Interplays of Site and Situation along Tunulliarfik Fjord, South Greenland

Anthony J. DZIK1
1 Shawnee State University, Department of Social Science, Portsmouth, Ohio, USA
E-mail: tdzik@shawnee.edu
Pages: 67-81

Abstract. Site and situation are dynamic factors in the origin, success, demise, and adjustments of human settlements. Over a period of 3500 years, human settlement in the environs of Tunulliarfik Fjord in southwest Greenland has undergone a number of changes brought about by the interplays of site and situation. While climate variability over time is at the forefront of most discussions on the human history and geography of Greenland, it is more appropriate to examine the interactions between climate, ecosystem, resource usage, and extrinsic influences in presenting a regional study of settlement over time. Through field work and literature review, these interactions were examined and analyzed from the early Saqqaq and Dorset cultures through the Norse colonization and up to the present time.  Climatic shifts appear to be influential in the rise, adjustment, and demise of settlements along the fjord, but extrinsic factors and events have also played important roles, especially in the case of the Norse era, the economy of Narsaq, and in the founding of Narsarsuaq.

K e y w o r d s: site, situation, Greenland, climate change, Norse, Narsaq, Narsarsuaq