Historians use historical empathy when researching the past. This means that historians try to view the past without judgement. They try to understand the time and place of the people and events they are studying. You will look at three sources to answer the historical research question "Why did the Vikings leave Greenland?” Then write a well-structured paragraph describing one reason the Vikings may have left Greenland. In 1257, a volcano erupted far away from Greenland in Indonesia. It was one of the most powerful eruptions in the last seven thousand years. Scientists have used ash frozen in ice cores from this time period to study the eruption. Volcanic eruptions can affect climate by spewing sulfur into the air. This reflects sunlight back to space and prevents sunlight from reaching the Earth. Scientists believe this cooling effect had a global impact after the 1257 eruption. There was worldwide famine. “The Vikings and Greenland” The Vikings first visited Greenland in 1000. By 1100, they had started a settlement there. One reason the Vikings settled in Greenland was the farmland along the coast. They were farmers and a seagoing people. The Vikings hunted walruses for their tusks and used the ivory to trade with Europe. Greenland seemed perfect for the Vikings. Yet sometime in the 1400s, the Greenland settlement disappeared. Some researchers have studied middens, or garbage dumps, to understand the Viking diet. Researchers found nutritious food waste in the middens from the 1300s. Middens after that period show that the Vikings and their livestock had poorer diets. Something had happened to the food supply. Other historians looked at trade documents from the 1400s. People from Russia and Africa also started selling ivory in Europe, so the price of ivory went down. The Vikings could no longer make much money from ivory. Researchers also studied the Vikings’ historical farm sites in Greenland. The sites show no evidence of attack and include few personal possessions. Researchers found that soil had been washed away at the sites because surrounding trees had been cut down. By 1500, the Vikings had disappeared from Greenland. The research gathered from middens, trade records, and farm sites offer historians clues about why the Vikings vanished. Additional Research Sources Researchers and historians can use primary and secondary sources to learn about the Vikings. These are some examples of sources that historians might use. Graphs: The graph below is a secondary source showing world temperatures over the last 10,000 years. The Vikings settled in Greenland from 1100 to 1300 during the Medieval Warm Period. It was one of the warmest climate periods in modern times. A period of cool weather followed in the 1400s. From 1550 to 1850, global temperatures were at their coldest. Scientists call this period the Little Ice Age. The average temperature in Greenland was much lower than today. Artifacts: One historical puzzle is why many Viking settlements vanished. The building pictured is the remains of a Viking church in Greenland. This is an example of an artifact that is a primary source. The Vikings founded a colony in Greenland during the 1100s. After four hundred years, the settlements were abandoned. Maps: Other primary sources about the Vikings in Greenland are maps based on their voyages. The 1570 Skálholt map shows Viking discoveries in the western Atlantic. Notice that Britain and Ireland are depicted on the right side of the map. The Vikings considered Greenland (Gronlandia on the map) a huge peninsula of the northern mainland that continued all the way to North America. This is at the top of the map. Winlandia, at the bottom of the map, marks the northern tip of Newfoundland. Newfoundland is part of Canada.