Did the Greenland colonists really starve to death rather than eat fish?

[dropzone]

@The Cosmople

…perhaps there was a feeling of “the other” resisting the missionary influences, and thus discrediting all their ways.

Since I assume you meant they were resisting the Eskimo ways because they were “the other,” Nova presented that as a possibility. Knowing a Norskie or two, ya, that could be true.
Before anybody jumps on me for ethnic slurs, my Norskie creds: dropmom still has her granny’s trunk with her Oslo address.

[dropzone]

And “Texan” isn’t an ethnicity, but I think you can find it in the DSM.

[Tyrrell_McAllister]

@monstro

My old boss, a somewhat well-known population biologist, has a pretty low professional opinion of Jared Diamond because he remembers when he came out against the neutral theory of biodiversity (which my boss attributes to his lack of sophistification and familiarity with complex mathematics). I’m thinking a lot of his deterministic hypotheses in GGS probably grate a lot of evolutionary biologists. .

Is there a place where a mathematically educated, but biologically and sociologically ignorant, person could read about these criticisms of Jared Diamond?

[Mangetout]

I think it’s actually possible to eat fish and starve to death - fish contains next to no carbohydrates and humans can quite easily become malnourished on a fish-only diet.

[Fiver]

@Mangetout

I think it’s actually possible to eat fish and starve to death - fish contains next to no carbohydrates and humans can quite easily become malnourished on a fish-only diet.

You can become malnourished and starve to death on any diet that consists of only one food. But how long would it take? And did the Greenland Norsemen only have fish available to them?

[Mangetout]

Dunno, and I have to confess that my basis for that statement was Lucy Irvine’s book Castaway.

[gladiadelmarre]

Greenland was 3 days from Iceland by boat and 7 days from Norway. Is there any evidence that the Greenlanders were trapped there a la Easter Island? If not, the most reasonable assumption is that the Greenland settlements were abandoned just like with the thousands of ghost towns all over the world.

Does anyone look at American ghost towns and dramatically claim that the residents starved rather than adapt like the native American Indians in the surrounding area?

[Ispolkom]

@gladiadelmarre

Greenland was 3 days from Iceland by boat and 7 days from Norway. Is there any evidence that the Greenlanders were trapped there a la Easter Island? If not, the most reasonable assumption is that the Greenland settlements were abandoned just like with the thousands of ghost towns all over the world.

I think that this is the most reasonable explanation, that the Greenlander Norse went to either a) Iceland, b) Norway, and/or c) the New World. The Eastern Settlement certainly doesn’t show signs of a violent end, more of an orderly abandonment.

Imagine you’re a Greenlander in the late 15th/early 16th century. It’s getting colder and harder to raise your sheep and cows, the European market for your walrus tusks has crashed, and fewer ships are visiting your ports. At the same time, the North Atlantic cod trade is booming, and there are plans for colonies in the New World. Why stick around Greenland?

[Bridget_Burke]

@dropzone

You mean you don’t watch Nova? That “cathedral” was pathetic–it fit maybe 50 people. But at least it wasn’t a soddy. THAT wuld’ve been embarassing.

My money’s on the mass of them packing off for Iceland, leaving the most stubborn, old Norskies behind. Whether they made it is a different question.

A community of Norwegian Bachelor Farmers will not reproduce…

[dropzone]

And thank God, too.