"Our analysis shows that the Norse in Greenland ate lots of food
from the sea, especially seals," says Jan Heinemeier, Institute
of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University. "Even though the
Norse are traditionally thought of as farmers, they adapted
quickly to the Arctic environment and the unique hunting
opportunities. During the period they were in Greenland, the
Norse ate gradually more seals. By the 14th century, seals made
up between 50 and 80 per cent of their diet." The Danish and
Canadian researchers are studying the 80 Norse skeletons kept at
the University of Copenhagen's Laboratory of Biological
Anthropology in order to determine their dietary habits. From
studying the ratio of the isotopes carbon-13 and carbon-15, the
researchers determined that a large proportion of the
Greenlandic Norse diet came from the sea, particularly from
seals. Heinemeier measured the levels of carbon isotopes in the
skeletons, Erle Nelson of Simon Fraser University, in Vancouver,
Canada, analysed the isotopes, while Nie