ANTH 3304 NA VIKINGS

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Grant McDermott ANTH 3304 Fall 2020 Were the Norse Vikings the true, first Colonizers of America? In 1492, when Christopher Columbus sailed the Atlantic Ocean and discovered the present-day Caribbean Islands, many people thought nothing more than this. Nothing of the Native Americans who resided there, of the Mayan and Aztec cultures, or of the Intuits in Alaska and Canada, among many other cultures. However, in 1992, people finally began to question this reality. Vine Deloria Jr., was the first to bring a strong movement to a new theory (Elsevier Editors 229). The shocking fact is, Columbus was not the first person in the Americas, nor was he necessarily the most superior. While he was the first European to reach these lands, and launch a period of colonization and conquering, there were many other perspectives that need to be investigated when discussing the origins of the Americas. The Bering Land Bridge, a piece of land that connected Asia to North America thousands of years ago, is one possible theory for how different Asian cultures arrived in the Americas before Columbus. While the Asians may have been the first residents of the Americas, which European was truly the first to discover these lands? Christopher Columbus and his voyage in the name of Spain? Or, could there be an entirely different, less recognized theory? Recently, due to modern-day anthropology, it has become more of an investigation to prove that Old World Norse Vikings were the first European settlers in the Americas. The term “Viking,” most likely derives from a southern Norway village called “Vik,” which was an early center for Viking raiding fleets. Along with this, the term for “bay,” in Old Norse was “Vik.” So, Kolodny, in a Search for First Contact , explains that this eluded into the creation of the term “Vikings,” as “those ‘bay men’ who went raiding were said to go ‘a-Viking,’ or were simply called ‘Vikings,’ a term used in fear by the British, who were repeatedly the victims of Viking raids” (Kolodny 44). This all stems from the beginning of what most would know as the “Viking Age,” roughly lasting around 250 years ago, 793-1066 CE. This time period took off beginning with an infamous attack on a defenseless monastery off the northeast coast of England in 793 AD. Following this was a long and violent period of Viking expansion. The Norwegian Vikings sailed west across the North Atlantic to invade the nearby Shetland Islands in order to use these as home-bases and mid-points for raiding other nearby countries. After pillaging the Shetland Islands, the Vikings continued on, quickly raiding northern Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, and almost all of England. Over time, these invaded lands became settlements, which transformed the culture of violence into one of trade. While there were still sporadic raids in the northeast for resources as needed, the overall violence reduced immensely. This was until people who had been misplaced due to the Vikings invasions felt unwelcome. Around roughly 870 CE, a colony of misplaced Irish people travelled to Iceland and established a settlement, which was at the time, the closest European settlement in proximity to the Americas (Kolodny 48-50). Eventually around 1000 CE, this group of Europeans decided to expand into an area in coastal northeast America, in present-day Newfoundland, and called it Vinland. The Vikings arrived in America almost 500 years before Christopher Columbus. Known as the North American Vikings, this specific group of Vikings was active from 1000-1300 CE. While there was a small settlement in northern Canada, known as L’Anse aux Meadows, the main villages resided on a North American island, which is present-day

Greenland. According to, The Sagas of Icelanders , Norsemen first settled in Greenland, hailing from Iceland, in the 980s (Kolodny 49). The Sages ’ continue to tell the history of the naming of the Viking settlement, as the Viking known as Erik the Red named the settlement ‘Greenland” in hopes that other Vikings from different Norse nations would come to the enticingly named land (Kolodny 51). Norse Greenland was split up into two section, an Eastern and a Western settlement. With at least four hundred farms identified by archaeologist, Norse Greenland had a wide variety of dietary customs, they ate walrus, sheep, whale, polar bear, among other tundra animals. But, eventually, Norse Greenland had grown enough as a settlement to be recognized by Europe, and accepted rulership to the Norwegian King. However, they still acted as a fairly independent nation. Many archaeologists ponder the interactions the Vikings would have had with the Native Americans that originally inhabited these lands, the Intuits and the Dorsets. While there is some evidence of trade between the Vikings and the Native Americans, it is proven that the Dorsets had left Greenland hundreds of years before the Vikings arrival. Dorset items such as pieces of combs, iron cooking utensil fragments, along with dismembered pieces of Inuit ships were all found at different Greenland sites (Kolodny 244). Even though a Viking and Native American interaction and war would be an interesting tale for American History, it sadly is unlikely to ever have happened. But, then arises the question, how is there any evidence for the Vikings arriving on the actual continent of America? The Vinland Map first appeared in 1965 in a book, The Vinland Map and the Tartar Relation by Maraton Skelton. This map was most significant for its depictions of lands west of Greenland, in modern day Newfoundland, as well as being the first known depiction of the Americas (Cahill et al 829). Essentially, this map indicates of a culture who had greater knowledge of the world that was ever conceived to exist in the times before Columbus. Along with this, there was archaeological evidence discovered in the Faroe Islands, a small group of islands that is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark between Iceland and Norway, which places the earliest evidence of human colonization in the 500-700 CE. On the islands, there was a finding of a wind-blown sand deposit that held remains of burnt ash and cultivated barley grains (Church). These remains further show evidence that Vikings were traveling to northern parts of the Atlantic, most likely leading and ending in Northern America, making them, the first colonizers. In 1960, in the L’Anse aux Meadows, near the northern tip of Newfoundland, archaeological evidence for the Norse occupation of North America was found. This site is the only confirmed Norse site in present-day Canada, aside from the sites found in Greenland, and dates back to 1000 CE. Before the Norse occupied this site, evidence has been found that Native Americans, specifically the Dorset people, initially lived there roughly around 6,000 years ago (Ledger 14,341). The Dorset people eventually traveled further South, as they did not want to continue facing the brutal winters, after roughly 200 years of settling in modern-day Newfoundland. Around 1,000 years ago, this site would have looked entirely different than if someone was to visit it present-day. Back then, the site was filled with dense forests that would have been immeasurably useful in building houses and boats, among other necessities. At the site, the remains of eight buildings were found (Wallace 8). Based on findings, these structures were likely homes and workshops, leading to believe that the Vikings had a full-on sedentary village in present-day Newfoundland. While experts have not been able to decipher it fully, it is believed that the village, of Vinland, would have housed anywhere from 30 to 160 people at a time (Wallace 9). Meanwhile, the population of the Norse Viking settlement in Greenland was around 2,500 people, making Vinland likely an experimental or expeditionary settlement. This

village was proven to have existed hundreds of years before Columbus discovered the Caribbean, making the Vikings the first settlers of the Americas. However, some modern Norse archaeologists suggest that L’Anse aux Meadows was not the location of Vinland at all, rather it was a greater area, similar to a modern-day country. They believe that the area of Vinland stretched further south, below the area known as L’Anse aux Meadows, all the way to the St. Lawrence River and to New Brunswick (Barnes 9). The Vikings likely used the Meadows site as a “home-base,” where they would gather when first reaching the Americas before venturing South to other villages and settlements. This allowed for a communal gathering of the Vikings to centralize ideals and motives, before travelling further into unknown, new lands. While this is one proposed idea, it is backed by questionable evidence. Many of the artifacts found that would prove existence of Norse Vikings further into North America have fallen into the classification of Pseudohistory (Cahill et al 834). Aside from the Vinland Map, there have been various monuments in New England that people have claimed to have Norse origins such as the Stone Tower in Rhode Island, to runes found on Narragansett Runestone. Unfortunately, these runes have likely been misidentified as Norse as historians are unable to decipher their origins, Native American and Norse alike. Even though the Norse were the first colonizers of the Americas, and aside from their initial Vinland settlement, it is likely the Vikings contained themselves to solely Greenland. Even though this was the first settlement in the Americas, it sadly, certainly, did not last the longest. According to the Norse saga, Saga of the Greenlanders , the settlement known as Vinland eventually failed due to conflicts within the Norse community along with the Native American communities the colonizers encountered, with the latest radiocarbon dating done (in 2002) placing the last Norse Vikings in the area around 1430 CE (Barnes 4). Following the decline, there have been many theories proposed, by varying archaeologists, in solving what happened to the original Vinland settlement. The Little Ice Age of this time period would likely have made travel between Greenland and Europe, along with farming and hunting, much more difficult for the Vikings, which presents this Ice Age as a probable cause for the Vikings departure. Along with this Ice Age, at the same time, in Scandinavia, the nations had endured large population losses due to epidemics of famine and plague, creating new opportunities for hunting and farming (Fitzhugh 7). Ultimately, giving a large motive for the adventuring Vikings to return back to their homeland. Aside from general climate changes and arising career opportunities, other anthropologists suggest that the Norse Greenlanders died out due to their inability to adapt. With lacking archaeological evidence, it is clear that the Norse chose not to, nor ever wanted to, interact and/or integrate with the native Thule tribes either thought culture or marriage. Archaeologists only now know that the two cultures had some interactions, due to ivory depictions of the Norse people in Thule remains. However, there are no indications of the Thule people in any of the Norse findings (Brink and Price 589-590). If the Norse people had decided to interact with the Thule people they likely would have survived much longer in the lands, which was seen in the eventual colonization of the East Coast by the English. The Thule people hunted ringed seal, which could be obtained year round, whereas the Norse did not. If the Norse had integrated with the Thule people, they likely would have found out about this valuable animal. Along with this, the Norse used wool instead of animal skin for clothing, which made them much more susceptible to the harsh conditions and forced them to stay further away from the coasts confined in fjords (Brink and Price 592). While this theory assumes that the Norse Vikings’ ignorance was their key to their downfall, there is a third proposed theory that explains that the goods that the Norse Greenlanders traded with, simply started to become invaluable

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