Archaeological Investigations in Vatnahverfi, Greenland 2008 Season Preliminary Report (field report)

Summary

July and August 2008 was the fourth season of the collaborative Norse

Settlement in the Vatnahverfi Region, South Greenland ca. AD 985 – 1450

Project. The Danish Middle Ages & Renaissance Department at The Danish

National Museum and the Greenland National Museum and Archives (NKA)

collaborated with the Northern Science and Education Center at City University

of New York (NORSEC/CUNY) to complete an archaeological project in

Southwestern Greenland, in the Qaqortoq Municipality. The project is part of a

larger NABO (North Atlantic Biocultural Organization) and IPY (International

Polar Year) program Human Ecodynamics in the North Atlantic, which works to

coordinate international interdisciplinary projects in the Shetlands, Faroes,

Iceland, and Greenland (see www.nabohome.org). The overall main objectives

for this field season were to continue excavations of human burials (started in

2007) in the churchyard of a middle-sized Norse farm, Ø64 – Innoqquasaq, and

take ancient DNA soil samples from multiple sites by the Danish team. The

main objective of the CUNY crew was to test organic preservation, locate datable

patches of cultural deposit, and recover a sample of ecofacts and artifacts from

the midden layers at the same site. The field participants were Dr. Jette

Arneborg (Project director), Dr. Martin Applet, Christian Koch Madsen, and

Caroline Paulsen from The Danish National Museum, and Konrad Śmiarowski

(CUNY team supervisor), Francis Feeley, Aaron Kendall from CUNY. Dr. Martin

Hebsgaard, a biologist worked, with us part of the time while taking ancient

animal DNA samples.

The CUNY/NORSEC team, apart from assisting in the churchyard excavation,

was tasked to assess animal bone preservation at different sites, and if possible

to locate and excavate additional substantial archaeofauna from surviving

stratified midden deposits of the Norse Eastern Settlement. This interim report

will only deal with the work performed by this CUNY middens team. The

churchyard excavations were the responsibility of the Danish team, and will be treated in a separate report.

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Konrad Śmiarowski

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