Why did the Norse leave Greenland?

The Vikings occupied Greenland from AD 985 to the mid-15th century. The end of Norse occupation coincided with a transition from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age Various reasons have been put forward for their disappearance.

Did the Norse fail to adapt to the deteriorating climate?

Originally it was believed that the Viking settlements dwindled because of a reluctance on behalf of the Norse to adapt their way of life as the climate grew colder. This belief was partly fostered by the derogatory term, O.N. skrælingi, plural skrælingjar, that the Norse used to refer to the Thule people, the proto-Inuit group in Greenland. ¹ The idea was that the Norse would not wish to emulate a people that they despised. However, a Danish-Canadian research team has demonstrated the Norse society did not die out due to an inability to adapt to the Greenlandic diet: an isotopic analysis of their bones shows they ate plenty of seals. ²

“Our analysis shows that the Norse in Greenland ate lots of food from the sea, especially seals,” says Jan Heinemeier, Institute of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University. “Even though the Norse are traditionally thought of as farmers, they adapted quickly to the Arctic environment and the unique hunting opportunities. During the period they were in Greenland, the Norse ate gradually more seals. By the 14th century, seals made up between 50 and 80 per cent of their diet.” ³

Did excessive hunting of the walrus for ivory destroy the economy of Greenland?

Research published in 2019 examined what profound economic and environmental impacts early ecological globalisation may have had for human settlements and animal populations by investigating the medieval trade of walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) ivory. ⁴

Walrus hunting played an important role in the economy of the Norse settlement in Greenland. The findings of the research states: “Combining inferences from typology, aDNA and isotopes, three key observations are merited. First, almost all medieval European finds of walrus rostra most likely derived from the activities of the Norse settlement in Greenland”. ⁵

Barrett, the lead author of the study said:
“Norse Greenlanders needed to trade with Europe for iron and timber, and had mainly walrus products to export in exchange. We suspect that decreasing values of walrus ivory in Europe meant more and more tusks were harvested to keep the Greenland colonies economically viable.”

“Mass hunting can end the use of traditional haul-out sites by walruses. Our findings suggest that Norse hunters were forced to venture deeper into the Arctic Circle for increasingly meagre ivory harvests. This would have exacerbated the decline of walrus populations, and consequently those sustained by the walrus trade.” ⁶

Did drought conditions cause the settlement to fail?

Did rising sea levels cause the settlement to fail?
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