Ruins representing both medieval Norse and Inuit (Thule culture) settlements can be found together on the coast at Sandhavn (59°59' N, 44°46' W), Greenland. The site presents a rare opportunity to investigate the character of past contact and interaction between these two peoples. Soils-based, radiocarbon, and palynological analyses demonstrate the creation of hortic anthrosols within Norse home-fields used between the mid-11th and late 14th centuries A.D. Irrigation channels have been identified within the home-fields, while rising grass pollen influx reveals intensification in hay production over the period ca. A.D. 1260-1350 despite climatic deterioration setting in around this time. Floor deposits and wall packing from an Inuit winter house returned dates of cal. A.D. 1220-1290 (2 s), yet no direct landscape-based evidence for Inuit activity could be determined. Although the exact nature of the relationship between Norse and Thule at Sandhavn remains unclear, the role of this site as a harbor and possible trading area may have attracted Inuit settlers keen to participate in European trade networks.

Europeanization of sub-Arctic environments by Norse communities in Greenland, from the early 11 th to mid 15 th centuries AD, varied spatially and temporally, with pastoral agriculture and associated homefield management at the heart of this transformation. This process is poorly understood for the outer fjord areas of Norse Greenland, and from this locality we contribute a homefield soils and sediments-based analysis. Our findings identify a recipe effectthe partitioning of turf, domestic animal manure and domestic waste resources used to manage soil fertility, field irrigation channels and the effects of eroded material deposition in the homefield. These management practices increased soil macro-nutrient status relative to pre-settlement concentration in some areas of the homefield, whilst macro-nutrient concentrations in other areas of the homefield were allowed to decline. We suggest that where resources were limited, sustainable intensification could only be achieved in some areas of the homefield with others areas managed unsustainably.

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