Hráefnisnotkun norrænna manna á Grænlandi

Komið er að lokum rannsóknarverkefnisins Stokkar og steinar. Hráefnisnotkun norrænna manna á Grænlandi og að því tilefni verður efnt til málþings á Fornleifastofnun Íslands, Bræðraborgarstíg 9, föstudaginn 30. september 2022 kl. 9:00-16:15.

Verkefnið, sem styrkt er af Rannís, miðar að því að varpa ljósi á innra hagkerfi grænlensku byggðanna á miðöldum: hversu háðar þær voru innflutningi og hversu kostnaðarsamt var að afla hráefna innanlands.  Doktorsrannsókn Lísubetar Guðmundsdóttur á viðarleifum og nýdoktorsrannsókn Sólveigar Guðmundsdóttur Beck á steingripum varpa nýju ljósi á þessi álitamál.  Á málþinginu munu þær gera grein fyrir niðurstöðum sínum og hópur sérfræðinga í grænlenskri miðaldafornleifafræði fjalla um efnið úr frá ólíkum gögnum og sjónarhólum.

Að málþinginu standa Rannsóknastofa í fornleifafræði við Háskóla Íslands og Fornleifastofnun Íslands.

Málþingið fer fram á ensku og er opið öllum meðan húsrúm leyfir en einnig verður hægt að fylgjast með streymi.

Dagskrá

  • 9.00-9.15. Orri Vésteinsson: Kynning
  • 9.15-9.45. Lísabet Guðmundsdóttir: Wood procurement strategies in Norse Greenland
  • 9.45-10.15. Sólveig Guðmundsdóttir Beck: The East, the Middle or the West? Geochemical Characteristics of Norse Soapstone Artefacts from Igaliku (Ø47) and Tatsip Ataa Killeq (Ø172) in the Eastern Settlement in Southwest Greenland. 
  • 10.15-10.30. Kaffihlé
  • 10.30-11.00. Guðrún Alda Gísladóttir: A journey to a new beginning - the essential luggage set for Viking Age migration
  • 11.00-11.30. Konrad Smiarowski &Thomas McGovern: Different Pathways: Zooarchaeology and Economy  in Iceland and Greenland
  • 11.30-12.00. Michele Hayeur Smith & Kevin P. Smith: In Small Things Discovered: Experimental Applications of pXRF to Archaeological Textiles from Greenland
  • 12.00-13.30. Hádegi
  • 13.30-14.00. Élie Pinta & Claudia Baittinger: Managing wooden resources in Norse Greenland: using tree-rings to explore wood use and acquisition strategies in a ‘treeless’ environment
  • 14.00-14.30. Jette Arneborg, Dorthe Dangvard Pedersen & Niels Lynnerup: The Gardar Cathedral and the dead in the cemetery.
  • 14.30-15.00. Christian Koch Madsen & Michael Nielsen: "Swamp farms" in Norse Greenland? Preliminary investigations of an alternative medieval farm economy.
  • 15.00-15.15. Kaffihlé
  • 15.15-15.45. Orri Vésteinsson: Samantekt
  • 15.45-16.15. Almennar umræður

Nánar um rannsóknarverkefnið:

Á vesturströnd Grænlands var norrænt samfélag milli 10. og 15. aldar. Þessar byggðir hafa löngum verið taldar sérlega afskekktar og harðbýlar og flestar skýringar á efnahag þeirra og endalokum snúast um takmörkuð náttúrugæði, skort á hráefnum og mikinn kostnað við aðdrætti. Nýjustu rannsóknir benda raunar til að fæðuöryggi hafi ekki verið ábótavant en að járn (og aðra málma) hafi þurft að flytja inn. Rannsóknir skortir hins vegar til að hægt sé að leggja skipulega mat á hversu háðar grænlensku byggðirnar voru innflutningi og hversu kostnaðarsamt var að afla hráefna innanlands. Höfðu Grænlendingar nægan aðgang að innfluttum vörum, að hversu miklu leyti gátu þeir nýtt innlend efni í stað t.d. járns, og hversu kostnaðarsamt var það? Svör við þessum spurningum munu ekki aðeins varpa ljósi á sögu grænlensku byggðanna heldur verða innlegg í víðtækari umræðu um áhrif hráefnisnýtingar á hagkerfi hefðbundinna bændasamfélaga. Markmið verkefnisins er að leggja grundvöll að bættum skilningi á aðgangi að hráefnum á Grænlandi á miðöldum með því að skoða tvo mikilvæga en lítt rannsakaða efnisflokka: tré og stein. Stór söfn af stein- og viðarleifum úr nýlegum uppgröftum í Eystribyggð hafa verið rannsökuð með trjáfræðilegum og bergfræðilegum aðferðum og á þeim grunni, og með saanburði við náttúrufræðileg gögn og eldri safnkost, eru í þróun líkön af aðdráttakerfi grænlensku byggðanna.

Paper abstracts:

  • Lísabet Guðmundsdóttir: Wood procurement strategies in Norse Greenland
    In largely treeless Arctic and subarctic environments wood was a key raw material, and this was no less so in Norse Greenlandic society (985-1450 AD). The native woodland in Greenland consists of few tree taxa, many of which are low growing and crooked it has therefore been argued that import was necessary to sustain wood needs of the Norse.
    To assess origin of wood utilised in Norse Greenland, wood taxa analysis was used to provenance wood assemblages from five sites. Gården under sandet in Vestribyggð, Igaliku, Narsaq, Tatsip Ataa and Tasilikulooq in Eystribyggð, where excavations have produced large collections of wood artefacts and wood debris. In this talk I will present the results of this study and discuss wood procurement strategies in Norse Greenland. Furthermore, I will address how the Norse society seems to have dealt with varying degrees of unpredictability connected to their wood sourcing. 
  • Sólveig Guðmundsdóttir Beck: The East, the Middle or the West? Geochemical Characteristics of Norse Soapstone Artefacts from Igaliku (Ø47) and Tatsip Ataa Killeq (Ø172) in the Eastern Settlement in Southwest Greenland.
    Archaeological finds made from soapstone (steatite/serpentinite) are one of the main staples on Norse Greenland sites. The aim of this paper is to present the results of a geochemical and morphological comparison of finds from two Viking Age/Medieval excavation sites, in the Eastern Settlement in Southwest Greenland. The study provides a preliminary dataset for 35 vessel fragments: 17 from Igaliku and 18 from Tatsip Ataa Killeq. The data will contribute to future provenance studies of such artefacts and quarries in Greenland. Preliminary findings suggest that the majority of raw material in the two assemblages is Greenlandic, high-quality soapstone, potentially from the Western Settlement in the Nuuk area, and/or from Atammik Island a little further north along the coast.
    The fragments were sent to ActLabs in Canada for elemental characterisation. Whole rock chemistry (ME) was mapped with Lithium Metaborate/Tetraborate Fusion Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (FUS-ICP-OES) and trace and rare earth elements (TE and REE) were analysed with Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). For methodological comparison, semiquantitative portable XRF analysis (pXRF) of 14 samples from Tatsip Ataa Killeq was also conducted by the author for ME and TE, with a Thermo Niton XL5 Plus analyser at the University of Iceland.
    The assemblage is largely without significant typological characteristics and reveals no clear anomalies in chemical compositions between the two sites either in space or time, although the assemblage at Igaliku seems more morphologically varied. Some of the vessel fragments grouped together by surface and rock type morphology showed clear corresponding chemical signatures, but typological characteristics are still preferable in such provenance research. Through comparison with the work of Hansen, Jansen and Heldal (2017) and Keulen, Poulsen & Frei (2022), elemental data supports current interpretations that local soapstone was the main commodity rather than being imported from Norway. The dataset suggests a potential for using pXRF measurements of nickel (Ni ppm), zinc (Zn ppm) and aluminium (Al2O3%) values to partially differentiate between Greenlandic and Norwegian soapstone finds. The general chemistry and REE profiles of this Eastern Settlement assemblage suggest a possible connection of at least 50-70% of the finds materials to quarries with high quality soapstone in the Nuuk area; from Quassussuaq in Nuuk, in a line towards the Northeast to Ikkattut, Ummannaq Island and Kuussuaq. It is also possible, that some of the material could originate from Atammik Island a little further north (see Keulen, Poulsen & Frei, 2022). Localities like Itillilik in Upernavik and Innarsuaq in Sisimiut outside the Nuuk area were confidently ruled out as potential sources for this assemblage.
    Further analyses of soapstone quarries must be carried out for a more detailed dataset from within all three settlements. Viable quarry sites in the Eastern Settlement are rare and it is likely that majority of soapstone was commonly transported from the Middle and/or Western Settlements in the Northwest. Geochemical separation of raw materials from these two settlements may prove problematic, however. Whether it will be possible to use chemical analysis to separate raw materials from these three main Norse settlements within Greenland remains to be seen. 
  • Guðrún Alda Gísladóttir: A journey to a new beginning - the essential luggage set for Viking Age migration
    The Primary Tool Kit is a concept of a Viking Age start-package of objects which needed to cover necessary tasks ahead to build a future and home in the new land. The archaeological record suggests the settlers were well informed on what to bring along – and then accordingly what resources they could rely on in their place of destination. In the light of artefactual material from two Viking Age farms, Sveigakot in N-Iceland and Narsaq in the Eastern Settlement in Greenland it is possible to detect signals of e.g., the landnám preparation, the adaption process, the importance of the personal belongings to express social status and how alternative materials integrate the material culture.
  • Konrad Smiarowski & Thomas McGovern: Different Pathways: Zooarchaeology and Economy in Iceland and Greenland
    The Scandinavian Viking Age and Medieval settlements of Iceland and Greenland have been subject to zooarchaeological research for over a century, and have come to represent two classic cases of survival and collapse in the literature of long term human ecodynamics. The work of the past two decades by multiple projects coordinated through the North Atlantic Biocultural Organization (NABO) cooperative and by collaborating scholars has dramatically increased the available zooarchaeological evidence for economic organization of these two communities, their initial adaptation to different natural and social contexts, and their reaction to late medieval economic and climate change. This summary paper provides an overview of ongoing comparative research as well as references for data sets and more detailed discussion of archaeofauna from these two island communities.
  • Michele Hayeur Smith & Kevin P. Smith: In Small Things Discovered: Experimental Applications of pXRF to Archaeological Textiles from Greenland
    X-Ray Fluorescence has a long history in archaeology and museum studies as an analytical technique used for identifying the chemical composition of ancient objects, grouping objects based on shared composition, identifying toxins and additions made during curation, assessing soil chemistry, and relating objects to source areas, among other applications. The advent of light, battery-powered, portable X-Ray Fluorescence (pXRF) devices about 20 years ago, however, significantly expanded the range of non-destructive analyses that could be undertaken safely and rapidly, not only in museums but also in the field. Over the past 8 years we have used pXRF to gather geochemical data on a wide range of archaeological woolen textiles from 10 Norse sites in the former Eastern Settlement, 6 Norse farmsteads from the Western Settlement, and one Ancestral Inuit site located north of the Western Settlement. In this presentation we will discuss the methods we have used, preliminary results useful for considering issues ranging from the movement of cloth (or people wearing cloth) within and between the settlements, clientage, herding practices, and health, as well as problems remaining to be solved with this still-experimental method, and opportunities for moving it forward.
  • Élie Pinta & Claudia Baittinger: Managing wooden resources in Norse Greenland: using tree-rings to explore wood use and acquisition strategies in a ‘treeless’ environment
    During Medieval times, Norse Greenlanders relied heavily on wood for making household items, as a construction material, and as a fuel source. Although the quantity and quality of timber available in local woodlands were limited, Norse craftspeople also had access to driftwood and imported materials. Most studies in the North Atlantic use taxonomic analysis to trace the origin of archaeological wood remains. Using dendrology alongside this can provide us with additional information about wood diameter and growth conditions. This preliminary study uses stave-built vessel components in the first morphometric analysis of archaeological wood remains from Norse Greenland. Combining taxonomic identification with analysis of growth-ring width and curvature indicates that Norse woodworkers favored medium to large pieces of coniferous wood in making coopered vessels, most probably reflecting timber availability on local driftwood beaches. Wood of smaller diameters, typical of native Greenlandic taxa, was used to a lesser extent. Growth-ring widths suggest that most of the timber comes from areas where growth conditions are restricted, such as the boreal forests from which much Arctic driftwood originates. Despite limited wood sources, the study indicates that Norse Greenlanders successfully gathered raw materials locally for a wide range of activities.
  • Jette Arneborg, Dorthe Dangvard Pedersen & Niels Lynnerup: The Gardar Cathedral and the dead in the cemetery.
    The recent archaeological excavations in Igaliku, South Greenland took place in 2019, 2021 and 2022. The target was the churchyard surrounding the ruins of Gardar Cathedral. The purpose was to excavate and retrieve skeletal material for bio-archaeological analyses.
    Gardar Cathedral and churchyard are assumed to have been in use until the end of the Norse Greenlandic settlements sometime after AD 1450 and the buried are dated within the settlement period including times of population increase and decline. Therefore, the skeletal material provides important data for studies of the Norse population structure and size throughout the settlement period. Furthermore, through comparisons with skeletal material from the early churchyards at Ø64 and Tjodhilde's church we hope to uncover how the changes in the living conditions of the Norse Greenlanders during time are reflected in their state of health.
    This presentation will focus on the history and results of the archaeological activities at the cathedral and churchyard site including some archaeological and anthropological results of the most recent excavations at the churchyard. 
  • Christian Koch Madsen & Michael Nielsen: "Swamp farms" in Norse Greenland? Preliminary investigations of an alternative medieval farm economy.
    In the context of Viking Age and medieval settlement in the North Atlantic, an economic setup with a farm nucleus surrounded by a fenced off, cultivated infield and, beyond, pastures is generally perceived as the norm. While this farm model also exists in Norse Greenland, local socio-economic and environmental conditions often resulted in somewhat alternate resource strategies and farm layouts. In this paper, we present and discuss Norse site NKAH 5500, Andala’s Farm, in South Greenland, a region corresponding to the medieval Norse Eastern Settlement. Situated on the edge of a sandur and with buildings emerging out sand dunes, the agricultural setting of this farm today appears strikingly marginal, and the only associated infield is a small mire. Outlining the character NKAH 5500 based on preliminary archaeological investigations over several years, we suggest that this farm represents an alternate economic setup—a type of “swamp farm” with certain economic advantages and drawbacks. Perhaps more appreciatively designated as “meadow farms”, the archaeology of NKHA 5500 suggests that such farms were not especially poor. Neither were meadow farms uncommon in Greenland, or beyond, and a represent a type of adaptation within the possible.