So if not the Thule who were the Skraelings?

A new study states that the Thule were not the Skraelings who drove the Vikings from Americas.

The Skraelings

A scientific redating of the eastward migration of the Thule -- ancestors of modern-day Inuit -- has pegged their push across Canada's polar frontier to no earlier than AD 1200. That's at least 150 years after Norse voyagers from Greenland are believed to have abandoned their short-lived, 11th-century settlement at the northern tip of Newfoundland following hostile encounters there, and in Labrador, with native inhabitants they called Skraelings.

This is rather interesting. I had always assumed that any Viking settlements floundered because of reasons other than hostile indigenous people; like illness or something.

The article says that the Thule were one of the contenders for being the the Skraelings. Any idea who the the other candidates are?

The vaguely named Maritime Archaic people

Martime

The neolithic people tended to move around (or it is thought they did) and as their cultures changed over time its hard to associate an earlier culture with those that might have been there in 1000 AD.

Port au Choix which was near l'anse Aux Meadows (the viking site) was one of the main sites. However...

Despite the apparent success of the Southern branch people (of the martime archaic) in Labrador, and the apparently well adjusted nature of their culture in Newfoundland, the residents of the Island of Newfoundland disappear from the archaeological record about 3,000 years ago. Archaeologists can cite no convincing influx of a new population at this time, as was the case with the Palaeo-Eskimos in northern Labrador. For the present the disappearance of the maritime Archaic people, and what seems to be a complete absence of Indian people from Newfoundland between 3,000 and 2,000 years ago remains one of the most puzzling mysteries in the Native history of the province.

Fascinating find. I'm not really up on Nordic literature, but I had the distinct impression that skraelings were mythic peasants of a far land. Thanks for the new information-- very interesting!

Howdy Byrd

For once Wiki has a good article - well except for mentioning the Thule which may now be outdated.

Skraeling

The word skræling is the only word surviving into modern times from the Old Norse dialect spoken by the medieval Norse Greenlanders. In modern Icelandic, skrælingi means a barbarian. The origin of the word is not certain but it is probably based on the Old Norse word "skrá" which meant "skin" and also (as a verb) "to put in writing" (which was done on dried skin in Iceland for example in the case of the Icelandic Sagas). This would refer to the fact that the Inuit (both Dorset and Thule) as well as the other indigenous people the Norse Greenlanders met wore clothes made of animal skins, in contrast to the woven wool clothes worn by the Norse.

The Greenland/Norse Saga/Skraeling/L'Anse aux Meadows story is a great one. I read everything thing written on it back in college.

I've decided to add more material as I'm finding this interesting. I relooking at stuff I studied a long time ago. It is interesting to see how much new information has been added!

Three other cultures could be the Skraeling: the Dorset, Beothuk and Mikmaq

The Dorset

The Dorset culture preceded the Inuit culture in Arctic North America. Inuit legends mention the Tuniit (singular Tuniq) or Sivullirmiut ("First Inhabitants"), who were driven away by the Inuit. According to legend, they were "giants", people who were taller and stronger than the Inuit, but who were easily scared off and retreated from the advancing Inuit. It is thought that the Dorset, and maybe the later Thule people, were called Skræling by the Norse who visited the area.

Beothuk

These people inhabited Newfoundland and went thru three distinct cultural phases

Mikmaq

The only one of the three cultures to survive contact with Europeans

[edit on 23/8/08 by Hanslune]

Climate change did them in, the natives did not drive them off.
When the norse frist arrived in greeland it was not the same place it is today, it was quite warm and mild.

As the norse moved south they encountered native americans, not sure which people, but the inuit, did not arrive till the next major shift in climate(1200's) plunged greenland back into a covering of ice.

reply to post by punkinworks


Howdy Punkinworks

Climate change* did in the Norse settlers of Greenland but this was dealing with the natives encountered during the Norse attempted colonization of North America.

* More correctly they were done it by their inability to adapt their food and cultural styles to the changing conditions. Had they taken on the native maritime subsistence culture they would have survived.

[edit on 24/8/08 by Hanslune]

Yes, the norse failed miserabley as settlers.
When they settled greenland, Iceland and newfoundland, they were never anything more than outposts. In my opinion these settlements would have never made it, even in the absence of human resitance.
For many years it was easy to get to the new world from scandanavia, you put at one time of the year and you go to newfoundland, put in sveral months later you go back to scandanavia.
Becase of this ease of travel the norse never made the settlements in the new world wholy self sustainable, they relied on a steady flow of goods from the homelands to sustain the colonies.
The norse also considered the native americans to be less than human savages, and would not adopt their ways in order to survive.

More thoughts later

Yes, the norse failed miserabley as settlers.

Hans: Only in two areas: North America and Greenland. In Greenland they survived around 450 years.

When they settled greenland, Iceland and newfoundland, they were never anything more than outposts. In my opinion these settlements would have never made it, even in the absence of human resitance.

Hans: Iceland did just fine and their descendents are still there.

For many years it was easy to get to the new world from scandanavia, you put at one time of the year and you go to newfoundland, put in sveral months later you go back to scandanavia.
Becase of this ease of travel the norse never made the settlements in the new world wholy self sustainable, they relied on a steady flow of goods from the homelands to sustain the colonies.

Hans: "Ease of travel" is not something I'd characterize movement in the North Atlantic as being. One can note in the Saga the heavy loss of ships in moving around in that environment. One of the reason why Greenland died away was that voyages there were hazaradous and became more so when the climate became colder.

The norse also considered the native americans to be less than human savages, and would not adopt their ways in order to survive.

Hans: A rather common attitude amongst all people of earth. One the Norse also held towards many other people in Europe too.

Hi "Hansi"

I see you want to digg after your "lost family" the vikings. i dont know much about these fairytales, about the vikings, only what i learned in highschool, but i have found a "big" arcademic-artickle, about the viking and skællings, if your interesting.
www.pos1.info...

And if you are toally freaked about this i can show you the link for cheap academic books about this subject on
www.akademisk-antikvariat.dk...
Its an antiquarian bookseller of acedemic's books and i you scull down to 141 you have greenland and there are a lot of books to buy cheap about the subject also in danish

I wish you amusement with your lost family

Mcjean

Thanks for the links McJean

I read much of that in school. I'm only half Danish.