Who Were the Skrælings?

[ Major Aboriginal Groups C. AD 1000 ]

Major Aboriginal Groups C. AD 1000, Vis-à-Vis Graphics,

One of the mysteries of Vinland is the identity of the people already inhabiting Markland and Vinland when the Norse arrived. Were they Inuit or Indian, or both? If so, which Inuit and which Indians? The Norse simply called them Skrælings, not making any distinction between them. To the Norse the term Skræling indicated that these people looked, lived, and spoke differently from themselves, the same way the Greek called everyone not speaking Greek barbarians. Undoubtedly there was a negative connotation to the word.

Through archaeology and historical research it is now reasonably well known where and how Aboriginal groups lived along the eastern shores of North America in the 11th century.

In this section you will be given a map showing the rough locations of Aboriginal groups along the eastern seaboard of North America around the year AD 1000. Compare these with the sagas’ descriptions and see if you can solve this mystery!

The peoples of North America have adapted, changed and sometimes shifted through time as people have in all parts of the world. The people the Norse met were not the same as the aboriginal people we know today, just as the Viking Age Norse are not the same as the Scandinavian cultures of today. So we must look at the archaeological identities of the 11th century to understand our clues. In many cases these can be paired with descriptions given by early explorers 500 years or more later. At that point European goods and budding settlements had already begun to influence Aboriginal cultures, but the descriptions give some insight into differences and similarities in lifestyle from one location to the other.

Farthest to the north, in the Arctic, were the Dorset Palaeoeskimos. They have no descendants today. The Thule, ancestors of the modern Inuit, did not arrive in the eastern Arctic until the 13th century. The Dorset vanished a century or so after their arrival. The Dorset lifestyle was similar to the traditional Inuit culture we are familiar with, such as their clothing and their dependence on sea mammals, caribou, and fish. From about 500 BC to c. AD 800, the Dorset expanded their territories as far south as southern Labrador, Newfoundland and the northeastern shore of the St. Lawrence River. As the climate became warmer in the late 8th century, the Dorset disappeared from the south but remained in much of the Arctic until they were displaced by the Thule Inuit.

South of the Inuit, all First Nations people of northeastern North America are part of the large family of Algonquian languages with the exception of the Iroquois. Labrador and Newfoundland were home to people known to archaeologists by various names: ‘Recent Indian,’ ‘Little Passage Complex,’ and ‘Point Revenge.’ Their descendants in Labrador today are the Innu [also known as Montagnais and Naskapi]. In Newfoundland they were known historically as the Beothuk. The Beothuk were, closely related to the Innu but became extinct in the 19th century. Like the Dorset these people hunted sea mammals and fished, but the caribou, moose, and forest animals were equally important in their diet and culture.

In the western part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence were the St. Lawrence Iroquois, who occupied both sides of the St. Lawrence River. The Iroquois were farmers, growing corn, beans and squash. The north shore of the St. Lawrence River between the Iroquois and the Innu, was visited seasonally by Innu or Iroquois fishers, and traders.

The ancestors of the Mi’kmaq [there are other spellings, Micmac and Miigmag being the most common alternatives] lived in eastern New Brunswick, the Gaspé Peninsula, in Prince Edward Island and all of Nova Scotia, including Cape Breton Island. The Mi’kmaq focussed on fishing, with swordfish and eel forming a considerable part of their diet. They also hunted moose, deer, and many other forest animals, large and small.

The Maliseet and Passamaquoddy lived in southern New Brunswick and northern Maine; in central and southern Maine and New Hampshire, the Abenaki. In the eleventh century these groups were closely related in dialect and culture to the Mi’kmaq.

Many other Algonquian groups inhabited the areas further south and west in New England, such as the Massachusett, Narragansett and Delaware. All were farmers, growing the same native crops as the Iroquois.

Study the map in conjunction with the written passages in the Vinland sagas. The references below may help in finding clues to the location of Vinland.

Maps

Arctic

Books

Chapters in Books

Labrador, Newfoundland and Eastern Quebec

Chapters in Books

Journal Articles

Maritimes

Books

Chapters in Books

New Brunswick-Maine Border

Chapters in Books

New England

Chapters in Books

Journal Articles

Quebec

Chapters in Books

Virginia

Chapters in Books