Among the many people I interviewed for this book, I am most indebted to John Steinberg, formerly of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and now of the Fiske Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. John not only admitted me onto his archaeological team for the summer 2005 field season at Glaumbær in Iceland, but arranged for me to meet many of the other scientists and scholars quoted in this book. I am grateful to Paul Durrenberger of Pennsylvania State University for introducing me to John, and to everyone on the SASS team for answering my questions and keeping me inspired: Hans Bernard, Doug Bolender, Tara Carter, Brian Damiata, Suzan Erem and her daughter Ayshe, Antonio Gilman, Dean Goodman, Linda Rehberger, Kent Schneider, John Schoenfelder, and Rita Shepard.
Sigríður (“Sirri”) Sigurðardóttir, curator of the Skagafjörður Folk Museum, meanwhile, kept me grounded in Icelandic history and led me to a deeper understanding of the farm of Glaumbaer. Grétar Guðbergsson and his wife Guðný, as well as the family at Syðra-Skörðugil, taught me how to read the landscape of Skagafjörður. I particularly thank Eyþór for catching the horse I lost in the mountains. In Reykjavík, my friends Guðbjörg Sigurðardóttir and Stefán Jónsson opened their house to me on many occasions, while Kristín Vogfjörð was always there when I needed help.
For making my exploration of Greenland possible, I am grateful to Kristjána Guðmundsdóttir and Jonathan Motzfeldt, my hosts in Nuuk; although their boat was not ready when I arrived, their extraordinary library made the wait profitable. Thanks to Magnús Jóhannsson and Anna María Ágústsdóttir of the Icelandic Soil Conservation Service for introducing me to Kristjána, as well as for sharing their knowledge of overgrazing and desertification. In South Greenland, Jacky Simoud was an excellent tour guide (who didn’t, in the end, “forget” me), while Ellen and Carl Frederiksen provided a beautiful place to stay on the edge of Brattahlíð and took time off from the lambing to explain how things were done.
I would never have made it to Greenland without the assistance of Matthew Driscoll and Ragnheiður Mósesdóttir of the Árni Magnússon Institute at the University of Copenhagen, and Kate Driscoll, my guide in Copenhagen.
Birgitta Wallace, now retired from Parks Canada, was extraordinarily gracious in agreeing to meet me at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland and in showing me around the site that she had excavated since the 1970s. Parks Canada guide Clayton Colbourne happily told me tales of George Decker’s Indian Mounds, which Decker’s granddaughter Loretta, the park superintendent put into context.
For my understanding of Viking ships, I am indebted to Ole Crumlin-Pedersen of the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark, and to Arne Emil Christensen of the Viking Ship Museum in Bygdøy, Norway (whom I interviewed in 1984); to Anton Englar, skipper of Kraka Fyr, who let me row around Roskilde harbor; to Gunnar Marel Eggertsson, Ottar S. Bjørkedal, Eggert Sigþor Sigurðsson, Ríkarður Már Pétursson, and Odd Kvamme, whom I met on board Gaia in 1991; and especially to Úlfur Sigurmundsson, Trade Commissioner of Iceland, who let me take his place for a short cruise in Newport harbor.
I thank Else Østergård for alerting me to the existence of the Center for Textile Research, begun at the University of Copenhagen in 2005. Her book, Woven into the Earth (2004), is an extraordinary source of information on Viking textile production.
Meetings with Carol Clover in 1991, when she was interviewed for a radio series I produced at Pennsylvania State University, and with Jenny Jochens in 1994, when we both took a course in Icelandic sponsored by the Sigurður Nordal Institute in Reykjavík, shaped my understanding of the status of women in the sagas.
Other scientists and scholars who contributed their time and expertise to this book are:
In Iceland:
Agnar Helgason of DeCode Genetics, Reykjavík
Elsa Guðjónsson of the National Museum of Iceland (with whom I spoke in 1988)
Gísli Pálsson of the University of Iceland
Gísli Sigurðsson of the Árni Magnússon Institute in Reykjavík
Guðmundur Ólafsson of the National Museum of Iceland
Guðný Zoëga of the Skagafjörður Folk Museum
Mjöll Snæsdóttir of the Icelandic Institute of Archaeology (FSÍ)
Orri Vésteinsson of the Icelandic Institute of Archaeology (FSÍ)
Ragnheiður Traustadóttir of the National Museum of Iceland
Sólborg Pálsdóttir of the Archaeological Heritage Agency of Iceland
In Greenland and Denmark:
Eva Andersson of the Center for Textile Research, University of Copenhagen
Jette Arneborg of the National Museum of Denmark
Linda Mårtensson of the Center for Textile Research, University of Copenhagen
Georg Nyegaard of the National Museum of Greenland
Finally, my thanks to my student, Daniel Saninski, who found Gudrid boring; to my teacher, Carey Eckhardt, who thought the Vinland Sagas were worth reading anyway; to my publisher, Rebecca Saletan, who organized my ideas about Gudrid and Glaumbaer; and to my editor, Stacia Decker, who found the hidden story.