James H. Barrett - Contact, Continuity, and Collapse (2003)

CONTACT, CONTINUITY, AND COLLAPSE
The Norse Colonization of the North Atlantic
STUDIES IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES
EDITORIAL BOARD UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE
CENTRE FOR MEDIEVAL STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF YORK
Elizabeth M. Tyler (University of York)
Julian D. Richards (University of York)
Ross Balzaretti (University of Nottingham)
VOLUME 5
CONTACT, CONTINUITY, AND COLLAPSE
The Norse Colonization of the North Atlantic
Edited by
James H. Barrett
F
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Contact, continuity, and collapse : the Norse colonization of the North Atlantic. –
(Studies in the early middle ages ; v. 5)
1.Vikings 2.Civilization, Viking 3.Viking antiquities 4.Scandinavia – History –
To 1500 5.North Atlantic Region – Colonization 6.Greenland – Antiquities
7.North America – Antiquities
I.Barrett, James
948'.022
ISBN 2503512917
© 2003, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
D/2003/0095/3
ISBN: 2-503-51291-7
Printed in the E.U. on acid-free paper.
To Birgitta Wallace, Christopher Morris,
and Sarah King
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
List of Tables xiii
List of Contributors xv
Introduction 1
JAMES H. BARRETT
Belligerent Chieftains and Oppressed Hunters? 9
Changing Conceptions of Interethnic Relationships in Northern
Norway during the Iron Age and Early Medieval Period
BJØRNAR OLSEN
The Early Settlement of the Faroe Islands: 33
The Creation of Cultural Identity
STEFFEN STUMMANN HANSEN
Culture Contact in Viking Age Scotland 73
JAMES H. BARRETT
The Vikings and Ireland: Ethnicity, Identity, and Culture Change 113
HAROLD MYTUM
Creating a Past: A Historiography of the Settlement of Iceland 139
ADOLF FRIÐRIKSSON AND ORRI VÉSTEINSSON
Norse Greenland: Reflections on Settlement and Depopulation 163
JETTE ARNEBORG
Inuit-Norse Contact in the Smith Sound Region 183
P. SCHLEDERMANN AND K.M. MCCULLOUGH
L’Anse aux Meadows and Vinland: An Abandoned Experiment 207
BIRGITTA LINDEROTH WALLACE
Epilogue: Was There Continuity from Norse 239
to Post-Medieval Explorations of the New World?
ROBERT MCGHEE
Index 249
Illustrations
Chapter 2
2.1. Map of north Norway with administrative divisions
2.2. Iron Age farm house from the eighth century, Tussøy, Tromsø
2.3. Early Iron Age burial cairn from Indre Elgsnes, Troms
2.4. A. Schanche’s model of the spatial relationships between Saami and Norse
settlement areas in north Norway
2.5. Saami scree burial at Čiesti on the northern shore of the Varanger fjord,
Finnmark
2.6. Saami house from the eighth century, Slettnes, Sørøy, Finnmark
2.7. The silver hoard from Musken, Tysfjord, dated to the twelfth century
2.8. Bear burial dated to AD 1000–1200 on the island of Spildra, northern Troms
Chapter 3
3.1. View from the top of the island of Kalsoy looking towards the northern isles of
the Faroe Islands
3.2. Jóannes Patursson (1866–1946)
3.3. Sverri Dahl (1910–87)
3.4. Map of the Faroe Islands showing the archaeological sites mentioned in the text
3.5. Plan of the site of Niðri á Toft in Kvívík
3.6. View from the top of Kalsoy over the village of Leirvík
x Illustrations
3.7. Aerial view of the excavation of the Viking Age farmstead at Toftanes, Faroe
Islands
3.8. Polyhedral-headed bronze ringed pin of Hiberno-Norse type from Toftanes
3.9. The distribution of plain-ringed baluster- and polyhedral-headed ringed pins in
conjunction with the western sea-routes of the Vikings
3.10. The Monastery of Iona on the Inner Hebrides
3.11. The medieval episcopal residence of Kirkjubøur, Streymoy
Chapter 4
4.1. Distribution of Scandinavian place-names in Scotland including the habitation
element Bólstaðr
4.2. Distribution of Scottish Viking Age burials including grave-goods
4.3. Viking Age settlements with architecture or finds of Scandinavian style in
northern and western Scotland
4.4. Temporal trends in the marine contribution to the northern Scottish diet based
on δ13
C and radiocarbon assays of human bone
4.5. Examples of primordial and instrumentalist tendencies during Viking Age cul-
ture contact in England and Ireland
Chapter 5
5.1. Simplified plans of excavated wattle-walled houses with excellent preservation
of internal features: Deer Park Farms, Co. Antrim, and Type 1 Dublin house
5.2. Coin-dated silver hoards from Ireland to 1000
5.3. Distribution of silver hoards in Ireland up to c. 1000
5.4. Major Scandinavian settlements in Ireland, with possible territories shaded
5.5. Major land use types around Dublin
Chapter 6
6.1. The twelve largest giant land-claims according to Landnámabók
6.2. Number of farms in the hreppar (districts) and parishes of medieval Iceland
compared to the number of farms in the land-claims according to Landnámabók
Illustrations xi
Chapter 7
7.1. Greenland showing the Eastern and Western Settlements
7.2. The Eastern Settlemen...