Acta Archaeologica vol. 83, 2012, pp 145-177 Copyright 2012 Printed in Denmark • All rights reserved ACTA ARCHAEOLOGICA ISSN 0065-101X (print) ISSN 1600-0390 (online) FALLING INTO VÍNLAND NEWFOUNDLAND HUNTING PITFALLS AT THE EDGE OF THE VIKING WORLD Jónas Kristjánsson, Bjarni F. Einarsson, Kristján Jónasson, Kevin McAleese & Þór Hjaltalín ABSTRACT. Two interwoven topics are dealt with, fi rst- could be Sop’s Arm in White Bay on the North coast of ly a new interpretation of the Icelandic Sagas and histor- Newfoundland. The system of pitfalls that was surveyed ical written sources on the Viking age voyages to North and excavated is close to Sop’s Arm. The pitfalls form an America, leading to a theory on the location of Vínland, 82 metre long system that lies in an almost straight line. and secondly an archaeological survey of deer hunting Individual pits are now 1.5–2.3 metres deep and 7–10 pitfalls in Newfoundland, which were possibly dug by the metres long. Two pitfalls were excavated by taking a sec- Nordic voyagers a millenium ago. According WR the theory tion into them. Attempted radiocarbon dating of soil from of the article, Vínland is the modern day Newfoundland, two pitfalls was inconclusive. Considerable soil thicken- and the Straumfjord of the sagas, where Thorfi nn Karl- ing of 55–110 centimetres since the pitfall construction sefni and Gudríd Thorbjarnardóttir attempted settlement was observed. 1. INTRODUCTION Several written sources dating from the 11th, 12th and One of the authors of the article, Kevin McAleese is 13th centuries tell about the discovery of North America only responsible for Aboriginal and non-Norse settlement by Icelanders and Greenlanders around the year 1000 AD. history of the article and for his part in the fi eld work on Some of the sources describe in some detail the route that the Sop’s Arm pits. these explorers followed on their voyages, and one can The remainder of this article is organized as follows. try to follow in their footsteps and possibly fi nd evidence After a short introduction, Section 2 gives an overview of of where they went. Such an endeavour led the authors of the historical written sources on the Vínland excursions, this article to the village of Sop’s Arm in northern New- which include one German and two Icelandic histori- foundland. A few kilometres from the village there is a cal works from the late 11th and the 12th centuries, and system of fi ve or six man-made pits in a row. After dig- two Icelandic sagas from the 13th century, Eiríks Saga ging, each pit was measured at several metres long and a and Grænlendinga Saga. Of the two sagas Eiríks Saga few metres deep and wide, and the authors believe that provides the more detailed description of the main set- their purpose was to catch big animals, probably caribou/ tlement attempt on the North American continent, made reindeer. by Thorfinn Karlsefni and his wife Gudríd. Section 2.3 Many scholars have reasoned about the location repeats the relevant passages of the sagas ¶ narrative in our of Vínland, the North-American destination described own English translation, interspersed with discussion of most elaborately in the written sources. Among the sug- the probable modern day geographical locations of the gested places are New York City, Maine, Nova Scotia, places they visited. New Brunswick, Labrador and Newfoundland. On these After an introduction about our own theories, Section pages, we shall argue for the last mentioned location, that 3 provides an overview of the modern day research on Vínland is Newfoundland. these historical events, with some emphasis on research 146 Acta Archaeologica dealing with the location of Vínland. As some scholars grét Hermanns-Auðardóttir (1989, 1991) and recently by have relied on Grænlendinga Saga we briefl y repeat its Páll Theodórsson (2009, 2010, 2011) who suggest a date storyline in Section 3.2. The archaeological site at L’Anse before or around the year 700 AD. Their arguments in- aux Meadows on Northern Newfoundland, where 1000 clude evidence from soil thickening and radiocarbon dat- year old Viking houses were discovered in the 1960’s is ing. Their interpretations are still being debated. discussed next. To give the reader some fl avour of the The Norwegians were at that time great shipbuilders many existing Vínland theories, four recent works on and sailors. In Iceland there were no trees useable for big the subject are reviewed next, followed by a discussion ships, but during the fi rst centuries of settlement the Ice- of three particular plant species that have played an im- landers had access to seaworthy ships and went even far- portant role in these theories: vines, butternut trees and ther west in search of new lands. They discovered Green- wheat. Section 3 concludes by describing the Vínland land in the 10th century, and according to the sagas Eirík search of one of the authors of this article, dr. Jónas the Red ( Icel. Eiríkur rauði ) from the west of Iceland Kristjánsson (2005). settled there in 985 or 986. He named the land and said Now the article takes a turn and the attention is turned that a good name would encourage people to move there, to hunting pitfalls. Such pitfalls were very common in as Ari the Learned writes in Íslendingabók. Eirík’s wish Scandinavia in medieval times, but are also known from came true: in the years that followed many people moved elsewhere in the world. Section 4 gives an overview about from Iceland to Greenland, establishing two settlements the sources on and the study of pitfalls that were formerly located on the southwest coast of the country, the Eastern used to hunt deer, moose, wolves, bears and other big and Settlement ( Icel. Eystribyggð ) where Eirík built his farm- small animals, and Section 5 describes the excavation of stead Brattahlíd, and the Western Settlement ( Icel. Ves- the Sop’s Arm pitfalls carried out by the authors of this tribyggð ). A thorough discourse on the history of the Ice- article in 2010. Section 6 provides background informa- landic settlement in Greenland is given by Seaver (1996). tion on the Aboriginal cultures that formerly occupied Shortly before or around the year 1000 the Greenland- Newfoundland and what we know about their methods ic settlers sailed further on and found the North American of caribou hunting. The section also tells briefl y about the mainland. They attempted to settle there, on a land they history of the Sop’s Arm community after its settlement named Vínland (Wineland), but the settlement was short- by Europeans. Finally the article concludes with a discus- lived. The oldest account of this exploration is given by sion section. Adam of Bremen (ca. 1075), and the other primary writ- ten sources are the aforementioned Íslendingabók (1122– 1133) and the two Icelandic sagas, Eiríks Saga Rauða 2. THE MEDIEVAL NORDIC (Saga of Eirík the Red) and Grænlendinga Saga (Saga of EXPLORATION OF NORTH the Greenlanders) (13th century). These old sources will AMERICA be discussed further in the next section. Unfortunately the discussions in Íslendingabók and 2.1. SEAFARING FOLK Adam of Bremen’s work are very brief, and Eiríks Saga Iceland was uninhabited after the end of the last Ice Age and Grænlendinga Saga do not agree very well on the but in the 9th century (or perhaps earlier) it was discov- description of the voyages, making it diffi cult to tell an ered by Scandinavian people and subsequently settled accurate story. But in short, it appears that either Leif the from Scandinavia and the British Isles. The primary Lucky ( Icel. Leifur heppni ), son of Eirík the Red, or Bjar- written source on the time of settlement is Íslendinga- ni Herjólfsson, whose parents had moved to Greenland, bók (Book of the Icelanders) written by Ari the learned were the fi rst Europeans to see the North American con- in the beginning of the 12th century (Ari Þorgilsson tinent. According to both sagas it was Leif who was the 1122–1133; Halldór Hermannsson 1930). Íslendingabók fi rst man to go ashore and explore the land, either on the is the oldest and considered the most trustworthy of the discovery voyage or on a subsequent one. He named the Icelandic historical sources dealing with the settlement land Vínland. A few years later, soon after the year 1000, period. According to Ari the fi rst settlement was around Thorfi nn Karlsefni ( Icel. Þorfi nnur karlsefni, Þórðarson ) 870 AD but this has been countered, in particular by Mar- and his wife Gudríd Thorbjarnardóttir ( Icel. Guðríður Falling Into Vínland 147 Þorbjarnardóttir ) voyaged from Greenland to Vínland were Icelanders at his court who could have enlightened with livestock and accompanied by several people (pos- him about Vínland, and another possibility is that Ísleif sibly 150) and attempted settlement. However, after a Gissurarson, the fi rst bishop of Iceland, was his guest. stay of two or three years they gave up, mostly because Ísleif might even have met Adam, as he studied in Ger- of clashes with indigenous people, and all sailed back to many and received his installation as bishop in Bremen Greenland. Snorri, son of Thorfi nn and Gudríd, was born in 1056. in their fi rst or second year in Vínland. Two or three years About half a century later Ari the Learned mentions after coming back to Greenland the family moved to Ice- Vínland in Íslendingabók but unfortunately only in pass- land, where they settled down in Skagafjörður in North ing. He includes this information: “Both east and west Iceland. Both sagas agree on these events, and both fi nish in the country [i.e.