VERTEBRATE ZOOARCHAEOLOGY OF SANDNES V-51 - ECONOMIC-CHANGE AT A CHIEFTAINS FARM IN WEST GREENLAND

In the summer of 1984 an international team returned to the site of th e elite Norse manor farm Sandnes (V51, 64-V2-III-511) at the head of t he Ameralla Fjord in modern Nuuk District-first investigated in 1903 b y Bruun and in 1932-1934 by Roussell-in order to rescue stratified mid den deposits and early phase structures endangered by marine erosion. Stratigraphic excavations of midden deposits allowed collection of bio archaeological evidence for changing economic organization at this lar ge church farm ca. AD 1050-1350. The vertebrate zooarchaeology indicat es a major realignment of economy ca. AD 1150-1200 and the existence o f dietary and probably social differentiation between members of the h ousehold.