Discovery of a medieval church in Greenland

The discovery of a medieval church in Greenland sheds light on the organization of the immense Arctic island more than 800 years ago, the National Museum of Denmark announced Thursday.

“It’s a sensational discovery because it highlights the importance of this whole area,” archaeologist Christian E.K. told AFP. Madsen, who carried out the research in Qinngua, near Narsarsuaq in the south of the Danish autonomous territory.

Greenland was populated at least 3,000 years ago by the Inuit people of the Arctic. The Vikings founded a colony in the 10th century which ceased to exist almost 500 years later, under conditions that still remain mysterious, before colonization by Denmark in the 18th century. Probably dating from the 13th century, the church, next to which is at least one tomb, was 8 to 10 meters long and 3 to 4 meters wide.

The building eluded archaeologists for a long time, the clue leading to its discovery having only been found at the very last hour of excavations carried out the previous year. Around the monument were three farms.

“This is how villages started in Greenland: we can talk about a proto-village, because there could be three farms, and these farms share the same fields and probably also resources,” explained the researcher.

According to him, the settlers did not only live from agriculture, which was already marginal.

“This is to obtain walrus tusks, polar bear skins and narwhal tusks, which will be reinjected into European markets, as far as the Middle East and Central Eurasia. Basically, the farms become a base for marine hunting in this region,” the researcher emphasized.

For the archaeologist, this discovery will make it possible to explore the history of the development of this site. It is now a matter of "understanding how this colony developed over time, how it was built and then how it collapsed", at the latest around 1450, almost three centuries before the modern colonization of Greenland by Denmark.

“According to written sources, which have proven to be very reliable, this church was part of a network of smaller churches. They were the first Catholic churches on the North American continent,” noted Christian E.K. Madsen.

“It shows us how people brought Christianity there, how they kept it and tried to maintain a life in the harshest place they could find to settle.” »