Out in the field remnants like walls, stone rows, graves or nearly intact houses lies scattered over the whole country.. But what is it you see, what time do they come from and who lived in or used these constructions? It is not easy to come up with a complete guide to the ancient ruins, but here a few general types will be presented:
The old stone age cultures Saqqaq and Dorset are with a common name called paleo eskimo cultures. The term thus covers a period from 2400 BC to 1200 AD This is a very serious breakdown, but when we are dealing with residential structures it may well be used. Generally, these early peoples had no houses but lived in tents year round. Unlike the Thule culture's tent rings, you see fireplaces inside the tent rings. Fireplace is like a box structure in the "aisle. These cultural sites are all of old age and thus usually overgrown by plants, it therefore often requires a very trained eye to spot them. In some parts of the country these ruins, however, lies on gravel beaches (Northeast Greenland) and here you will actually be able to see them in the same condition, as when they were abandoned for a couple of thousand years ago.
arrived in Greenland around the year 1200 after it had spread through a couple of centuries from the Bering Strait. The culture spread throughout Greenland and turned out to be so well adapted to the arctic environment that it survived through to modern times - indeed one can even say that some parts of it have survived up until today.
The Thule cultue's round-house belong to the first period of the Thule culture in Greenland (1200-1750). It is known from all over Greenland but appear in slightly different variations. It means that you can see it as oval, circular or also known as the cloverleaf house, which was characterized by some expansions of the interior. In addition, the entrance is always very varied depending on the terrain, weather conditions and construction practices.
As the round houses are old, they are very often difficult to spot in the terrain. Additionally, recent settlements also hide these ancient ruins. This type of house was still in use in the 20th century at Thule.
Chronologically the longhouse was the successor of the round house. The transition occurred synchronously in both Greenland and Canada, but there has not yet been found any definitive answer as to why this type of house arose. In social terms, this transition also have been pervasive: it was now 4-6 families living under one roof. The house form is known from the entire Greenland and was generally replaced by the square house during the 17th century. In some areas, the transition was somewhat later: in the Upernavik area around 1815 and theTasiilaq area as late as the 1920s.
The transition to the square house, has, as mentioned above, varied from locality to locality. Also the exact shapes of the houses has varied. Some places in Greenland the square house was dominant in the 1800s while other places have also seen the trapezoid-shaped house. Since we must generalize the whole of Greenland, we
categorize several house types under this square house. Common to them is that they do not have rounded corners and different from the longhouse by being much smaller, and therefore only intended for one family. Chronologically thisshape was created in the 1700s in the central west coast, while the periphery is again later. In terms of size are the smallest types 1.5 to 1.5 meters while the largest may be as large as 4x4 meters.
Norse Culture
Scandinavia's history tells us that 7-800 years A.C. there was emigration from Norway to Iceland - and on to Greenland in 982, led by Erik the Red. The Norse settled in two main areas: The Western Settlement and the Eastern Settlement. Here the norsemen lived in approx. 450 years and left a number of memorials which we today can see in the landscape:
The dwelling in the Norse period was designed as a long house with a large elongated fireplace in the middle for heating and cooking. Here in the longhouse unfolded the indoor life itself: People slept, cooked, ate, prepared skins, sewed and made tools of many kinds. Separated from this house were the other buildings scattered around in the area. This house type is known from Scandinavia, where the house has been used throughout most of the Viking Age.
Shed
The sheds in the Norse period has been absolutely key buildings, since agricultural products and meat from the livestock has given the residents a good variation to the marine diet. It is therefore obvious that one has taken good care of the livestock, and been careful in the construction of shed facilities. The sheds has been well insulated by a big turf wall and in the interior, each animal had its own place, often indicated by either seperating stones or tether peg.
Churches
Norse church buildings have varied widely. Diversity lies primarily in the reflection of the residents' social status, but chronologically seen a development has also gone from small churches built of wood with turf wall around to the later large churches built of cut stone blocks. The picture beside shows a reconstruction of the small church that has been found in Qassiarsuk; a church that may have been built at the time of Eric the Red and therefore has been named Thjohildes Church (after Eric's wife). The major church buildings include Igaliku, Qassiarsuk and Qaqortukulooq (Hvalsø).
Centralized farm
The centralized farm was more prevalent in the Western Settlement, from which the drawing here also strains (Farm V53C in Austmannadalen). The many divisions are spaces representing individual houses that are just built so close together, so they insolate for each other and thus can share the warmth. Also the heat from livestock is in this way used by people. Meanwhile, the Norse could move between buildings without having to go out into the open. The latest archeological excavations show that the centralized farm stand back as the result of Norse adaptation to the cold inland climate in the Western Settlement.
Skemma
These warehouses consists of two main types: the farm's own storehouse, where different types of products, more or less untreated, could be stored for winter. The second type was the department stores where you stored the merchandise to be shipped to Iceland or Europe. Common to the two types was that they were built as regular stone walls without any mortar. This construction practice has caused that several of these houses still stand. It has also meant that there was good ventilation in the building and the food has therefore been able to stick better. The difference in the two types ismainly seen in that the first type was built in the country, while the second type could be in the army of the beach..
The National Museum of Greenland has through the last couples of years carried out archaological surveys in the inland areas, which are going to be affected, if the ALCOA project will start up. Through these surveys many new discoveries has been made. The Final Report concludes that the area is worth conserving for the future!
Read the Report here (shortened)
