Dairy Farmers and Seal Hunters: Subsistence on a Norse Farm in the Eastern Settlement, Greenland

Abstract

Abstract The paper presents the results of the zooarchaeological investigation of a large bone sample from a stratified bog deposit situated next to the dwelling of a Norse farm in South Greenland, ca. 6 km NNW of the presumed political centre of the Landnam period in the Eastern Settlement. The bog layers containing cultural remains cover a period of at least 300 years. The stratigraphical analyses show no dramatic changes in species composition through time, indicating a rather conservative economic system. The age structure of slaughtered cattle reflects a focus on a dairy economy. Investigations of the bones of the small ruminants show that almost equal numbers of lambs and kids were born at the farm, but that the adult population contained twice as many sheep as goats. Pigs were eaten occasionally, but no bones from adults have been found to document the presence of a local breeding stock. Finds of several bones of cat add this species for the first time to the domestic stock in Norse Greenland. Eleven species of wild mammals make up a little less than half of all identified bones of mammals. The seals dominate and the majority are from harp seal and hood ed seal.