ULTIMAGRI - Environmental impact of Norse occupation in Greenland

Radiocarbon dating, pollen and non pollen palynomorphs analyses from a lacustrine record are used to establish the timing and effects of farming activities on Norse settlements in Greenland. The absence of agropastoral impact before the medieval European colonization provides an opportunity to understand the development of farming activity in a pristine landscape.

Two criteria were used to select the sites of investigation in the archaeological areas (60° N / Narsaq and 64°N / Nuuk):

- a regional criterion corresponding to a localization in the center of the medieval agricultural catchment areas, consisting of a high density of archaeological remains;
- a local criterion with the presence of ruins of one or several Norse farms in the catchment area of the lake under study, located from the prospections of danish archaeologists.
The choice of lacustrine sites outside of the archaeological area (62°N / Paamiut) is based on geomorphic, pedological and micro-climatic criteria of the catchment areas, allowing conditions quasi analogical to the lakes situated in the archaeological areas.
On this basis, 2 sites were cored at each of the sectors in order to make available one or two optimal sequences per sector. The cores of the south archaeological sector (60°N /Narsaq) were taken during the summer of 2007 and this sector is not part of the present IPEV 2009 expedition request.
Pollen, non pollen palynomorph and sedimentological analyses are in progress.