Episode Details

The Norse settlement of Greenland, founded by Eric the Red in approximately 985 AD, provides a poignant and sad look at the final chapters of the Viking Age. Excavations at the Herjolfsness graveyard at the southern tip of Greenlandhave yielded extraordinary organic material preserved by the permafrost, including the clothing of the last inhabitants. These garments, such as a patched and coarse woolen dress, reveal that by the 15th century, the Greenlanders were no longer high-status people and had become increasingly isolated from the broader Norse diaspora. The settlement struggled as the climate cooled, while the Inuit people, who were better adapted to the Arctic conditions, thrived and moved further south. Artifacts like small wooden figures found in the region suggest interactions between the Norse Greenlanders and the Inuit populations. The final historical records of the colony are remarkably personal, documenting a witch burning in 1407 and a wedding in 1408. In the case of the witch burning, a man named Kolgrim was executed for allegedly using witchcraft to seduce a married woman. These events represent the last known activities of the Norse in Greenland before they vanished entirely, leaving behind only ruins and memories in the ice. 8/8
1630