Tipping Points in History

Well Adapted But Still Extinct:Norse Greenland in New

PerspectiveTom McGovern, Andy Dugmore, Christian Keller, Astrid Ogilvie,

Konrad Smiarowski, Jette Arneborg, Andy Casely

& the rest of the NABO gang

Historical Thresholds

• 18th century ends 1789

• 19th century ends 1914

• 20th century ends 1989

Thresholds and Conjunctures

• Things Fall Apart – and Come Together- Suddenly.

• Coupled Human and Natural Systems are affected by processes operating over different time scales which can combine in unexpected ways (Conjunctures).

• Rates of Change Vary Widely, but sudden social/ environmental threshold crossings are at least as common as gradual shifts.

• Triggers for threshold crossings are sometimes natural, sometimes social, often both.

Norse Greenland c. AD 985-1450

• Classic Northern Mystery: Blondes Lost in the Mist….

• Speculation since 1725.• Archaeology since 1927.• Multiple theories.• Inuit invasion, Basque pirates, killer

caterpillars….• Diamond Collapse

– Human Impact (Erosion)– Maladaptation (no fish on Friday)– Climate Change (it got cold….)– Oppressive elites (and foreign too).

Norse Settlements

Western Settlement

Norðursetur

Eastern Settlement

•Two areas of permanent farms in the SW.

•Eastern Settlement has ca. 400 ruins.

•Western Settlement has ca. 80 ruins.

•The Norðursetur (Northern Hunting Grounds) were in the Disko Bay area, 800 km N of the settlements.

Walrus in Greenland

Walrus are found throughout Greenland, but concentrate in the central W coast (Disko

Bay).

The Norse traveled for weeks from the two settlement areas to reach this ‘Northern

Hunting Ground’

Norse Hunters transported the dense maxilla and tusk ivory

home for final tusk extraction. Most farms in

both settlements have produced some

fragments of walrus maxilla and a few chips of

ivory. Finished ivory is very rare in Greenland.

Inner Fjord Pastures

•Warmer summers of the continental inner fjords produce more degree days- and richer vegetation.

•In the two large environmental pockets of the Eastern and Western Settlement, Greenland is really green- comparable to good Icelandic pastures.

The Icelandic Erosion Story:Missing Sustainability by a Week?

Sediment stores full

Relative stream bank stability

Limited fan developmentLimited pond

infilling

Caribou Hunting

Caribou

0

5

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E71N E71S E167 E34-95 E149 E17a W48-4 W53c GUS W35 W59 W53d W54 W51-5 W52a

C I I I C C C I I I C I I C I

Eastern Settlement Western Settlement

% N

ISP

Greenland Caribou• Prone to local extinction- esp. in the SW (range icing).

•After introduction of guns ca 1800, caribou made extinct in the Eastern Settlement Area.

•However, Norse archaeofauna have many caribou bones in all phases, in both Eastern & Western Settlements.

•Despite climate fluctuations, drive systems, big hunting dogs, competition w/sheep & goats……why didn’t the Norse make the E Settlement Caribou extinct?

•Sustainable Management?

Norse Sealing in Greenland: Arctic species and migratory riches

• New Species Encountered: Migratory Harp and Hooded seals, non-migratory Ringed and Bearded Seal.

• Norse Greenlanders rapidly exploit seasonal Harp and Hooded seal migration (nets, clubs, boat drives: coordinated labor).

• No harpoons in Norse sites.

• Non-migratory (breathing hole) seals are not much hunted.

• Missing technology = missed opportunity???

By the 14th c. small farms show the highest % of seal bones

0

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P %

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ajor

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V 48 late V 54 late V 51 lateCattle Caprines Caribou Seals

Brattahlid N Farm Marine / Terrestrial Mammal

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All pre 1200 Contexts ca 1200-1250 ca 1250-1300 post-1300

VI-IX V IV III

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io M

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amm

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ISP

Inland Icelandic

Pagan Burials

The Price of a Polar Bear 1127

•Einar Sokkason’s Story reports that in 1127 Greenlandic chieftains decided to acquire a bishop of their own.

•The Greenlanders transport a live polar bear to the King of Norway’s court, and acquire Bishop Arnald in exchange.

•He is not happy to come….but adjusts by taking over the manor at Gardar in the E Settlement.

Eastern SettlementByres and Halls

E47

E83E29NE111

E29RE167

E71 NE71 SE64c

E64A0

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0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

byre area (sq. meters)

hall a

rea

(sq.

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ers)

Norse Greenland ca. 1300

• Small but well established communities based on inner fjord farms.

• Well integrated use of communal labor (seals, birds).

• Apparently successful caribou conservation.

• No significant soil erosion.• Continued importance of Norðursetur hunt

& Walrus ivory.• Substantial, well furnished stone churches

(stained glass, church bells) built ca. 1150-1300.

• Westernmost outpost of medieval Christendom- Bishop, Law codes, monasteries….social stratification.

After 1300…things fall apart?

• No more churches constructed after 1300• Western Settlement abandoned ca. 1350.• Last recorded contact 1408.• Eastern Settlement probably extinct ca.

1450.

Declining demand for ivory?

The impact of cultural changeThe impact of cultural change

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14th Century AD

12th Century AD

Fig. 1: Central Greenland derived palaeotemperatures (GISP2 180 )

E: Departures from mean (right hand scale)F: Cumulative departures from mean (left hand scale)

Whale Hunters and Warriors ?

•Warfare around the Pacific rim intensifies in the first millennium AD.

•Archaeological finds of slat armor and barbed arrows in the Bering sea area.

•Phases of intensive whaling correlate with intensified warfare & social ranking.

Thule-Norse culture contact moves into the

Norse Settlement

areas.

•By 1300, Thule winter settlements appear in the outer fjord and fjord mouth zones of the Western Settlement.

•Thule migrants discover Norse farms in the inner fjords.

•If conflict occurs, the Thule are positioned to cut off Norse access to migratory seals.

Well adapted but still dead…..

• Norse resource use is sustainable (450 years!)• No erosion disaster• No caribou extinction• Communal labor coordination for :

•Sealing•Sea Bird hunting•Walrus hunt / Norðursetur

• Written laws for communal resource use (no tragedy of these commons)• Both top down and bottom up regulation & enforcement.•Old colonists vs. tramps?• K vs. r???

Smarter than Vikings??????

I I I I I I I III

II

II

IResources

Resources

Time

Initial

Enhanced by

FieldsFertiliser

IntroductionsKnowledge

Marine harvests

Population

Population decline initially forcesContraction of

resource utilisation

Subsequent resource shortage continues population decline

Extinction

Social collapseFailure of communal provisioning

Viking Age Settlement & Circumpolar Geography