the disappeared vikings by david arthur walters

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THE DISAPPEARED VIKINGS by David Arthur Walters

The case of the alleged disappearance of Vikings from Greenland about 1500 AD has

puzzled students of mankind for centuries. Many hypotheses have been offered based onmedieval historical documents, which are, to say the least, only tiny bits and pieces of the puzzle

and very sketchy ones at that. But bits and pieces are what good stories are made from, and even

now, with all the advantages of modern science to support the historical sleuths, we are still leftwith a curious story, although one that appears very prosaic and objective since it relies on a

modern quasi-scientific myth used to explain and justify just about anything: evolution.

Current researchers believe the Vikings simply failed to "adapt" to the harsh demands of

the Greenland environment. And this after 500 years or so! Of course, there was apparently a

mini ice age to contend with, judging from ice core studies. According to the current hypothesis,what the Vikings should have done was adopt the hunting and fishing tools and methods of the

Eskimos who were almost fully adapted – they missed their old ice hole fishing ways of theArctic. Instead, the Vikings insisted on keeping their European tradition with its hierarchicalreligion, which, of course, prevented intercourse with the local pagans.

Incidentally, the Vikings paid their tithes with walrus ivory, a big hit in Europe,

especially for making crosses, but demand fell off with the influx of African ivory. And trade in

general fell off because the Hanseatic League took over the shipping lanes. The big ships did not

come to Greenland anymore – merchants lost interest. Once in awhile some lost ship might



flounder in, or, perhaps a rogue vessel with pirates might arrive. Norway of course did the best it

could which was not much. Alas, Greenland was cut off from the imports that it lived on.

Hence the Vikings, wearing fashionable European clothes unsuitable for the climate,

were pretty much on their own. Their sheep, goats, and cattle overgrazed the land. They used the

few trees and shrubs for firewood. The scarce arable land was eroded beyond redemption. Theyoung were moving to Europe to fill jobs created by the Plague. So the Vikings were left

starving in Greenland. They ate their young livestock and their dogs, something no Viking would

do unless desperate. Disease increased. Housing conditions were deplorable; in fact, some roomswere used for latrines; rats apparently gnawed on bodies stored in other rooms, and so on.

So there the Vikings were, perishing, but alas, they could not associate with the pagans

who were living off the fat of the land! Their religion simply forbade it. So the Vikings

disappeared. A traveler noted, without coming ashore, that Viking livestock were running arounda Norse settlement, but no people were seen there. It is a mystery why the livestock were not

eaten. Sometime later the last Viking was found dead, with his knife by his side, because his kin

failed to "adapt".

Well, it's no wonder. Everybody knows what sort of inadaptable people Vikings were,

how they wanted the world to adapt to what they wanted, not vice versa. Many of us aredescended from their raping and pillaging of Europe. Encyclopedias point out how they lived off

of plundering interspersed with some trading when circumstances were inappropriate for

stealing. In any event, since they were notorious for their "insane rampages", it is also no wonder that modern researchers might unconsciously take some revenge for murdered ancestors by

implying that the Vikings were too stupid to adapt to the Greenland environment – as a matter of

fact, they were clever enough, however, to build good ships, navigate, establish far flung

colonies, found the Russian state, and to do other trivial things.

And of course it us no wonder that we find scant discussion of the fact that a prodigiousquantity of early European blood is found in Greenland's local residents, too much to be

explained away by the return of Europeans some time after the Vikings had disappeared.

Certainly no matter how low the Viking morality might have been in comparison with Europeanmoral standards, they would not have married "beneath" themselves – the very thing the Church

was complaining about at the time. That would be unthinkable. No, we do not hear too much

about the "amalgamation" hypothesis anymore. Maybe the Vikings did not disappear, after all.

Maybe they are still there, having adapted by marriage. So much for extinction, then. Butevolution is still good for something after all.

Whatever the cause of the alleged Viking disappearance is, it probably is not as neat as it

seems when presented as a good story backed up by scientific research. No doubt the causes inour case are multiple. The current explanation tells us more about the political, academic, andscientific biases of our time than about what really happened to the Vikings of Greenland. In the

meantime, we are left wondering what happened to the disappeared.

Vanished!



Honolulu 1997

the disappeared vikings by david arthur walters

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