Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age

Seeking a Home

The earliest settlers in Greenland built a settlement that centuries later would be engulfed in layers of sand and gravel, preserved for archaeologists who named it “the Farm Under the Sand.” The author compares their journey to colonizing the moon—a hostile landscape, where they would need as many familiar items and supplies as possible in order to survive. 

The scarcity of resources and lack of habitation makes Greenland special, she argues: The settlers had to start from scratch, and evidence of their habits is undiluted by outside influence, as the frigid climate and unfarmed soils preserved the archaeological record. Organic materials that would not survive in other regions are relatively plentiful here, outlining traces of domestic life.

Home From Home

The Old Norse word heimr means both “home” and “world,” and this juxtaposition aligns with a culture in which home was both the safety of the farmstead and the adventure of exploration. The Medieval Warm Period, from 800 to 1000, made weather milder and more conducive to sea travel.

Erik the Red was the first-known European in Greenland, arriving as an outlaw exiled from Iceland for murder. Greenland is mostly covered by ice, and the sun doesn’t fully set in summer or rise in winter, with a very small area suitable for farming.