Identifying the site of Raknarr's tomb in the Barthar Saga

Abstract

The Barthar Saga mentions a Viking tomb on an island in Northern Canada which is connected to the mainland by a reef. Pamiok Island is an island in Northern Canada that is connected to the mainland by a reef, and ruins of buildings and tombs have been found there that have been attributed to the Vikings. It is suggested that Pamiok Island should be accepted as the site of the tomb mentioned in the Barthar Saga until a better candidate is put forth. Key Words: Vikings, Baffin Island, Pamiok Island, Helluland, Barthar Saga, King Ragnarr In the Barthar Saga the tomb of King Raknarr is located on an island in Northern Canada which is connected to the mainland by a long reef that is periodically inundated by the tide. Pamiok Island off the coast of Northern Quebec is just such an island. Pamiok Island is connected to the mainland by a long reef that is periodically inundated by the tide, and, furthermore, graves have been found on the island which have been attributed to the Vikings. Could Pamiok Island be the site of King Raknarr's tomb in the saga? My affirmative answer to this question is based on a combination of two fields of study: literature and archaeology. This cross-disciplinary approach is standard scholarly practice and should be familiar to all students of literature. The two fields of literature and archaeology have both benefited over the years from combined study. It was a knowledge of the legends of the Trojan war, which at the time were thought to be mere myths, that lead Heinrich Schliemann to make his historic discoveries of the ruins of ancient Troy. In England scholars have long been involved in identifying the real sites of places that are mentioned in the legends of King Arthur. Now Glastonbury Tor is recognized as the real basis for many of the Arthurian legends. Many scholars have read the sagas of Lief Erikson's discovery of North America and have tried to identify the real sites that Lief visited. The entire east coast of North America has been subject to the speculations of scholars who, in general, tend to locate the real Vinland in the area of Massachusetts or Newfoundland. Finally, Helge Ingstad's excavations in Newfoundland in the 1960s proved that there was a factual basis to the Norse legends about North America. Thus, identifying the real sites of places mentioned in literature and legend is standard scholarly practice. This approach has also been used with regard to the Barthar Saga. Scholars have attempted to identify the real sites mentioned in the Barthar Saga. The Jon Skaptason/Phillip Pulsiano English language translation of the Barthar Saga contains a map of Snaefellsness in Iceland. Readers of the saga will notice that the first part of the saga is carefully based on real places in Iceland which you can still visit today. Skaptason and Pulsiano did not include a map for the latter portions of the saga, however, which are set in Helluland, because there is no agreement among scholars as to just where exactly Helluland is. Nonetheless, scholars universally agree that Helluland was a real part of the coast of North America. Some scholars argue that it was as far south as Newfoundland. Most scholars think that Helluland was Baffin Island. Still, there is no debate over the fact that the Helluland mentioned in the Barthar Saga was a real place and that it was part of North America. Interestingly enough, one writer, Farley Mowat, has located Helluland on the peninsula of Northern Labrador/Quebec which is adjacent to the Ungava Peninsula where Pamiok Island is located. Mowat bases his identification of Helluland as the peninsula of Northern Labrador/Quebec on two factors. First, Mowat believes that the placed mentioned in the sagas as Greenland's obyggdir is Baffin Island and that therefore Helluland must lie farther to the south. I concur with Mowat, but most scholars do not. Second, Mowat's identification of Helluland with the Northern Labrador/Quebec is based on his reading of the Sigurd Stefansson map of 1570. …