Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2004, Page 11

Klavs Randsborg
APPROACHES TO THE GREENLANDERS
The Norse settlement of Greenland, and its demise, is discussed in terms of archaeological,
written historical and other evidence which point to a fatal decline in the early 15th centu-
ry. Using Iceland as the model, it is suggested to view the fall ultimately in terms of the
mainly English penetration into the North Atlantic for físhing and whaling, in tum a result
of Late Medieval urbanism and rising demands for food. Plundering Greenland in the 1420s
and 30s, and abducting the younger men for work on the fishing fleets would lead to a quick
disappearance of Norse culmre and explain all other facts to the decline that we know of.
The second part of the paper deals with the early archaeology of the area, starting with Hans
Egede in the early 18th century.
Klavs Randsborg, Dept. of Archaeology & Ethnology, Univ. of Copenhagen
Vandkunsten 5, DK-1467 Copenhagen, Denmark.
E-mail: randsb@hum.ku.dk
www. worldarchaeology. net
Keywords: Greenland, Norsemen, Decline of Norse Settlement
ARCHAEOLOGY
According to the archaeology, ancient
Norsemen of Greenland abandoned their
main and southernmost, so-called
Eastern Settlement (founded around
1000 AD) in the (early) mid-fifteenth
century. This realm consisted of more
than 200 farmsteads (actually 226, pro
tempore (p.t.), comprising some 450 sin-
gle sites with structures of various kinds)
and rich pastures in the well protected
fiords of South-West Greenland, mainly
near Qaqortoq/Julianeháb (not all the
farmsteads were in use at the same time,
though). By comparison, the island of
Gotland, Sweden - of 3,000 square kilo-
metres, or about the same area as the
Eastem Settlement - would have sus-
tained far more than 1,000 farmsteads in
the High Middle Ages, plus the great
trading city of Visby, whilst a similar
sized Danish area no doubt supported
several times that number of farmsteads.
3-400 km to the north of the Eastem
Settlement, the much smaller Westem
Settlement (at Nuuk/Godtháb) had only
up to some 60 farmsteads (p.t., some 75
or more single sites with stmctures);
again, not all the farmsteads were in use
at the same time. According to the histor-
ical sources, the Westem Settlement was
Archaeologia Islandica 3 (2004) 9-19