Viking barley in Greenland

ScienceNordic via Past Horizons ^ | Monday, February 6, 2012 | Sybille Hildebrandt, tr by Michael de Laine

[SunkenCiv]

The Vikings are both famous and notorious for their liking of beer and mead and archaeologists have discussed for years whether Eric the Red (ca 950-1010) and his followers had to make do without the golden drink when they settled in Greenland around the year 1,000: The climate was mild when they landed, but was it warm enough for growing barley?

Researchers from the National Museum in Copenhagen say the answer to the question is 'yes'. In a unique find, they uncovered tiny fragments of charred barley grains in a Viking midden on Greenland.

The find is final proof that the first Vikings to live in Greenland did grow barley – the most important ingredient in making a form of porridge, baking bread and of course in brewing beer, traditionally seen as the staple foods in the Vikings' diet.

[bert]

——baking bread -—

I did not know barley was milled to flour.

I thought it was for thickening stew and beer

[BerryDingle]

I've always believed the discovery of alcohol was an accidental one of via the ingestion of fermented fruits and grains by some famished hairy guy many moons ago.

Fermented apples, 5 months ago, in Sweden.

[bert]

Beer and wine allow one to live.

Water, contaminated water kills.

Fermentation is a natural phenomenon.

[Bigg Red]

In the article, it says that carrying the barley as cargo to Greenland would have been impracticle because of the limited space on the ship.

[Dysart]

Been there. But that was years ago and I was drifting...

[SunkenCiv]

Arrrrrrrrrrr! Pour me anotherrrrrr!

[SunkenCiv]

We’ve barley scratched the surface of its many uses.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Bigg Red.

http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/02/2012/viking-barley-in-greenland

[BwanaNdege]

We used to work & live with a hunter-gatherer tribe in Africa.
They did NOT:

Use the Wheel
Use the Plow
Weave
Make Bread
Have a Written Language
Make Rope

However, they were very intelligent, spoke two or three or more languages

AND

They made BEER..... lots of it, when they had a reasonable harvest of millet.

[Verginius Rufus]

Kensington, Minnesota, claims to have a runestone left by Vikings in the 1300s. Many people doubt that the Vikings made it all the way to Minnesota.

In light of these latest findings, maybe the explanation is that they were trying to find Milwaukee and just took a wrong turn.

[Flag_This]

They got at least as far as L’anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland around 550 years before the Pilgrims.

[Will we know the moment]

But that doesn’t explain what happened to all the rich polar bears.

[blam]

"How different would life be had the Vikings settled Plymouth 600 years before the Pilgrims? "

Somewhere, someone is being taught that the Africans showed them how to do it. Otherwise, it wouldn't have happened.

[Mike Darancette]

I read just recently that the Egyptians paid their works in meat and beer.

It was found that beer made to the ancient Egyptian recepe contains an antibiotic (tetracycline.

[Mike Darancette]

I read just recently that the Egyptians paid their works in meat and beer.

It was found that beer made to the ancient Egyptian recepe contains an antibiotic (tetracycline.

[svcw]

That is interesting about the antibiotic.

[bigheadfred]

was it warm enough for growing barley

...just barley...

[Bigg Red]

And, thank you, Civ, for all of your great posts.

[SunkenCiv]

Inuit all the time.

[WesternCulture]

Thanks for posting this material.

Regards,

WesternCulture