The first records of Greenland Vikings date to 985 CE. Archaeological evidence yields insight into how they lived, yet drivers of their disappearance in the 15th century remain enigmatic. Hypotheses include combinations of environmental change, social unrest, and economic disruption. Occupation coincided with a transition from the Medieval Warm Period (900 to 1250 CE) to the Little Ice Age (1250 to 1900 CE) and Southern Greenland Ice Sheet advance. New research demonstrates that this advance would have driven local sea-level rise of 3 m and inundation of 204 square km; this process led to the abandonment of some sites and pervasive flooding; progressive sea-level rise impacted the entire settlement and may have acted in tandem with social and environmental factors to drive Viking abandonment of Greenland.
Southwestern Greenland was settled by Norse immigrants in 985 CE when Erik the Red was exiled from Iceland for manslaughter (c. 982 CE) and relocated West.
Erik’s family and other colonizers established the Eastern Settlement and the Western Settlement, which remained until the disappearance of Vikings in the 14th and the mid-15th century, respectively.
The first records of the Norse in Greenland come from both the Book of Icelanders and the Saga of Erik the Red.
Life in the settlements was inherently tied to the land, religious practices, and social standing, closely mirroring the Icelandic Norse colonies.
Archaeological evidence for Viking occupation includes ruins, middens (trash heaps), as well as human and animal bones.
The last written evidence of Norse habitation in Greenland is a record of a wedding ceremony at Hvalsey Church in the Eastern Settlement in the early 15th century, and radiocarbon dates indicate a further half century of occupation.
“There are many theories as to what exactly happened to drive the Vikings from their settlements in Greenland,” said lead author Marisa Borreggine, a doctoral candidate at Harvard…
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