Wood procurement in Norse Greenland (11th to 15th c. AD)

Abstract

The Norse Greenlanders were dependent on wood for making houses, boats, utensils, tools and as fuel. Due to Greenland's northerly latitude and short, cool summers, the local woody taxa include relatively few species, most of which are low-growing shrubs. Consequently, it has been argued that import of timber was necessary to meet the wood requirements of the Norse Greenlanders. The taxa of archaeological wood assemblages from five Norse sites in Greenland, the episcopal manor Garðar/Igaliku (Ø47), Tatsip Ataa Killeq (Ø172), Tasilikulooq (Ø171), Narsaq (Ø17a) and Gården under Sandet (GUS) were analysed to determine whether the wood was native, import or driftwood. This paper demonstrates that farmers in Greenland used mainly driftwood and native wood, while high-status sites like Igaliku had access to sporadic timber imports from mainland Europe and North America. Furthermore, the proportions of driftwood taxa from the Norse settlements are more or less the same as of Inuit and pre-Inuit cultures in Greenland and the Smith Sound. These results suggest that the Norse Greenlanders were not reliant on imported wood but were in fact mostly self-sufficient in regard to their timber resources.