Evidence Norse Greenlanders Imported Timber From North America

Jan Bartek - AncientPages.com - Historical records have long suggested that Medieval Norse colonists on Greenland (AD 985–1450) relied on imported materials such as iron and wood. Until now, it has not been fully recognized where these wood imports came from.

To find an answer to this question, archaeologists have used wood taxa analysis to distinguish between imported, drift, and native wood from five Norse farmsteads on Greenland.

The native trees of Greenland are unsuitable for larger construction projects or shipbuilding. Instead, the Norse colonists (AD 985–1450) relied on driftwood and imported timber. Credit: Adobe Stock - Hauber_Photography

To study timber origins and distribution on Greenland, Lísabet Guðmundsdóttir from the University of Iceland examined the wood assemblages from five Norse sites in western Greenland, of which four were medium-sized farms and one a high-status episcopal manor.

All sites were occupied between AD 1000 and 1400 and dated by radiocarbon dating and associated artifact types.

A microscopic examination of the cellular structure of the wood previously found by archaeologists on these sites enabled the identification of tree genus or species.

The results show that just 0.27% of the wood examined were unambiguous imports, including oak, beech, hemlock, and Jack pine. Another 25% of the total wood studied could be either imported or driftwood, including larch, spruce, Scots pine and fir.

Credit: Antiquity (2023). DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2023.13

Because hemlock and Jack pine were not present in Northern Europe during the early second millennium AD, the pieces identified from the medieval contexts in Greenland must have come from North America.

This confirms the historical sources that the Norse acquired wood from North America's east coast. The sagas indicate that the explorers Leifurheppni, Þorleifurkarlsefni, and Freydísall brought back timber from Vínland to Greenland.

In addition to the possibility of import, driftwood was one of the most important raw materials in Norse Greenland, making up over 50% of the combined assemblage.

Wood also came from Europe, likely including the oak, beech, and Scots pine from this assemblage.

Some may have come as ready-made artifacts, such as barrel staves, while reused ship timber could have been used in Greenland buildings.

The study was published in the journal Antiquity

Written by Jan Bartek - AncientPages.com Staff Writer