house (B), two sunken huts (E and G) and one rounded hut of even simpler construction
(C). All huts are equipped with fireplaces indicating human, not animal, use. The size of
the buildings and their relationship to each other indicate an organisation with a leader-
in-command, a near-equal associate, work crews numbering between about twenty and
thirty per dwelling complex, a few women but not regular families, and domestic labour
of low status. Some specialisation is discernible within the work crews: carpentry, iron
manufacture, smithing and boat repair. Storage spaces within the dwellings are con-
spicuously large. The total size of the settlement was substantial, anywhere between
seventy and ninety people. This is an unusual concentration of people, even for a large
estate.
From L’Anse aux Meadows, the Norse made voyages to areas further south. They
reached areas of wild grapevines as demonstrated by the presence in the Norse
deposits of butternuts, Juglans cinerea, a North American species of walnut, and a burl of
butternut wood. The northern limit of this species, in the St Lawrence river valley and
north-eastern New Brunswick, corresponds to the limit of wild grapes.
Although there was abundant evidence of aboriginal groups on the site, ranging in
date from 5000 bc to c. ad 850 , and c. ad 1200 – 1500 , no aboriginal people were on the
site at the time of the Norse.
The occupation of the settlement was short, only a few years, as indicated by the
minute scale of the middens and sparseness of the cultural deposits. Another indication
of short occupation is the absence of graves, Christian or pagan.
L’Anse aux Meadows was not a colonising venture. The site resembles winter camps
set up in Europe by marauding Vikings as ‘safe havens’ during the winter months when
Figure 44. 2 The L’Anse aux Meadows site, facing north. The Norse buildings were on the terrace to
the right. The low cape points towards the Strait of Belle Isle and Labrador. (Photo: B. Wallace.)–– Birgitta Wallace––