Pushing the limits: palynological investigations at the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the Norse Western Settlement

Schofield, J. E., Pearce, D. M., Mair, D. W.F., Rea, B. R., Lea, J. M., Kamenos, N. A. , Schoenrock, K. M., Barr, I. D. and Edwards, K. J. (2022) Pushing the limits: palynological investigations at the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the Norse Western Settlement. Environmental Archaeology, 27(2), pp. 228-242. (doi: 10.1080/14614103.2019.1677075)

Abstract

This paper presents two high-resolution pollen records dating to ∼AD 1000–1400 that reveal the impacts of Norse colonists on vegetation and landscape around a remote farmstead in the Western Settlement of Greenland. The study is centred upon a ‘centralised farm’ (ruin group V53d) in Austmannadalen, near the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet (64°13′N, 49°49′W). The climate is low arctic and considered marginal in terms of its suitability for the type of pastoral agriculture that the Norse settlers introduced. The data reveal that at a short distance (∼500 m) from the farm buildings, the palynological ‘footprint’ for settlement becomes extremely indistinct, the only clear palaeoenvironmental evidence for a human presence being elevated levels of microscopic charcoal. This contrasts with the Eastern Settlement, where a strong palynological signature for Norse landnám is evident, from the local (individual farm) through to the regional (landscape) scale. The palynological data from Austmannadalen, and the Western Settlement more generally, imply that farming occurred at very low intensity. This aligns with ideas that promote the importance of hunting, and trade in valuable Arctic commodities (e.g. walrus ivory), ahead of a search for new pasture as the dominant motivation driving the Norse settlement of this region.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This research was supported by the Leverhulme Trust under Project Grant 2014-093 (‘Calving glaciers: long-term validation and evidence’).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Kamenos, Professor Nick
• Authors: Schofield, J. E., Pearce, D. M., Mair, D. W.F., Rea, B. R., Lea, J. M., Kamenos, N. A., Schoenrock, K. M., Barr, I. D., and Edwards, K. J.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Geographical and Earth Sciences
• Journal Name: Environmental Archaeology
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• ISSN: 1461-4103
• ISSN (Online): 1749-6314
• Published Online: 17 October 2019
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 Association for Environmental Archaeology
• First Published: First published in Environmental Archaeology 27(2): 228-242
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy