Until now about 500 Norse sites have been recorded in the Eastern Settlement and
about 100 in the Western Settlement. The average number of inhabitants in Greenland
has been estimated as about 1 , 400 with a peak around the year 1200 of over 2 , 000
individuals (Lynnerup 1998 : 118 ), and even though not all sites can be regarded as
self-sufficient farms it is evident that the recorded farms cannot have been in use simul-
taneously. Some farms may have been abandoned after years of settlement, and some
farms may have been populated periodically, depending on the state of vegetation
resources (Figure 43. 2 ).
In spring and autumn either in groups or separately the farmers organised hunting
trips to the outer coast of the settlements to hunt the passing migratory seals, and in
early summer they went further to the north along the Greenland west coast to hunt
walrus, narwhal and polar bear. Some went south and rounded Kap Farvel (Arneborg
2004 ). On the west coast the southernmost area to hunt walrus today is the Disko Bay
about 600 km north of the Western Settlement. Items of Norse origin found at Thule
Culture Inuit sites as far north as in Thule and on the Canadian Ellesmere Island show
that Norse hunters travelled even that far north (Sutherland 2000 ; Schledermann 2000 ).
BUILDING A NEW SOCIETYEven though the environment differed and the newcomers had to adjust economic
strategies to the new realities the adaptation to the new land took place within the
social system of the homelands of the settlers, and settlement pattern, farm layout,
architecture and economy of the farms reflected the stratified society that the settlers
transferred from their homelands.
The quality of the land and the number of buildings at the farms was the visible sign
of social and economic status and – in the later periods – so was the layout of the farm
buildings. The living house underwent most changes during the settlement period. In
the landnám period the setting of domestic life was the longhouse of the Scandinavian
Figure 43. 2 The Hvalsey fjord farm was a typical medieval Norse high-status farm. Among the
buildings were ( 1 ) byre and barn, ( 6 ) living houses with a large stone-built celebration hall, ( 8 ) church,
( 9 ) storehouse and ( 10 ) warehouse (after Krogh 1982. Copyright © National Museum of Denmark).
–– chapter 43 : The Norse settlements in Greenland––