Runes and ruins decorate the polar bear-stalked fjords of South Greenland, once roamed by the Vikings. Yet while the Norsemen were notoriously fierce, no-one knows exactly what happened to them...
You might remember the Greenlandic Vikings from the Netflix series Vikings: Valhalla. Led by Leif Erikson (played by Sam Corlett), they journeyed across churning oceans in search of honour and glory, and proved themselves to be the most bad-ass of all the bad-ass Norsemen. But while it was clear what happened to them in the show (no spoilers, you’ll have to watch it to find out), the historical truth is still shrouded in sea mist in the dramatic fjords of Greenland.
The story goes like this: in September 1408, a wedding between Sigrid Bjornsdottir and Thorstein Olafsson took place at Hvalsey Church, on an island shaped like a whale in south Greenland. There were as many as 5,000 Vikings living in two areas of Greenland at their peak, but when a Norwegian missionary visited Greenland in 1721, he didn’t find anyone of European descent left. Letters mentioning the marriage were the last anyone ever heard or saw of them.
What happened to them is one of northern Europe’s most enduring mysteries.
Northern Lights over the Leif Ericson statue in Qassiarsuk in South Greenland. Photo: VisitGreenland
Theories have swirled about what might have happened to this group of pioneering Norsemen, who left Iceland in 984 led by the notorious Erik the Red. Was it the extreme and harsh environment that sent the Vikings back to Europe, after nearly 500 years of living on the edge of the world? Did a change in temperature – the so-called ‘mini ice age’ – expose their lack of adaption to the colder climate, or did the opening of the Silk Road across Asia cause the value of their most lucrative good, walrus ivory, to plummet so much that it was no longer viable to live there? Did a clash with local Inuit peoples cause them to leave? Or had the community become so small that a one-off boat accident had wiped out so much of the group that they could no longer survive?
Nobody knows for sure. But what is known is that life in the far north was uniquely challenging, and this group was uniquely tough. Erik’s son, Leif Erikson, nicknamed ‘Leif the Lucky’, is thought to be the first European explorer set foot in North America. Today, his statue stands proudly on a hill overlooking Eriksfjord in the south of Greenland, facing towards America. In Greenlandic, this fjord’s name means ‘the route of the polar bears on the spring ice’, raising the exciting prospect that these solidly bad-ass Vikings encountered polar bears while living in this exposed spot.
Qassiarsuk church. Photo: Laura Hall
You can follow in their footsteps along the fjords of south Greenland today. In Qassiarsuk – an Unesco World Heritage Site for its Greenlandic farming tradition – a reconstructed longhouse and tiny wooden church with a circular wall sits in prime sheep farming land, just as it did when the Norsemen lived on the fjord. This is the settlement founded by Erik the Red; the church is dedicated to his wife who, so it is said, withheld marital relations from her famously red-haired and hot-tempered husband until he built her the church she wanted.
Icebergs float gently in the pale blue water nearby, overlooked by towering volcanic mountains and powerful waterfalls, and in the more sheltered inlets and bays along the nearby coastline, hundreds of Norse ruins, including churches, burial sites, longhouses and farming structures have been found. There are likely plenty more to discover, as winds and extreme weather constantly reshape the landscape and expose new ruins.
A view over the Uunartoq hot springs in South Greenland. Photo: VisitGreenland
The hot springs of Uunartoq are without doubt the best place to contemplate the mystery. They might well be the best place to contemplate any mystery – a pool of 36 degree mineral rich natural hot spring water on the crest of a hill of a little island with views of volcanic mountains and a fjord full of icebergs, whales and seals below.
Hot water bubbles up from the dark silky sand creating a gentle natural jacuzzi, reached via a two-hour boat cruise from the town of Qaqartoq. In a country known for its ice, the heat feels delicious. Enjoyed by the local Inuit for more than a thousand years, this pool was widened by the Vikings, who added the larger stones around the edge. Sitting in it today is an extraordinary experience, putting this violent, dramatic and adventure-filled age within touching distance.
View of Uunartoq Hot Springs. Photo: Camilla Hylleberg, VisitGreenland.
Whether the mystery of what happened to the Vikings will ever be solved is up for debate. Current thinking is that there is not one definitive answer – it’s more likely to be a combination of all the factors in play. But every summer, archaeologists from the National Museum of Greenland spend weeks digging and cataloguing their finds, investigating new locations and uncovering new details in how the Greenlandic Vikings lived, hunted and survived in the harsh landscape.
Every year, something new is discovered, and every winter, as sand and small rocks are blown along the fjords and the wind powers along the coastline, a secret or two is exposed by the elements and left for someone to find.
Laura Hall travelled to Greenland as a guest of VisitGreenland and Visit South Greenland.