Konrad ŚmiarowskiPhD ProgramThe Graduate Center CUNY365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016-4309 zaglobax@yahoo.com

Economic of Extinction in Greenland –Zooarchaeology of Vatnahverfi Region in Norse

Eastern Settlement

Norse Settlements

Western Settlement

Norðursetur

Eastern Settlement

•Greenland was settled from Iceland ca. 985 AD

•Two areas of permanent farms in the SW.

•Eastern Settlement has ca. 400 ruin groups.

•Western Settlement has ca. 80 ruin groups.

•The Norðursetur (Northern Hunting Grounds) were in the Disko Bay area, 800 km N of the settlements.

•Western Settlement becomes extinct ca 1350 (switch from “Norse” settled cultural landscape to “Inuit” mobile landscape)

•Eastern Settlement lasts at least another 100 years

E 74

2008 sitesE64 InnoqassaqE68 Timerliit

Map by Mikkelsen, Kuijpers, Lasse and Vedel

2009-2010 siteE172 Tatsip Ataa

2005-06 sitesE 29 BrattahlidE74 Qorlortorsuaq

2007 sitesE78 EqaluitE172 Tatsip AtaaE64 InnoqassaqE60

The Vatnahverfi Project-- IPY NABO Excavations

2011 sitesE3, E4, E171, E168

Midden Excavation at E172 Tatsip Ataa -2007, 2009, 2010

• 3 Seasons of midden excavation – over 50m2 in main area + 2 small trenches

• Long period of occupation 1000AD to 14th C.

• Large archaeofauna under analysis at CUNY

• Dry and wet sieving in 4mm mesh for optimal artifact and bone recovery – 100% Bone and artifact collection

• Palaeobotany and Entomology sampled

• Detailed Survey work, including GPR and geomagnetics

• Column sample taken in a peat bog next to the dwelling

• The only known site with organic preservation atthe time of the excavations – Global warming severely affected waterlogged, frozen deposits in ALL of SW Greenland

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% NISP

Domestic Mammals Cetacea Seals Birds Fish Mollusca Caribou Other Mammals

Wild and Domestic

Seal Biology in Greenland

• Migratory Harp(P.groenlndica) and Hooded (C. crystata) seals ride the spring and summer sea ice. Number in millions.

• Arctic non-migratory seals present all winter (breathing hole). Ringed (P.hispida-Nerpa) and Bearded (E. barbatus) seals.

• Harbor/Common seals (P. vitulina) are driven off by heavy summer sea ice, if occurs

Harp

Hooded

Map: Aqqalu Rosing-Asvid

Harbor/Common Seals

•Form small concentrations at hauling out spots on sandy beaches

•Vulnerable to human hunters when have pups on shore

•Over-hunting, and local population extinctions or dispersal are possible

•Can not reproduce in ice filled waters

Modern Drift Ice & Sealing Conditions

Modern Seal Catch

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Qaqortoq 1954-75 Narsaq 1954-75 Kapisillt 1954-75

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Ringed Common Bearded Hooded Harp

Former Eastern and Western Settlement areas

Brattahlið (E Settlement) % Identified Seal Bones

Brattahlid N Farm Identified Seals

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ca 1200-1250 ca 1250-1300 post-1300

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ISP

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Harp seal Harbor seal Hooded seal

• Depletion of common seal stocks in the area due to over-hunting by Norse hunters? (they survive for 300 years)

• Climatic change from earlier, warmer conditions with little or no summer drift ice to a climate similar to modern conditions during the later 13th century AD ?

Why Low Common Seal Numbers in the Later Phases ?

Connecting Deep Sea Cores, GISP Temperature Reconstruction,

Zooarchaeology & Climate Thresholdsin SW Greenland

Sea cores detect major change in summer sea ice distribution in SE and SW Greenland.

Increasing summer drift ice after 1250-1300 AD.

Jennings A. E and Nancy J WeinerEnvironmental change in eastern Greenland during the last 1300years; evidence from foraminifera and lithofacies in NansenFjord, 68 degrees N. The Holocene, 8(3) 434-441

Jensen et al. 2004; Diatom evidence of hydrographic changes and ice conditions in Igaliku Fjord, South Greenland, during the past1500 years. The Holocene 14,2, 152-164

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Sealing Changes

Ringed Common Bearded Hooded Harp

Seal Bone Distribution in W and E Settlements

Western Settlement

Early

Later

Data from Śmiarowski, McGovern and Enghoff

Eastern Settlement

• Summer drift ice affects harbor (common) seal colonies

• Drift ice also cools sea level pastures, reducing growing season of the most productive plant communities and pastures

• Causes intensification of migratory seal hunting after 1250-1300 AD

(Preliminary data)

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E 172 Major Taxa1000‐1100 vs. 1200‐1300

E172 Ph1

E172 Ph 3

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Cattle Horse Dog Pig Caprine

E 172 Domestic Mammals 1000‐1100  vs. 1200‐1300

E172 Ph1

E172 Ph 3

Decrease in Farm Productivity

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pre 1200 ca 1200-1250 ca 1250-1300 post-1300 1000-1100 1200-1300 980-1035 latermedieval

1040-1300 1300-1400

VI-IX V IV III 1 3 lower 1/2 3

E29 N E29 N E29 N E29 N E172 E172 E17a E17a E74 E74

Marine to Terrestrial Mammal Bone Ratio

“Seasonal sheep station”

Central E. Settlement

VatnahverfiSW E. Settlement

Inland Vth.

Intensification of seal hunting

Eastern Settlement vs Western Settlement

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-13 Tj#18

Tj#28

Ø35a

Tj#11

Ø35c

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Ø48a

V51#197

V51#240

Tj#12

Ø48b

Tj#25

Tj#16

Tj#27

Tj#26

Tj#19

Ø35a

V7#175

Ø47#20

V51#250

Ø111#205

Ø149#214

Ø149#216

V51#258

Ø47#21

Ø111#208

Ø111#210

V51#253

V51#1

Ø66#24

V51#256

V7K-4117

Ø23a

V51#249

V51#255

V51#3

V51#5

Ø149#215

V51#6

Ø1b

Ø23b

Ø23a

Ø111#206

Ø111#207

Ø149#9

V51#184

V51#247

V51#254

Ø149#213

Ø149#8

V51#4

Ø66#23

V7#174

Ø149#10

V7K-4120

Ø149#7

V51#2

Ø111#13

Ø1a

Ø111#15

Ø111#14

C13

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Sample ID

Østerbygden Vesterbygden

Period I: ca. 980 ‐ 1160

Period II: ca. 1160 ‐ 1300

Period III: ca. 1300 ‐

Data from the Nationalmuseet research team, Jette Arneborg et al.

Greenland Isotope ProjectDiet in Norse Greenland AD 1000 – 1450

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• Harbor seal colonies managed successfully in both Norse settlements

• Resilient Norse successfully intensify migratory seal hunting as a response to century long unpredictable, unfavorable temperature change post 1250-1300 AD

• 15th Century Conjunctures that contributed to Norse Demise

High magnitude cold temperature hazards overlap with high magnitude unpredictable storminess (affecting agricultural activity & trade with Europe)

Political and economic changes in Europe result in decreased contact and Ivory demand and export

Cultural contact with Thule Inuit – hostile? Resource competition?

International Collaboration in Greenland 2005-12 – Many Thanks!

• Thomas McGovern - NABO North Atlantic BioculturalOrganisation

• Sophia Perdikaris - HERC Human EcodynamicsResearch Center

• NORSEC - CUNY Northern Science & Education Center

• NUNATTA KATERSUGAASIVIA ALLAGAATEQARFIALU - (Greenland National Museum and Archives, NKA)

• Jette Arneborg and Christian Madsen - The Middle Ages & Renaissance Dept. at The Danish National Museum