A Comparative Study of Norse Palaeodemography in the North Atlantic

Britta J. Van Tiel1, 2; Clare McFadden1, 3; Charlotta Hillerdal; Marc F. Oxenham

A Comparative Study of Norse Palaeodemography in the North Atlantic

Britta J. Van Tiel^1,2, Clare McFadden^1,3, Charlotta Hillerdal⁴, and Marc F. Oxenham^1,4*

¹School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. ²Tübingen Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, 72074, Tübingen, Germany. ³BirthRites Independent Max Planck Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany, Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. ⁴Department of Archaeology, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3UF, United Kingdom. ^*Corresponding author.

Journal of the North Atlantic, No. 45 (2024)

Abstract
Our core aim is to compare the population dynamics of homeland and diaspora Norse communities in the North Atlantic through the lens of preadult representation. Our approach is to use the D0/14 palaeodemographic index to compare and contrast data sourced from twenty-one archaeological sites in the North Atlantic, including Scandinavia, Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, and Greenland that represent both homeland and frontier Norse communities including traditional Old Norse and Christian burial practices dated to between the 8th and 14th centuries. We found no statistically significant difference in the proportion of preadults among frontier and homeland communities, while significant differences were found regionally, particularly between Greenland and the Scottish Isles. We conclude that demographic similarities between frontier and homeland communities may have been influenced by general improvements in the climate during this period and/or the maintenance of very close lines of communication and continuity of cultural ties and behaviour between homeland and frontier settlements. Regarding relatively smaller proportions of preadults in Greenland in comparison to the Northern and Western Scottish Isles, the inferred elevated levels of fertility in the latter region may have been associated with a more stable resource base, relatively seamless integration of local and migrant populations, particular and potentially good yield farming, marine adapted subsistence practices, and integration into vibrant maritime trading networks. The situation in Greenland, on the other hand, is consistent with a short-term colonisation event.

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