Re: Inuit/Picts and others

Mike skrifaði:

> Anyone know of any Archeological digs on Iceland?
Well, I visited to the National Museum in Reykjavík in February and I
can tell you they've got a lot of artefacts, so obviously there have
been digs. I don't know where you'd find details about the digs
themselves, though.

> Just working on a hyposesis that Iceland was visited by not only the
Vikings but also Celtic (Irish),

Celtic as in Gaelic (Ireland and Scotland), definitely. One fascinating
exhibit at the National Museum was on recent DNA research which revealed
that while a good 80% of Icelandic men are of Scandinavian descent, over
60% of Icelandic women are of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon descent. So,
basically, the Vikings stopped in the British Isles and took the women
with them to Iceland.

> but also Inuit Eskimos and maybe others as well.. Basque or . Or even
AmerIndians from New England/Eastern Canada?

Old Norse historical records give no indication of any settlement in
Iceland prior to the arrival of the Norse, save that certain Norse mss.
make mention of an Irish monastic community, but no archeological
evidence has been found to support this and as far as I know the idea is
now discredited. The Norse mss. do, however, record conflicts with the
"Skrælings" (i.e. Inuit) in, IIRC, Greenland (and Labrador also?).
Someone who is more familiar with the Sagas will have to elaborate on
that.

The Basques fished as far away as North America (the Grand Banks, etc.)
so I think it's only logical  to assume there has been Icelandic/Basque
contact, at least in terms of trade and definitely in terms of
cod-fishing rivalry, but there was never any Basque settlement in
Iceland (though that conceit would make for some interesting
conlanging!)

> Sort of a what if, the Inuit did make it to Iceland and maybe even
beyond, like to Scotland/Orkneys.

Again, that idea would certainly make an interesting conlang project,
though AFAIK no such thing actually happened *here*.

Regards,

Thomas

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