The project will assess climate changes that affected the people of the Dorset Culture, Norse and Thule Inuit in Greenland between the 6th and 15th centuries (500-1500CE). This period encompasses centuries of successful peopling of Greenland, peoples’ options in the face of notable climate changes in the 13th and 15th centuries and disappearance in circumstances that are unclear for both the late Dorset Culture (nomadic hunter/gathers) and the Greenlandic Norse (settlements subsisting by animal husbandry and hunting). Of particular focus will be the variability and interplay of key climate indicators such as storminess, temperature during the growing season and sea ice extent. All of these factors could have played a critical role in the interactions between the local societies and their environments by determining travel options, and constraining their ability to harvest terrestrial or marine resources. All available sources of information including proxy reconstructions and climate model simulations will be used to assess how climate changed during this period. Part of the project will examine the effects of a series of 13th century volcanic eruptions which are thought to have triggered unprecedented change in in this region, as a notable part of their global impacts. The characteristics and context of 13th century change with its range of leads and lags within the environmental system, will be compared and contrasted with changes in the 15th century that coincided with the end of Norse Greenland.
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