008). The text has now been upgraded and relevant literature published since 2005 added, hopefully making it a completely up-to-date paper suited for publication. All the illustrations have been drawn by me. CONTENTS The paper sees the Norse colonization of Greenland and the exploratory journeys on the Canadian East Coast as resulting from an adaptation to the European luxury market for furs and ivory. The Norse expansion into the Western Arctic is compared to the Norse expansion into the territories of the Sámi and Finnish hunter-gatherers North and East of Scandinavia. The motivation for this expansion was what is often called the coercion-and- extortion racket, aimed at extracting furs from the local tribes (called “taxation”) for the commercial markets in Western Europe and in the Middle East. The Norse adventures in the West Atlantic are seen as expressions of the same economic strategy. Icelanders were, after all, quite familiar with the Norse economic activities North and East of Scandinavia. This comparative approach is original, and it makes the Norse expansion in the West Atlantic appear less exotic and more “in character with the Norse” than normally expressed in the academic literature.
    [Show full text]
  • The Lost Western Settlement of Greenland, 1342
    THE LOST WESTERN SETTLEMENT OF GREENLAND, 1342 Carol S. Francis B.S., University of California, Davis, 1972 B.A., University of California, Davis, 1972 M.S., California State University, Sacramento, 1981 THESIS Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in HISTORY at CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO FALL 2011 THE LOST WESTERN SETTLEMENT OF GREENLAND, 1342 A Thesis by Carol S. Francis Approved by: __________________________________, Committee Chair Candace Gregory-Abbott __________________________________, Second Reader Jeffrey K. Wilson ____________________________ Date ii Student: Carol S. Francis I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University format manual, and that this thesis is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to be awarded for the thesis. __________________________, Graduate Coordinator ___________________ Mona Siegel Date Department of History iii Abstract of THE LOST WESTERN SETTLEMENT OF GREENLAND, 1342 by Carol S. Francis The Western Norse Settlement in Greenland disappeared suddenly, probably in 1342. Research in the area includes medieval sources, archeological studies of the ruins, climatic data from the Greenlandic icecap, oral stories from the Inuit in Greenland and Canada, and possible sightings of ancestors of the Norse in the Canadian Arctic. Feeling threatened both physically by the Thule (ancestors of the Inuit) and a cooling climate, and economically by the Norwegian crown, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Eastern Settlement in Greenland, the Western Settlement voluntarily left en masse for the new world, probably in 1342 based on sailing dates. _______________________, Committee Chair Candace Gregory-Abbott _______________________ Date iv PREFACE I was volunteering on a trip from Hudson Bay to Baffin Island with Students on Ice in 2007, when I heard the zodiac driver say, “there is a Viking trading site in the South Savage Islands.” That made me curious, as trading sites take time and trust to develop.
    [Show full text]
  • Iceland to Greenland: in the Wake of the Vikings JULY 13–25, 2023
    SMALL-SHIP EXPEDITION Iceland to Greenland: In the Wake of the Vikings JULY 13–25, 2023 SPECIAL GUEST Margaret Atwood Ten Fantastic Sights from Iceland to Greenland Fascinating Viking archaeology, breathtaking geology, and fantastic wildlife sightings set our hearts aflutter in this special region. These are our ten picks for the top experiences of this trip of a lifetime, Iceland to Greenland: In the Wake of the Vikings. ©Jessie Brinkman Evans Sail on the trail of Erik the Red, the first-ever Norseman in Greenland According to the Sagas, Thorvald 1Asvaldsson was expelled from Norway for “some killings.” He settled in Iceland with his red-headed son Erik. Carrying on the family tradition, Erik also killed some people, so he too was banished. In the year 982 CE he went west, into the history books. Sail across the rich Denmark Strait to follow after him, in the company of countless fulmars, shearwaters, cormorants, and other seabirds. 2 Brochure cover photo and the image on this page by Jessie Brinkman Evans Ogle the wild east Greenland coast, teeming with whales and ice The storm-tossed coast of southeast Greenland is too inhospitable for human 2settlement, but it’s a heck of a place to tour by ship and Zodiac. Here, endless acres of ice grind down from the polar pack, churning amongst stark islands, stunning fjords, and fantastic peaks. The floes provide haul-outs for a variety of seal species and a stunning backdrop for ©Jessie Brinkman Evans photos of breaching humpback whales. ©Jessie Brinkman Evans ©Jessie Brinkman Evans Visit haunting Hvalsey, Feel small (in a good way) the last place Norse in the wondrous, humbling Greenlanders were Fjord of Eternity ever seen Greenland’s southwest coast is 3With its stone walls intact but its roof open to the 4transcendent, thronging with peaks, glaciers, heavens, Hvalsey Church, near the modern-day and plunging fjords.
    [Show full text]