Claudia Baittinger Anna Marie Junker Stevnsvig Peter Steen Henriksen The National Museum of Denmark THE NORSE From the late 10 th century northern Europeans settled in southern and western Greenland These Norse farmers thrived for almost 500 years before disappearing for re ID: 1042774
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1. THE FUEL ECONOMY OF NORSE SOCIETY IN SOUTHERN GREENLAND Claudia Baittinger, Anna Marie Junker Stevnsvig, Peter Steen HenriksenThe National Museum of Denmark THE NORSEFrom the late 10th century northern Europeans settled in southern and western Greenland. These Norse farmers thrived for almost 500 years before disappearing for reasons not yet fully understood. CHARCOAL SPECIES DISTRIBUTION IN NORSE MIDDENSLimited tree vegetation in southern Greenland requires fuel resource planning. This was even more important during the Norse period when ships importing goods could be infrequent. To examine the early Norse fuel economy we conducted an anthracological analysis of two household middens located in the Eastern Settlement.The two middens were excavated in 2021 and 2022 and both sites date to the early settlement phase. Ø35 dates to the very earliest settlement with its associated early church style whereas Ø49 was established slightly later. THE ANALYSIS30 fragments per layerØ35 at Qorlortup Itinnera: 8 layers analyzed = 240 fragmentsØ49 at Igaliku: 7 layers analyzed = 210 fragments Import: An example of imported wood. A processed and charred fragment of Fraxinus excelsior from Ø35.Local species Non-local species (imported/driftwood) For more information, please contact Claudia Baittinger: CLB@natmus.dkTHE PICEA/LARIX PROBLEM Have you also identified ray tracheids in Picea/Larix charcoal? Please come and talk to usDuring our charcoal analyses we identified the pit borders of ray tracheids used to distinguish Picea and Larix. The upper two upper images were taken using a fluorescence microscope and the two lower images were taken with SEM. Possible driftwood collection areasSettlements500kmReferences:Anagnost SE et al. 1994. Confirmation and Significance of Bartholin’s Method for the Identification of the Wood of Picea and Larix. J. Int. Assoc. Wood Anat. 15 (2), 171–184.Arneborg J. 2023. The Norse Settlement of Greenland. In A. Howkins, & P. Roberts (Eds.), The Cambridge History of the Polar Regions (pp. 129-152). Cambridge University Press.Bartholin T. 1979. The Picea-Larix Problem. International Association of Wood Anatomists Bulletin 1, 7-10.Bishop R et al., 2013. A charcoal-rich horizon at Ø69, Greenland: evidence for vegetation burning during the Norse landnám? Journal of Archaeological Science, 40 (11), 3890-3902.Guðmundsdóttir L. 2021. Wood procurement in Norse Greenland (11th to 15th c. AD). Journal of Archaeological Science, 134, 105469.Hellmann L et al. 2013. Tracing the Origin of Arctic Driftwood. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 118, 68–76. Hellmann L et al. 2017. Dendro-provenancing of Arctic driftwood. Quaternary Science Reviews, 162, 1-11. Talon B. 1997. Étude anatomique et comparative de charbons de bois de Larix decidua Mill. et de Picea abies (L.) Karst. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences - Series III - Sciences de la Vie, Volume 320, Issue 7, 581-588.Map after Lísabet Guðmundsdóttir; in: Mooney DE et al. 2022. Wood resource exploitation in the Norse North Atlantic: a review of recent research and future directions. In: Mooney DE et al. (eds.), Expanding horizons: settlement patterns and outfield land use in the Norse North Atlantic, University of Bergen Archaeological Series: 187–208. University of Bergen, Bergen.