Sacramento Archeological Society, Inc.’s
Annual Meeting & Webinar

Saturday, December 7, 2024
1:00 – 6:00+ PM PT
“Archaeological Research on Norse in Greenland”
By
Christyann Darwent, Professor of Archaeology, UC Davis
at U.C. Davis campus, Room 302 Young Hall, and via Zoom

The Annual Meeting will be conducted in person at the U.C. Davis campus, in Room 302 Young Hall, and broadcasted via Zoom starting at 2:00 PM PT with a presentation by Christyann Darwent, UCD Professor, and formally conclude after the SAS Annual Meeting. After which all attendees are invited to attend a dinner to socialize at a local restaurant.

The schedule for the event is as follows:
1:00 – Set up, meet and greet (If you are unable to attend in person, you may join the webinar starting as early as 1:45 PM.)
2:00 – Featured talk “Archaeological Research on Norse in Greenland” by Christyann Darwent
3:30 – SAS Annual Meeting
5:00 – Socialize at restaurant

“Archaeological Research on Norse in Greenland” by Christyann Darwent
The historical records of Norse settlement and life in Greenland between 986 and 1400 are relatively scarce compared to similar Viking-Norse occupations in the British Isles and Iceland for example. Saga accounts provide some insight, but most of what is known about Norse (and Inuit) in Greenland comes from archaeological investigations of the Eastern and Western Settlements. Bioarchaeological analysis, zooarchaeology, and archaeometric methods such as stable isotope analysis and ancient DNA have enhanced our understanding of changes in Norse hunting practices, diet, and economics (e.g., walrus ivory trade). In addition, recent studies of textiles provide insight into religious practices and gender roles. This talk will review recent archaeological findings and how these support or challenge previous understandings of more than 400 years of Greenlandic Norse life.
Christyann Darwent, Professor of Archaeology in the Department of Anthropology at University of California Davis (UCD) is a zooarchaeologist interested in how humans adapt to arid, high arctic environments and coastal ecosystems. Professor Darwent’s focus lies primarily in animal skeletal remains from archaeological sites and how these remains can shed light on past human subsistence economies and past environments. In support of this interest she manages the Zooarchaeology Lab and Comparative Skeletal Collection at UCD, which includes the Peter D. Schulz Osteoichthyology collection.

Over the past 25 years her arctic field research has taken her to western Alaska, northwestern Greenland, and the high arctic islands of Nunavut. In collaboration with Bowdoin College and the Greenland National Museum, research continued at the site of Iita in northwestern Greenland with support of the National Science Foundation in 2016.

Dr. Darwent received her B.Sc. in Archaeology at the University of Calgary, Canada, M.A. in Archaeology at Simon Fraser University, Canada, and Ph.D. in Anthropology at University of Missouri-Columbia. She teaches upper, lower and graduate level courses in Anthropology including Introduction to Archaeology, Indigenous Arctic Peoples, Vikings, Zooarchaeology, Archaeological Theory and Method, and Personal Identification in Forensic Science and has also taught for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.