Norse Greenland Dietary Economy Ca

2012 J. Arneborg,Greenland N. Lynnerup, Isotope Project: J. Heinemeier, Diet in NorseJ. Møhl, Greenland N. Rud, AD and 1000–AD Á.E. Sveinbjörnsdóttir 1450 1 2012 Journal of the North Atlantic Special Volume 3:1–39 Norse Greenland Dietary Economy ca. AD 980–ca. AD 1450: Introduction Jette Arneborg1,2,*, Niels Lynnerup3, Jan Heinemeier4, Jeppe Møhl5, Niels Rud4, and Árný E. Sveinbjörnsdóttir6 Abstract - An initial study of the 13 C values for human bone collagen of 27 Norse Greenlanders in the late 1990s suggested a change in the Norse diet from predominantly terrestrial to predominantly marine food. This shift may well indicate a change in diet; the question left open by the limited initial isotope study was, however, whether the change in diet was a reÀ ection of altered subsistence strategies or altered farming practices. Furthermore, the ¿ rst study did not convincingly answer the question of whether the dietary change occurred gradually over time or within the space of a few years—and, if the latter case, when? Neither did it answer questions concerning dietary differences between the two Norse settlements, between individual farms and between the sexes, or the nature of the marine food that was consumed. Distinguishing locally born people from foreigners is yet another matter for investigation in order to leave out of account persons that grew up outside of Greenland. This new study includes 437 samples: 183 from humans—118 Norse and 65 Inuit—and 254 from animals. The samples are from 19 Norse sites (farms): 13 from the Eastern Settlement and 6 are from the Western Settlement. For comparison, we have also included samples from both humans and animals from 22 Inuit sites. This paper sets the scene for the new study and the following papers in this Special Volume. Former studies in Norse diet and Norse resource utilization are recapitulated, and all the Norse sites represented in the study are presented, as are all the samples included in the study. Chronology is a recurrent problem in Norse archaeology, and our focus, in particular, is on the attempt to date the samples included in the study that have not been radiocarbon dated. Introduction ticularly suited to isotopic diet studies. An initial You are what you eat—this saying covers mankind’s study of the į13 C values for human bone collagen of relationship with daily food in more ways than one. 27 individuals in the late 1990s suggested a change Diet and food systems reÀ ect human exploitation of, in the Norse diet from predominantly terrestrial to and attitude towards, the surrounding environment predominantly marine food. Between 20 and 30% of and are bound up with resource utilization and the the diet of the early 11th century settlers was marine subsistence economy. The subject involves factors in origin, which corresponds more or less to what such as production, farming and hunting practices, was found in contemporary Scandinavian settlers distribution, and consumption and it reÀ ects social in the Scottish Isles (Barrett et al. 2000, 2001). In relations linking humans together. Human food— the late settlement period in the ¿ rst half of the 15th individual meals and food consumption over longer century AD, however, up to about 80% of the food of periods—can, to a certain extent, be reconstructed on some Norse Greenlanders was of marine origin (Fig. the basis of archaeological evidence such as kitchen 1; Arneborg et al. 1999, Lynnerup 1998). lay-out, kitchen equipment and tableware, agricul- This shift may indicate a change in diet, which is tural and hunting equipment, animal bones depos- in accordance with theories on the Norse subsistence ited on house À oors, and refuse deposits outside. economy arrived at on the basis of the animal bone Evidence from studies of pollen and macro-remains record (McGovern 1985). The question left open of plants that have contributed to the diet provides by the limited initial isotope study was, however, further information. The most direct evidence for the whether the change in diet was a reÀ ection of altered reconstruction of past diets is, however, provided subsistence strategies or altered farming practices by humans themselves. Through isotope analysis of (e.g., related to famine and the need to supplement bone collagen, it is possible to gain an insight into husbandry with seaweed and ¿ sh refuse). Further- the food consumption of individual populations over more, neither the zooarchaeological evidence nor long periods of time. the data from the ¿ rst isotope studies answer con- Owing to the ethnic and cultural homogeneous vincingly the question of whether the dietary shift population and the relatively well-preserved bones occurred gradually over time or within the space of both humans and animals, wild and domesticated, of a few years—and if the latter case, then when? the Norse settlements in South Greenland are par- Furthermore, the initial limited study did not answer 1Danish Middle Ages and Renaissance, Research and Exhibitions, The National Museum of Denmark Frederiksholms Kanal 12, DK-1220 Copenhagen. DK 2Institute of Geography, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. 3Laboratory of Biological Anthropology, Section of Forensic Pathology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. 4AMS 14C Dating Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 120, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Den- mark. 5Zoological Museum, Natural History Museums of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. 6Institute of Earth Science, University of Iceland, Sturlugate 7, S-101 Reykjavík, Iceland. *Corresponding author - [email protected]. 2 Journal of the North Atlantic Special Volume 3 questions concerning dietary differences between smaller and more northerly Western Settlement was the two settlements, between individual farms, and situated in the Nuuk hinterland around the Nuuk and between the sexes, or the nature of the marine food the Ameralik-Ameralla fjords. consumed. Distinguishing locally born people from To date, about 560 Norse sites have been re- foreigners (immigrants?) is yet another matter for corded in the Eastern Settlement and around 75 in study in order to leave out of account persons that the Western Settlement (Fig. 3; National Museum grew up outside of Greenland. of Greenland, Ancient Monuments Register). Even To a certain degree, the past diet (i.e., con- though is it evident that not all the sites were inde- sumption in a long-term perspective) of the Norse pendent economic units (see for instance Albrethsen Greenland settlers has been discussed for years on and Arneborg 2004), not all the farms could have the basis of the zooarchaeological record (McGov- been occupied at the same time, given the assumed ern 1985). Through stable isotope analysis (į13 C size of the population. Lynnerup (1998:100ff.) has and į15 N) of all the suitable Norse human remains estimated the total number of inhabitants over time in the collections of the Anthropological Labora- in the two Norse settlements as about 26,000, and tory at the Panum Institute in Copenhagen1, and with about 2000 at the peak of settlement around selected bone samples from all the animals repre- 1250. With an average of about 10 individuals per sented at Norse farms2, we aim to obtain an even farm during the peak period, a total of about 200 closer picture of the dietary economy of the Norse farms must have been occupied. Greenlanders to study the living conditions of the The last written evidence from the Eastern Norse settlers in a long time perspective. Settlement is the account of a wedding that took At the individual level, we want to explore what kind of food was consumed and whether the long- term dietary economy patterns contribute to the discussion of the depopulation of the Norse Green- land settlement in the second half of the 15th century. The Norse Settlements of Southern Greenland The Norse colonists arrived in Southwest Green- land at the end of the 10th century. The settlement consisted of individual farms concentrated in two main areas (Fig. 2). The Eastern Settlement—in- cluding the so-called Middle Settlement—extended from the Cape Farewell region in the south to Tissa- luup Ilua in Sermesoq municipality in the north. The Figure 2. The Norse settlements in Greenland were concen- Figure 1. The results of the ¿ rst isotope study on Norse trated in two main areas. The Eastern settlement between Greenland human remains. 60° and 61°N, and the Western Settlement around 64°N. 2012 J. Arneborg, N. Lynnerup, J. Heinemeier, J. Møhl, N. Rud, and Á.E. Sveinbjörnsdóttir 3 Figure 3. The Norse settlement. Each marking represents a Norse site. Each site holds between one and 60 individual ruins. Østerbygden = the Eastern Settlement. Mellembygden is a modern name for the concentration of ruins south of Tissallup Ilua and is regarded part of the medieval Eastern Settlement. Vesterbygden = the Western Settlement. Map after Arneborg (2004). 4 Journal of the North Atlantic Special Volume 3 place in Hvalsey fjord church in 1408, and AMS- Settlement. The difference between these two inland dates for garments found in graves at the Herjolfsnes areas is particularly striking in the winter, when it (Ikigaat) churchyard indicate that life in the Eastern is considerably colder in the Western Settlement. Settlement continued at least until the middle of the Similarly, the growing season there is much shorter 15th century (Arneborg 1996). and with less precipitation (Krogh 1982:168–169). Radiocarbon dates indicate that the Western Analyses of ice cores from the Greenland ice cap Settlement was settled a little later than the Eastern show that the Northern Hemisphere has experienced Settlement and, on the basis of Ívar Bárðarson´s several temperature changes through time (Dahl- description of Greenland, the abandonment of the Jensen et al. 1998). The time of the Norse settlement Western Settlement has traditionally been dated to in Greenland was a period of relative warmth, which the middle of the 14th century.

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