A Yarn Tells a Story

A 3 metre strand of yarn tells a story of Norse explorations to Baffin Island in the 13th Century. The yarn was buried in the tundra for almost 800 years and was found in 1984, by Father Guy Mary-Rousseliere, the parish priest at Mittimatalik (Pond Inlet). The artifacts were sent to the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

About 15 years later, while working on Father Mary-Rousseliere's collections, Patricia Sutherland, Associate Curator of the Museum, noticed that the yarn fragment was similar to ones she had seen at an archaeological excavation of a medieval Norse farm in Greenland. The Yarn was identified as a blend of fur of the Arctic hare and goat hair. Penelope Rogers, a specialist who studied textiles from the Greenland Norse sites, confirmed that this yarn was similar to a specimen from the Norse farm Garden Under Sandet.

Northern Baffin Island was occupied by Dorset Palaeo-Eskimos from 500 B.C. to 1500 A.D. who did not spin or weave, but wore clothing sewn from animal skins. Because yarn was not generally used by the Dorset people, it is thought that it would have been more of a curiosity item, and suggests of a visit to the region by a Norse ship.

As a result of this discovery, the Canadian Museum of Civilization is now conducting the Helluland Archaeology Project that could reveal additional information about the contacts between the Norse and the Aboriginal peoples of the eastern Arctic. Patricia Sutherland has found additional evidence of spun yarn and worked wood at other Baffin Island sites that are characteristic of technologies of medieval Europe. Radiocarbon dating of the spun yarn samples indicate that a European presence may have begun earlier than previously thought.

Discovery at Canadian Museum of Civilization
A 3 metre strand of yarn attracts the attention of researchers.

Helluland Archaeology Research Project
The Canadian Museum of Civilization studies the contact between the Norse and the Aboriginal peoples of the eastern Arctic.

Nunguvik Site
Father Mary-Rousseliere describes the excavations at the Nunguvik site.

The Last Viking
An extensive essay that discusses the importance of spinning and weaving as an indicator of a Norse presence in the Canadian Arctic as well as the Pacific Northwest.

Canadian Museum of Civilization

The Last Viking

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