Page 33 - All About History - Issue 34-16

Lost kingdoms of the Vikings

The Vikings made it to Greenland in 982
and established both eastern and western What became of Vinland?
settlements with about 300 farmsteads
Expert bio: Dr Alex Why did the Vikings survive hundreds
Sanmark is reader in of years in Greenland but could not
Medieval Archaeology establish themselves in Vinland, with its
at the Centre for Nordic richer resources and better climate?
Studies, University The settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows was
of the Highlands and probably never intended to be permanent,
Islands. She specialises but rather a base for resources, such as wood,
in various aspects which they could not get in Greenland. The
of the Viking Age, Vikings seem to have stayed there for short
from religion to law periods of time as the number of Norse in
and gender, both in Greenland was never very large, and setting
Scandinavia and the Norse settlements in the up a new colony would have required a
north Atlantic. substantial group of people to be successful.
Also, L’Anse aux Meadows was not a very
How important is L’Anse aux Meadows to useful area for resources that were unavailable
our understanding of Viking settlements in Greenland, for these the Vikings had to
in the New World? travel quite far inland. The journey between
It is hugely important because it is the only Greenland and Canada was long and could
Viking settlement in the New World. There are take up to a month, which of course made
other types of archaeological evidence though. regular journeys between the two areas
Two Icelandic sagas, for instance, tell us about difficult. It may be, although there is no
the Vikings sailing to Vinland from Greenland evidence to prove this, that the relationship
and Iceland. This has, of course, spurred with the natives was so difficult that the
people’s imagination, and many have been settlement was abandoned.
looking for evidence of Viking presence a lot
further south, especially “The settlement at What were relations
in the US. Others have with the Native
faked the evidence by L’Anse aux Meadows Americans like?
producing their own runic We don’t know very much
inscriptions. The Viking was probably never about this. The sagas tell
settlement of the New us both about trading
World is an important intended to be with the native population
political issue for some permanent, but and about fights between
who are keen to show that them. On the other
‘Europeans’ were there rather a base for hand, there is increasing
Norse technology was not significantly more evidence of interaction
advanced than that of the natives meaning the from early on. The sagas
Vikings found it difficult to assert their authority are highly problematic as resources” between the two groups
sources as they are very and it may be that the
late, dating from the 13th century onwards, whole situation was a lot more positive than
and they are also literature, meaning that the image provided by the sagas. The sagas are
they don’t necessarily tell us exactly what literature after all, and it may have been more
happened. We can’t rely on them for evidence, interesting to describe fighting than trading.
so this settlement is of great importance. In view of recent archaeological finds, I’m sure
more evidence will be appearing in the future.
Are there any similar Viking settlements
to L’Anse aux Meadows in the Americas? How could a longship or a knarr make it
No, but a possible Viking camp has been all the way across the Atlantic?
identified on Baffin Island in recent years. It may seem strange to us that people set out
There is also an increasing amount of across the North Atlantic in open ships, but
archaeological evidence from Canada that we need to see this in its context. It was of
shows that the Vikings were there and course a very long and dangerous journey, and
traded with the natives. It is possible that the sagas contain stories about ships being
established trading networks were in place lost on the way. People in the Viking age were,
and the Vikings may well have travelled a lot however, very used to travelling in this way
further inland than previously thought. Viking and they didn’t start by crossing the Atlantic.
presence is above all traced through artefacts People in Scandinavia were using ships with
that the native people did not have, such as sails from the early Iron Age and developed
finds of metal, strike-a-lights and woollen their ships and sailing skills over several
cloth. These finds are important as they point hundred years. They were extremely talented
to friendly interactions, which is not always seamen and knew when and how to sail,
the image provided by the written sources. following currents, fish and seabirds.
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