science
Discovery of Viking Church Ruins in Greenland
The discovery of a skeleton reveals an unknown church from the time of the Norse settlement in South Greenland, not far from Erik the Red's residence. The discovery provides new knowledge about social development and power relations in Greenland at the time, and may help explain why the Vikings left the island.
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A skeleton that came to light during an excavation in August confirms the discovery of a church ruin dating from the Norse settlement period in Greenland. The find was made at Qinngua near Narsarsuaq in southern Greenland, not far from Erik the Red's residence and chieftain's seat.
"This discovery changes our understanding of this part of Tunulliarfik Fjord (Erik's Fjord) and its significance for Norse Greenland. Churches were not merely places of worship", says Konrad Smiarowski, a researcher at the University Museum of Bergen and co-leader of the project, in a press release from the University of Bergen.
Smiarowski explains that churches at the time were also centres of power, and that by studying them, researchers can gain a better understanding of how Norse society dealt with climatic and social challenges.
Early Viking Age
The discovery was made by a research group from the University Museum of Bergen, the National Museum of Denmark, the Greenland National Museum and Archives, and UNESCO Kujataa.
It has been more than 60 years since a Norse church was last discovered in Greenland. While the previous finds concerned churches from the early Viking Age that were quickly abandoned or closed down, this time it is a larger church that was probably in use throughout the Middle Ages.
The researchers believe this makes the church particularly interesting, as it can shed light on developments in Greenland during the transition between the settlement's growth and decline. It is a period about which researchers still know relatively little.
Grave confirms the church
Suspicions that the ruins concealed a church have existed for a long time. This is because the site consists of a square stone wall with a stone building in the middle, which is a typical feature of a medieval church.
However, the decisive evidence would be a churchyard with graves, and this had been lacking since the Danish National Museum's first excavations at the site in the 2000s.
This summer, the researchers finally succeeded in finding a skeleton. It was oriented towards the east, as is traditional in Christian burials. The grave therefore confirms the existence of both the churchyard and the church.
Christian burial
"This is, so to speak, “the final nail in the coffin”. Inuit burials are different, with the deceased placed in stone chambers beneath cairns, while the Norse were buried in consecrated ground beside the churches", says Smiarowski.
The locations of Greenland's Norse churches have largely been identified using medieval texts
Written sources from the Middle Ages mention several Norse churches by name and state their locations. One of the most credible descriptions is said to match the location of the newly discovered church.
The source refers to «Kirkja undir Sólarfjöllum» (the Church beneath the Sun Mountains), and the description corresponds with the mountains in the background, which the Norse settlers probably called the Sun Mountains.
These mountains are located near the ice sheet, in an area that often experiences local high-pressure conditions and sunny weather.
Medieval texts
"The locations of Greenland’s Norse churches have largely been identified using medieval texts, particularly Flateyjarbók and Ívar Bárðarson’s descriptions of Greenland, through analyses of the landscape and with the help of known Norse settlement", says Konrad Smiarowski.
He says that the location of the newly discovered church fits well into the expected pattern, which may indicate that there are even more churches.
The researchers are still analysing samples from the find. The skeleton lies with its arms at its sides, which may indicate the early Middle Ages, while the church’s large size and the many partially dressed stones are usually dated to the period 1100–1300.
Village
Near the church are the ruins of two to three farms, which may indicate the beginnings of a small village community.
The discovery is also interesting because it was made near Erik the Red’s main seat at Brattahlíð. In this relatively small area, as many as six churches have been found, only three of which appear to have remained in use into the Middle Ages.
“This area may have experienced particularly strong growth in church building, with the local elite competing to demonstrate their power and status. Some attempts may have failed, and this may have been one of them. In any case, the find challenges our understanding of Norse society in the Middle Ages,” says Smiarowski.
The discovery is another piece of the puzzle
Much remains unknown
The discovery also underlines that there is still much to discover and document about the Norse period in southern Greenland.
The archaeological investigations are contributing to an increasingly detailed picture of the lives of the so-called Greenlandic Vikings, from around the year 980 until the 15th century, when society collapsed and the Norse settlement disappeared. The reasons for this have been a much-debated mystery among researchers for several decades.
“The discovery is another piece of the puzzle that may bring us closer to understanding what happened to the Norse colony in Greenland and the mystery of why it disappeared,” says Konrad Smiarowski.
