Narrator: Listen to part of a lecture in an anthropology class.
Professor: If I asked you where the oldest Christian church in the New World was, that is, in the Americas, some of you might impulsively say Massachusetts—uh… the Pilgrims and all. But if you thought about it more, you’d probably think of Spanish conquistadors in South America. Or even the West Indies, after all… Columbus landed there in 1492. And you know, 1492 was a long time ago. More than 500 years. I really understood that when I was a boy and held a medieval sword belonging to my great-uncle, which was made in 1495—that year was engraved on the blade. And I thought, “Wow, three years after Columbus,” which seemed like the oldest thing I knew. Well, the oldest Christian Church in the New World was built around 1140 CE. That’s 350 years before Columbus! And it’s in Greenland, in a place that was called Gardar. That’s right, the Vikings built it. I’ll show you some pictures in a little bit.
The Vikings colonized Greenland in 985 CE, and 150 years later, they were doing well enough to build a stone cathedral with stained glass windows and a bronze bell. They even had their own archbishop then. And that society went on for centuries until it just disappeared in the early 1400s. The last written records, from around 1420, don’t refer to any trouble—they involve a wedding. Now, everyone doesn’t agree about how such a stable society suddenly disappeared. I mean, there wasn’t an earthquake or a volcanic eruption, like there was with Vesuvius in Pompeii. Discussing those theories is a good place to begin our discussion of social organization.
These Viking settlements, as I said, had prospered for centuries—they had farms and solid homes. There weren’t more than a few thousand Vikings there, but their lives were much like other Scandinavians of the medieval period. Here’s the old consensus about what happened. Interestingly enough, it involves climate change. Perhaps you’ve heard of the Medieval Warm Period, from about 900 to 1300 CE, when in the north, the growing season got longer and sea voyages got easier.
But then the Little Ice Age began. The theory holds that the Greenland Vikings no longer could successfully farm or feed their herds, and the growing ice packs made seafaring treacherous. Scholars had believed that the Vikings clung to their ways instead of adapting… and starved to death. Icelanders and Norwegians were very literate peoples, and their archives give no evidence of any notable influx of Vikings returning to Europe. Why did they stay? Why didn’t they evacuate? Some historians have speculated that a lack of wood, due to colder conditions and overuse, prevented them from maintaining their boats, or that perhaps they were lost at sea. Others held that the exodus back to Iceland was gradual and thus unrecorded.
But, uh… more recent field work, along with advances in the available scientific tools, has significantly undermined the idea that this stable society’s unwillingness to adapt doomed them. Analysis of Viking skeletons has determined that they did in fact switch from a beef and sheep-based diet to one based on seals, much like the Greenland Inuits, who live in the same area to this day. Furthermore, the seal bones found in archaeological digs indicate that the Vikings did not hunt the local harbor seals out of existence, but sailed north instead to harvest the plentiful harp seals. So what is the new theory? The new theory—even more interestingly—suggests that, aside from colder temperatures, globalization was the undoing of the Greenland Vikings. These historians argue that the Vikings did not colonize Greenland just to farm in a less favorable climate than Iceland or Norway. They say the Vikings came primarily to hunt walruses, because the medieval ivory trade was incredibly lucrative. Records show that one longship from Greenland delivered a cargo of ivory to the Norwegian king that was worth more than all the wool sent from Iceland that year. Well, around 1300, not only did the fashion for ivory somewhat decline, but Portuguese traders began importing elephant ivory, which was of better quality and less expensive, from Africa. The collapse of this industry, along with the more dangerous seas, made the Greenland settlements financially unviable.
So what to make of this? Well, it is our starting point to explore the effects throughout history of climate change and globalization on previously prosperous societies. And what really happened to the Greenland Vikings? Again, some think that economic hardship caused a gradual emigration. Others still hold out for extinction, noting that these small Viking communities, like small whaling towns in New England, were vulnerable to maritime disasters. If a large number of able-bodied men were lost at sea, the community would destabilize. The condition of the archaeological evidence argues against a violent end from some war with the Inuit. We don’t know. But let’s look at some pictures from Gardar.
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What does the professor mainly discuss? |
Gist-Content. After mentioning the oldest church in the Americas, the professor discusses theories about the dissolution of the Viking settlement of Gardar, in Greenland. |
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| ✗ | A The construction of the oldest church in the Americas |
The professor only mentions this as an introduction to the Viking settlement in Gardar. |
| ✗ | B The development of the medieval ivory trade |
This is mentioned only as a supporting detail about the Viking settlement. |
| ✓ | C Theories about the disappearance of a settlement |
Correct. After mentioning the oldest church in the Americas, the professor discusses theories about the dissolution of Gardar. |
| ✗ | D Key differences between Viking and Inuit communities |
Inuits are only briefly mentioned in the lecture. |
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Why does the professor mention holding a sword from 1495? |
Organization. The professor tells this story to emphasize how long ago the year 1495 was. This in turn emphasizes that Gardar was hundreds of older than that. |
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| ✗ | A To emphasize how close in history the sword’s manufacture was to Columbus’s voyage |
The professor’s point is how old the sword is, not how close the timing of the sword’s manufacture was to Columbus’s voyage. |
| ✗ | B To emphasize how warlike the Vikings were |
The professor never mentions the warlike nature of Vikings. |
| ✗ | C To demonstrate Viking techniques of swordsmanship |
The professor’s point concerns the age of the sword, not the issue of swordsmanship. |
| ✓ | D To illustrate to the class the age of the Viking colony |
Correct. The professor tells that story ultimately to emphasize how old the Gardar church was—and thus how old Gardar itself was. |
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What is the professor’s opinion about the Viking settlements during the Medieval Warm Period? |
Speaker’s Attitude. The professor referred to these settlements as stable and prosperous at the time. |
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| ✓ | A He believes they were successful. |
Correct. The professor calls them stable and prosperous—doing well enough that the inhabitants built a church featuring stained glass. |
| ✗ | B He regards their inhabitants as very religious. |
The inhabitants did build a church, but the professor does not discuss the extent of their religiousness. |
| ✗ | C He is distressed that their inhabitants starved to death. |
The possible starvation, if it happened, would have occurred later, during the Little Ice Age. |
| ✗ | D He is mildly shocked that their inhabitants conquered the Inuits. |
The professor does not discuss any such conquest. |
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According to the professor, what is the significance of the change from beef to seal in the Viking diet? |
Detail. It is mentioned as evidence of the Vikings’ adaptability to changing conditions. |
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| ✗ | A It demonstrates that the Vikings were starving. |
The dietary change is provided as evidence of adaptability, not starvation. |
| ✓ | B It demonstrates that their society was adaptable. |
Correct. The professor cites this as evidence to discredit the idea that the Vikings were unwilling to adapt. |
| ✗ | C It is provided as evidence of the effect of globalization. |
This dietary change is mentioned in relation to climate change, not globalization. |
| ✗ | D It shows that the Inuit taught them how to hunt seals. |
This idea is not mentioned or suggested anywhere in the lecture. |
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What does the professor say about the Viking walrus hunts? |
Detail. The professor states that they were very lucrative at first, although it is implied that this changed later, when the Portuguese began importing elephant ivory from Africa. |
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| ✗ | A From a modern point of view, they were inhumane. |
This idea is not mentioned in the lecture. |
| ✓ | B They were very profitable at first. |
Correct. The professor states that they were very lucrative before Portuguese elephant ivory emerged as a substitute to walrus ivory. |
| ✗ | C They were very dangerous for participants. |
The professor mentions the dangers of seafaring, but he does not explicitly mention danger from these hunts. |
| ✗ | D They required competing with the Portuguese for prey. |
Portuguese ivory came from elephants, not walruses. Therefore, the Portuguese did not compete with the Vikings for walrus prey. |
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What are two questions about the Gardar Vikings that the professor definitively answers? Choose 2 answers. |
Detail. The professor is definitive about the date of the Viking arrival in Gardar (985 CE) and the Viking’s adaptations to climate change. |
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| ✗ | a What happened to the Vikings in the 1400s |
At the end of the lecture, the professor states that it is not known for certain. |
| ✗ | b Why the Vikings did not leave Gardar to go to Iceland or Norway |
The professor cites theories about why they may have stayed in Gardar—such as farming or walrus hunting—but he does not give a definitive answer. |
| ✓ | c When the Vikings colonized Greenland |
Correct. The professor states that they arrived in 985 CE. |
| ✓ | d Whether the Vikings adapted to climate change in any way |
Correct. The professor explicitly mentions the shift in diet from beef to seals as an example of the Vikings adapting to changes in climate. |