Just got done reading Eirik's Saga. The one about the Norse discovery of America.
 Apparently, the first encounter between the Vikings and Skraelings ( Eskimo) didn't go well. War broke out.
 The Skraelings used warslings, and one of the Vikings was killed by a stone lodged in the head.
 Also, the Skraelings used a bladder like device thrown from a pole. As it flew through the air, it made a loud noise that frightened the Vikings
  Imagine, the fierce Vikings scared by a simple thing.

Skraelings i don't think are eskimos. They ran into them in greenland before that. They were indians. Why did the war break out. If i remember right it was the vikings gave the indians milk and they were lactos and tourat? The indians thought they were beening posined.

What book is eirks sagas in? The icelander saga (book).

Skraelings are Micmacs, I think.  I have not heard of the Skraelings using slings - just stone tipped arrows.

According to the saga, the Icelanders were trading with the Skraelings, when the bulls they brought with them broke loose and began bellowing. It frightened the Skraelings and they ran away.
  After that, the Skraelings decided that the Icelanders were dangerous, and that's how the battle began.  

Skrælings is the term used by vikings about the inhabitans of Vinland (Newfoundland).

Gard

Yeah, skraelings were the people we know now as the Micmacs. and my guess is that a reason for war and slaughter for the vikings probably would not have to be a particularly important one. Simply having something they wanted badly enough was probably about all they needed.

The Skrælingar weren't inuits. Inuits aren't from Vinland. Ja, I think they were MicMac.

man, I love Freydis the Fierce, she's a goddess. I also love Bjarni Herjolfsson. Thats where my username was derived from.

Just on the off chance...are there any Asatuar in the memberslist?

I know Asatru and its customs well, but I have no particular set of customs I am tied to. Are you Asatru by any chance Grautr?

wrote on Oct 17^th, 2005 at 2:45pm:

The Skrælingar weren't inuits. Inuits aren't from Vinland. Ja, I think they were MicMac.

The Norse were in contact with Eskimo peoples--Dorset Eskimo in northern Labrador and Baffin Island, and Inuit in Greenland. Further south (in Vinland and parts of Markland) contact was almost certainly with Indian peoples--probably Beothuck, and ancestral Innu and Micmac. The Norse called all of these peoples Skraelings, without distinction.

I think it is likely that the sling-users were Eskimos and that references to noisy weapons incorporating bladders describe harpoons launched with throwing boards. As I have mentioned in earlier threads, objects identified as probable sling handles have been recovered by archaeologists from a number of Thule Eskimo sites both in Greenland and Arctic Canada.


Ian

I heard somewhere that some of the tribes in Newfoundland have about 1/4 of their blood shared with Scandinavians based on DNA tests. So I guess the war didn't last for long.  :o

I heard that to.

From "Eirik's Saga, in The Vinland Sagas: The Norse Discovery of America" translated by Magnus Magnusson and Herman Palsson and published by Penguin Classics in 1965 we find this passage, where native American warriors called "Skraelings" faced the Norsemen in battle.

   "When they clashed there was a fierce battle and a hail of missiles came flying over, for the Skraelings were using catapults. Karlsefni and Snorri saw them hoist a large sphere on a pole; [one manuscript here adds "it was the size of a sheep's stomach,"] it was dark blue in colour. It came flying over the head of Karlsefni's men and made an ugly din when it struck the ground. This terrified Karlsefni and his men so much that their only thought was to flee, and they retreated farther up the river."

A further footnote in the book added that;

   "This device has been compared with the ballista which ancient traditions of the Algonquin Indians describe."

Hei Hei Hail Vinland!

Forward : ride the ocean's waves
be bold : glory to the brave

Deep the sea : above me eternal sky
freezing winds : cold to the limbs : the waves are high
sleepless nights : the bleak moonlight : the chill and damp
by morning light : a strip of land we see

Vinland : crossing the endless raging ocean
Vinland : follow the stars and the sign of the raven
Vinland : watch the horizon for the strip of the western land
Vinland : plough through the waves white wolfs at a raging sea


Being a blonde haired, blue eyed Newfoundlander myself, Ive done some research!
http://www.heritage.nf.ca/exploration/norse.html

Being a brown eyed dark haired skraeling, I've done   some research too. ;)          www.nativepeoples.com

wrote on Oct 24^th, 2005 at 4:59am:

Just on the off chance...are there any Asatuar in the memberslist?

I am.

The inuit werent "skrælingar" I dont think. They came after to repel against the Vinlanders down through Helluland after the skrælingar and the Vinlanders had called a Truce.

I am not Ásatrú exactly, but I do have great reverence for the Nine Noble Virtues and the ancient gods.
Bigkahuna, you are skræling...I thought you were American. I didnt think skræling fought Vinlanders in America. I thought it was just through Helluland and Vinland and Leifsbodir.

Hei, I found this cool bit of information. Everyone should read here.
http://althistory.wikicities.com/wiki/Vinland

Found an interesting theory to what the Skraelings used.
 In the book Indian Tribes of the United States ( 1851) HR Schoolcraft describes a device very similar to the Skraeling ones. It was a sheepstomach, with a large rock in it. This was loosely mounted on a pole, and flung so that the stomach and rock flies off and hits the opponent.
 Since it said that one of Karlesefni's men had a large piece of flint lodged in his head, this seems like a possibility.
  So the Skraelings were possibly Algonquin? That would mean that the Norse penetrated inland, not just on the shore.

Its most definite they went inland I think.
The Kensington Runestone is an example.

The term "Skraeling" as used by the Norse, meant any indigenous people. With that as a basis, my people qualify as Skraelings.

Bjarn, the Kensington Runestone has been proven a fake. When translated, the language it translates into was a modern version of Swedesh, not the more ancient language.
 However, all up and down the east coast, and especially with the Iroquois, there are stoies of pale skin " giants" from far away. they had skin that was impermiable to weapons.

ha, was it?
I guessed I never payed much attention to the American aspect. Im teh DumB ::)

Skraeling is "weakling" in old norse I believe.

Ouch!!! I knew we shoulda run all you paleskins into the sea. ;D

The Inuit werent the weaklings though, heheh.
I heard somewhere that is was the disease the vikings brought that beat the natives down before the Inuit came to drive them out.
Im listening to Inuit music currently. :P

Ha, I live in a place where most people are swarthy ojibwe, Im the palest thing around here.