A skeleton discovered during an archaeological excavation in southern Greenland has confirmed the existence of a previously unknown Norse church. The find, made close to Erik the Red’s settlement at Brattahlíð, could reshape our understanding of the religious and political landscape of medieval Greenland.
“This is a sensation, which means we have to rethink the significance of this whole area to the Norse people,” says Christian Edelfelt Koch Madsen, senior researcher at the National Museum and research coordinator of the project. “Churches were vital in Norse society, which makes them key to understanding how their society, especially the power structures, developed.”
The newly identified church is particularly significant because it appears to differ from those found more than six decades ago. Those were Viking-Age churches that apparently had relatively short periods of use, while the Qinngua church was larger and probably continued to be used into the Middle Ages.
A skeleton confirms the church
The excavation. Photo: Michael Nielsen, Greenland National Museum and Archives.
Archaeologists had suspected for some time that the ruins at Qinngua might represent a church. The site consists of a rectangular stone enclosure with the remains of a stone building in its centre, a layout consistent with a church surrounded by a cemetery.
However, researchers lacked the crucial piece of evidence: a grave. The National Museum had previously excavated at the site during the 2000s without finding any burials. That changed during this summer’s excavation when archaeologists uncovered a skeleton. The individual had been buried with the head towards the east, following the customary orientation of Christian burials. The discovery confirmed that the enclosure contained a cemetery and, in turn, provided the evidence needed to identify the central structure as a church.
“This is ‘the smoking gun’,” Koch Madsen explains. “Now there is no doubt that this is a church. Inuit are buried in stone-covered chambers, whereas Norse people are buried in cemeteries, so everything points in the same direction, including the written sources.”
The upper body uncovered during the excavation. The arrow points north. Photo: Michael Nielsen, Greenland National Museum and Archives
Analysis of samples from the site is continuing. The skeleton was found with its arms positioned along its sides, which researchers say suggests a burial from the early Middle Ages. Meanwhile, the relatively large dimensions of the church and the presence of numerous hewn stones would typically point to a date between 1100 and 1300.
The remains of two or three farms have also been identified close to the church. Researchers suggest this concentration of buildings could represent the beginnings of a village-like community.
The Church under the Sunny Mountains?
The church ruins seen from above with the excavation of the grave. The cemetery wall can be seen at the far end, while the church is the pile of stones in the middle. Photo: Aqqaluaq Frederiksen, Kujataa UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The discovery may also allow archaeologists to connect physical remains with a church known from medieval written sources.
Several Norse churches in Greenland are named or described in surviving texts but have never been located. One of these is Kirkja undir Sólarfjöllum, meaning the “Church under the Sunny Mountains.”
Researchers believe that description fits the landscape surrounding Qinngua particularly well. The nearby mountains stand close to Greenland’s ice cap and are affected by local high-pressure conditions that frequently produce sunny weather. The National Museum suggests that these may therefore have been the mountains that the Norse knew as the Sunny Mountains.
“As the location of this church fits so well with the descriptions in the sources,” Koch Madsen says, “it would make sense to try to locate other churches also mentioned in writing, but as yet undiscovered.”
If the proposed identification proves correct, the find could therefore offer archaeologists another way of using medieval written accounts to search for lost Norse sites across Greenland.
Churches and power in medieval Greenland
Crosses mark churches from the Norse period in South Greenland. The red circle shows the new find. The dots are registered locations for the Norse. Graphics: The National Museum of Denmark.
The location of the newly discovered church may ultimately prove as important as the building itself. Qinngua lies close to Brattahlíð, the main settlement associated with Erik the Red, who established a Norse colony in Greenland towards the end of the tenth century. Within this relatively small area, six churches are now known, although researchers believe only three continued to be used into the Middle Ages.
Such an unusual concentration raises questions about why so many churches were constructed and what they represented to the families and communities responsible for building them.
“It almost seems as if this area was home to a veritable race to build churches and thus demonstrate power and position,” Koch Madsen says. “That race likely had some losers who perhaps gave up on their church buildings – such as this one. More research will show. Regardless, this find means we have to look at the area in a new way and reconsider what we know about Norse medieval societal structures.”
The church ruins are visible in the foreground. The square outer edge that can be seen is the cemetery wall, which surrounds the cemetery and church. The church is the pile of stones in the middle of the square. Photo: Aqqaluaq Frederiksen, Kujataa UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Rather than functioning solely as places of worship, the churches may therefore provide evidence for competition over status and authority within Norse Greenlandic society. Determining when the newly discovered church was constructed, how long it remained in use and how it related to the neighbouring farms could help researchers better understand those relationships.
The discovery also demonstrates how much remains to be learned about the Norse settlement of southern Greenland. Norse communities existed there from around 980 until the fifteenth century, when their settlements were eventually abandoned. Why Norse society disappeared from Greenland has been the subject of decades of archaeological and historical research.
The newly discovered church cannot by itself answer that larger question, but its excavation provides another piece of evidence for reconstructing how Greenland’s medieval Norse communities developed and changed.
“The new discovery may be another little clue to understanding that mystery,” Koch Madsen says.
The archaeologists were overjoyed when the grave and thus the church were finally confirmed on the second-to-last day of the excavation. In the middle is Christian Edelfelt Koch Madsen. Photo: Ellen Frederiksen.
A skeleton discovered during an archaeological excavation in southern Greenland has confirmed the existence of a previously unknown Norse church. The find, made close to Erik the Red’s settlement at Brattahlíð, could reshape our understanding of the religious and political landscape of medieval Greenland.
The discovery was made in August at Qinngua, near Narsarsuaq, by researchers from the National Museum of Denmark, Greenland National Museum and Archives, the University Museum of Bergen and UNESCO Kujataa. According to the National Museum of Denmark, it has been more than 60 years since archaeologists last discovered a Norse church in Greenland.
“This is a sensation, which means we have to rethink the significance of this whole area to the Norse people,” says Christian Edelfelt Koch Madsen, senior researcher at the National Museum and research coordinator of the project. “Churches were vital in Norse society, which makes them key to understanding how their society, especially the power structures, developed.”
The newly identified church is particularly significant because it appears to differ from those found more than six decades ago. Those were Viking-Age churches that apparently had relatively short periods of use, while the Qinngua church was larger and probably continued to be used into the Middle Ages.
A skeleton confirms the church
Archaeologists had suspected for some time that the ruins at Qinngua might represent a church. The site consists of a rectangular stone enclosure with the remains of a stone building in its centre, a layout consistent with a church surrounded by a cemetery.
However, researchers lacked the crucial piece of evidence: a grave. The National Museum had previously excavated at the site during the 2000s without finding any burials. That changed during this summer’s excavation when archaeologists uncovered a skeleton. The individual had been buried with the head towards the east, following the customary orientation of Christian burials. The discovery confirmed that the enclosure contained a cemetery and, in turn, provided the evidence needed to identify the central structure as a church.
“This is ‘the smoking gun’,” Koch Madsen explains. “Now there is no doubt that this is a church. Inuit are buried in stone-covered chambers, whereas Norse people are buried in cemeteries, so everything points in the same direction, including the written sources.”
Analysis of samples from the site is continuing. The skeleton was found with its arms positioned along its sides, which researchers say suggests a burial from the early Middle Ages. Meanwhile, the relatively large dimensions of the church and the presence of numerous hewn stones would typically point to a date between 1100 and 1300.
The remains of two or three farms have also been identified close to the church. Researchers suggest this concentration of buildings could represent the beginnings of a village-like community.
The Church under the Sunny Mountains?
The discovery may also allow archaeologists to connect physical remains with a church known from medieval written sources.
Several Norse churches in Greenland are named or described in surviving texts but have never been located. One of these is Kirkja undir Sólarfjöllum, meaning the “Church under the Sunny Mountains.”
Researchers believe that description fits the landscape surrounding Qinngua particularly well. The nearby mountains stand close to Greenland’s ice cap and are affected by local high-pressure conditions that frequently produce sunny weather. The National Museum suggests that these may therefore have been the mountains that the Norse knew as the Sunny Mountains.
“As the location of this church fits so well with the descriptions in the sources,” Koch Madsen says, “it would make sense to try to locate other churches also mentioned in writing, but as yet undiscovered.”
If the proposed identification proves correct, the find could therefore offer archaeologists another way of using medieval written accounts to search for lost Norse sites across Greenland.
Churches and power in medieval Greenland
The location of the newly discovered church may ultimately prove as important as the building itself. Qinngua lies close to Brattahlíð, the main settlement associated with Erik the Red, who established a Norse colony in Greenland towards the end of the tenth century. Within this relatively small area, six churches are now known, although researchers believe only three continued to be used into the Middle Ages.
Such an unusual concentration raises questions about why so many churches were constructed and what they represented to the families and communities responsible for building them.
“It almost seems as if this area was home to a veritable race to build churches and thus demonstrate power and position,” Koch Madsen says. “That race likely had some losers who perhaps gave up on their church buildings – such as this one. More research will show. Regardless, this find means we have to look at the area in a new way and reconsider what we know about Norse medieval societal structures.”
Rather than functioning solely as places of worship, the churches may therefore provide evidence for competition over status and authority within Norse Greenlandic society. Determining when the newly discovered church was constructed, how long it remained in use and how it related to the neighbouring farms could help researchers better understand those relationships.
The discovery also demonstrates how much remains to be learned about the Norse settlement of southern Greenland. Norse communities existed there from around 980 until the fifteenth century, when their settlements were eventually abandoned. Why Norse society disappeared from Greenland has been the subject of decades of archaeological and historical research.
The newly discovered church cannot by itself answer that larger question, but its excavation provides another piece of evidence for reconstructing how Greenland’s medieval Norse communities developed and changed.
“The new discovery may be another little clue to understanding that mystery,” Koch Madsen says.
See also: Rubbish Reveals Daily Life in Medieval Greenland
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