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Seminar: Climate change, the Norse and Inuit in Greenland - From Medieval Time to the Little Ice Age

Time

06. June 2025, 10:15-11:00

Location

Auditorium 5, 3rd floor, Realfagsbygget, Allègaten 41.

Dear all,

On Friday, June 6th, we will host an open seminar with Raymond Bradley, who is visiting us this week. Ray has been a leader within palaeoclimatology for decades and is an exciting discussion partner for any ideas you might have. If you would like to meet him, please get in touch with me. He will be around Thursday and Friday.

Title: Climate change, the Norse and Inuit in Greenland - From Medieval Time to the Little Ice Age
Who: Raymond S. Bradley, University of Massachusetts

Where: Auditorium 5, 3rd floor, Realfagsbygget, Allègaten 41.

When: Friday the 6th of June at 12:15 – 13:00

What: Norse settlers lived and farmed in southern Greenland from the late 10th to the early 15th century. Many explanations, including factors related to climate change, have been proposed to explain why they finally abandoned Greenland. But the Norse were not the only people living in Greenland at that time—the Thule Inuit occupied a large territory at the northern edge of Baffin Bay, arriving from the West around the same time as the Norse people. Although both cultural groups survived independently, there is evidence that they may have occasionally interacted. Deteriorating climatic conditions in the 15th century severely affected both groups of people, leading to an existential crisis for the Norse, and perhaps also for some of the more adventurous Thule explorers.

 

Hope to see many of you on Friday!

 

Cheers,

Jostein

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