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the Frozen Trail
The Frozen Trail existed, at least, during twenty-seven (27) years out of the first sixty (60) years of the fourteenth century (1300 to 1360). The period was known as the Little Ice Age, which had the coldest recorded temperatures during the last millennium. While the feat of walking across Davis Strait is considered to be impossible, Eskimos of northern Greenland, who live in climates similar to those experienced during the Little Ice Age, have made similar journeys. A cold climate provided a driving reason for the first trips to get food. As the cold persisted, the possibility of migration became a reality.
Ninety percent of the Norse Greenlander's food was from seals. The seals, which thrive in open water, were best harvested at the edge of the ice. When the climate turned cold, the ice formed over Davis Strait, taking most of the seals too far south. There are places in the Arctic that have open water the year around. Many of these open-water marvels exist in Ungava Bay and Hudson Strait, north of Labrador. The desperate Norse hunters walked to the open water marvels to get food to take home to their families. As the cold persisted through two generations, the thought of moving the families to the food became compelling.
The Frozen Trail was four hundred and fifty five (455) miles from the Northern Settlement to land at Bjarni Island (now called Resolution Island). They had to go another two hundred (200) miles from Bjarni Island to Pamiok on the east coast of Ungava Peninsula. Good Arctic traveling is about twenty five (25) miles a day, but there is one known case of a man, alone, averaging forty three (43) miles per day.
Coment: The Norse could have made forty to fifty miles a day by sleeping one third of the people on sleds and pulling through all night and a short day. Using a twenty-five (25) mile/day rate, the trip would have taken less than four (4) weeks. The walk would have been a difficult human endeavor, but achievable.
back to topthe Little Ice Age
Sea ice forms in climates where the average environmental temperature reaches temperatures of eighteen (18) degrees Fahrenheit. During the Little Ice Age the environmental temperatures dropped ten degrees, or more, below normal for twenty-seven (27) out of sixty (60) years. The lower average temperature would have driven the average environmental temperature below eighteen degrees Fahrenheit, and would have caused Davis Strait to freeze.
Between 1344 and 1354 there were 9 out of 11 years where the temperature was cold enough to freeze the sea water hard enough for people to walk on the ice during the winter. During five of those years the water froze enough for people to walk on the ice all year around.
| GREENLAND TEMPERATURES | |||
| Temperature Deviation from Normal degrees Farenheit |
|||
| 1321 +14.4 | 1331 + 7.2 | 1341 + 9.2 | 1351 - 30.6** |
| 1322 +12.6 | 1332 - 12.6 * | 1342 + 5.4 | 1352 + 7.2 |
| 1323 ------- | 1333 - 27.0 ** | 1343 + 10.8 | 1353 - 32.4 ** |
| 1324 - 21.6 * | 1334 + 7.2 | 1344 - 16.2 * | 1354 - 28.8 ** |
| 1325 - 27.0 ** | 1335 + 9.0 | 1345 - 12.6 * | 1355 - 7.2 |
| 1326 - 28.8 ** | 1336 + 3.6 | 1346 + 1.8 | 1356 - 9.0 |
| 1327 - 23.4 ** | 1337 ------- | 1347 - 10.8 * | 1357 - 5.4 |
| 1328 - 10.8 * | 1338 - 14.4 * | 1348 - 10.8 * | 1358 + 3.6 |
| 1329 - 1.8 | 1339 - 7.2 | 1349 - 25.2 ** | 1359 + 1.8 |
| 1330 + 1.8 | 1340 - 8.0 | 1350 - 23.4 ** | 1360 + 3.6 |
MODERN TEMPERATURE DIFFERENTIALS
Arctic Circle to Mellville Bay = c15 degrees F*
Ice conditions similar to Mellville Bay in modern era. In the modern world people travel on the Mellville Bay ice every winter. The average difference in temperature between Melville and Davis Strait at the Arctic circle is 15 degrees F.
Arctic Circle to Polar ice = c25 degrees F **
Ice conditions similar to Polar ice. In the modern world people travel on polar ice all year around. The average difference in temperature between Davis Strait at the Arcti circle and the polar ice is 25 degrees F.
Comment: If the average temperature in Davis Strait at the Arctic circle is 15 degrees F lower than normal, the sea water would freeze solid enough to enable walking on it during winter. If the average temperature is 25 degrees F lower than normal, people could walk on the ice all year around.
the Norse in Greenland
Many myths have been passed down concerning the Norse colonies in Greenland. Many people believe they know who named Greenland and who was the missionary that converted the people of Greenland to Christianity. Many hasty assumptions have been made about Norse Greenland that enable people to believe erroneous conclusions. Many people believe they know what the Norse ate, what they wore, and how they related to the neighbors. These myths and assumptions have veiled the real fate of the Norse in Greenland. The end of the Norse settlement came swiftly. Houses were abandoned with no indication of a traumatic experience.
First Records of Greenland
The Norse sagas claim that Norsemen named Iceland and Greenland. But the first written document using those names occurred in 834 when Lewis the Pious, Holy Roman Emperor appointed a monk to be Archbishop of eight northern lands including Cronland and Island.
Later in Rome, after Pope Gregory IV agreed to the confirming papal bull in 835, the scribe wrote the names of seven of the lands including "Gronlanders" and "Iselanders" In 846 and 858 other papal bulls confirmed the original appointment, but the scribes had changed the names to "Iceland" and "Greenland." There is other evidence in the church records to indicate that Christians, probably Albans, were in Iceland and Greenland four centuries before King Haakon the Old made the two lands part of his kingdom. (Mowat 1965)
back to topIntroduction of Christianity to Greenland
The Greenlander and Eric sagas say that Leif Eriksson was the man who introduced Christianity to Greenland. But Magnus Magnusson reported that Jon Johannesson of Iceland proved conclusively that Leif did not introduce Christianity to Greenland as the sagas report. King Olaf's historians do not credit him with a Christian Greenland even though the sagas said that Leif made the introduction during King Olaf's reign. (Magnusson, 1966)
In Norway and in Iceland there is recorded evidence of a violent imposition of Christianity from the leading men of the country onto the common people. A similar process probably happened in Greenland.
Historical Diet
Despite the many sketches of Greenland people having livestock, the diet of most Greenland farmhouses was over ninety percent fish, seal, and walrus. They ate two percent of their diet as caribou. The other eight- percent came from the domestic livestock. The more powerful landowners, who also owned the biggest boats, ate forty percent of their diet from fish, seal, and walrus. Caribou was forty percent of their diet. The powerful landowners may have received the larger share of the caribou as payment for shipping space on their boats.
Ingstad wrote about the milk products on a Greenland farm. (Ingstad, 1966)
Malaurie wrote in detail about processing seal (by Eskimos). (Malaurie, 1982)
Clothing
The clothing of Norse Greenland has been determined by examining the clothes of those Norse people buried. The surprising revelations were that the people buried were wearing European style clothing, even if much clothing appeared to be homemade with poorer cloth,. The fashion trend continued up to the 1400s. From these revelations of the graves came conclusions that the Norse people did not adapt to their environment.
Norse descendants in South Dakota and Minnesota wear thermopacks, parkas, bibbed overalls, and gloves inside heavy mittens. But when archaeologists open their graves in the next century, they are sure to find those Norse descendents buried in light weight suits, white shirts, dress shoes and frilly dresses of the latest fashion.
Hypothesis: The clothes of the dead do not reveal the clothing worn in cold working conditions. The Norse who walked away from Greenland would have been wearing cold weather clothes.
Neighbors of the Norse in Greenland
The conclusions about Norse Greenlander's relations with their neighbors drawn from archaeology evidence is mixed. There is little archaeology evidence to indicate sustained fighting. There is more evidence of Norse artifacts in Eskimo sites. The debate about the origin of the Inuit is typical. An accepted hypothesis is that the Inuit culture rose in Northern Canada and spread eastward. The primary evidence is the quality of the artifacts left behind. The more skillfully crafted artifacts were made in Canada. The cruder versions were made in Northern Greenland. Thus, the Inuit may have come from Canada and crowded the Norse.
But other authors have suggested that the Norse lived among the Eskimos. They made cruder tools because they had been used to iron tools and were adapting to bone and stone. The Norse descendents improved their handicraft as they spread west through the Arctic until their descendents in Canada produced more skillfully made artifacts. Thus the Inuit may have originated from Norse and Exkimo people on their way to Canada.
back to topthe Northern Settlement c. 1340
SANDNES was Bishopric during early 1100's
The Northern Norse Settlement had:
4 kirke (churches), 90 houses, c1000 people
Recent archaeology has uncovered:
- An arrowhead that possibley came from America
- A lumo of authorite coal that possibly came from Rhode Island
- Weavings with buffalo and brown hair which also possibly came from America
Intact houses were abandoned but no skeletons discovered
the Southern Settlement c.1340
GARDAR was the Bishopric
Tjodhilstat & Foss were king's farms
The Southern Norse Settlement had:
14 kirke (churches), a monastery, a nunnery and about 3000 people living in 207 houses
Bishops resided in Greenland from 1112 to 1406. There where gaps.
Some "Greenland" Bishops never did go to Greenland.
Erik Island lies at the mouth of Eriksfjord, where Erik the Red lived.
Hrein Island lies at the mouth of Hrein Fjord. "Hrein Fjord" morphed into "Einarsfjord."
Comment: The Bishopric, Gardar, and the main shipping harbor were in Hrein Fjord. After Erik the Red's time, the political, religious, and economic power may have transferred to the people in Hrein Fjord. Instead of calling themselves "Greenlanders" most of the populace would have said that they "Hrein--aa--byy. "
Davis Strait
Davis Strait lies north of the Atlantic Ocean between Greenland on the East and Baffin Islands on the West. Davis Strait also lies above the continental shelf. South of the strait the ocean floor plunges to the deepest depths of the Atlantic. When the tide is rising, large volumes of water moving slowly in the East Greenland Current of th Atlantic ocean are jammed into the smaller, flatter volume of Davis Strait.The water flow in South Davis Strait moves fater than over the depths of the ocean. The momentum of the flow pushes the icebergs north into Davis Strait
Ice is also calved from Baffin island, the west Greenland glaciers and from Lancaster, Jones and Smith Sounds. This ice moves south through Davis Strait to collide with the East Greenland icebergs floating north. The icebergs swirl in a massive counter-clockwise eddy in Davis Strait. When weather and ice permits, the jumbled ice peels off and movs south along the Labrador coast. Thus the shores of west Greenland are usually ice free while the east Labrador coast, a thousand miles to the south, is encased in a jumbled mass of ice lasting into the summer.
Ungava Penninsula and Ungava Bay
Shallow Ungava Bay lies to the south of Hudson Strait. The northeast shore of Ungava Peninsula near the Hudson Strait has several open-water marvels because of the interaction of a shallow bottom and strong tides. Ungava means "hatching of streams" in Old Norse. The Peninsula is nearly devoid of trees but grows lichen that is food for the caribou. But even if the peninsula appears barren, there are some interesting structures located on the terrain. The structures include the stone beacons, Thor's hammer, remains of an European village at Payne's Lake and the low walls at Pamiok and other places on the eastern shore.
Payne's Lake
Payne Lake, in the center of Ungava Peninsula, has a set of twelve rectangular foundations with indications of stone floors, one foundation for a larger building, and evidence of a dam and a causeway for wheeled carts. (Lee, 1968)
Comment: "Payne Lake" sounds as if it were an English name. However the lake outline on a map looks like a frying pan--upside down. "Panne" is an Old Norse word meaning, "pan." Thus the original name of "Payne Lake" has even odds that it was named by Norse after the pan shape as being named for an Englishman who walked through.
Leif's River
Enterline proposed that Leif Eriksson landed at the River of Leaves. Enterline's location corresponds to the descriptions found in Graenlendinga's Saga. The latitude of the mouth of the river matches the sunrise-sunset times described in the saga, as does the existence of a large tidal surge. Also, the saga tells of an island north of the mouth of the river. Barry Fell searched diligently from Labrador to Massachusetts for islands north of river mouths. He reluctantly concluded there were none. But Gyrfalcon Island lies north of the River of Leaves.
From the River of Leaves, the travel directions of the subsequent saga trips follow existing coasts closely. The only discrepancy between Enterline's location and the location described in the saga is the phrase "... never any frost all winter." There would have been frost at the River of Leaves, even in the warmest year. But no one else has resolved that issue either. (Enterline, 1972)
Later scribes of the saga may have misunderstood a statement made in reference to the open-water marvels and changed "no [water] freezing" to "no frost". Enterline's location is the most probable choice for Leif Eriksson's landing.
Grossvann
An important word in the Sagas is "Hope", (Also spelled "Hoop" or "Hop.") "Hope" means "tidal lake" where a river runs into a lake before the water spills into the ocean. Melville Lake emptying into Grosswater Bay best meets the requirements of Erik's Saga description of Hope, "a river into a lake, and the lake into the sea." (Magnusson, 1966)
The Vikings probably called the approach to their Hope, "Grossvann." "Gross" means "large" in both Norse and English. Norse "vann" means, English "water." English mapmakers would have accepted "Gross" and changed "vann" to "water" without giving much thought as to why the Norse word, "vann" had been used by the local people.
Carlson sketched a map found on the Spirit Pound Stone #1. The map is similar to the east coast of Labrador from Newfoundland to Grosswater Bay. The runes on the stone say, in runes, "Vinland, Hoop, Take, two days." (Carlson, 1998)
Norse ships would have taken two days to sail that distance. Whoever carved the stone knew Norse runes, Vinland, Hoop [Hope], the sailing time, and enough details to draw the islands in Grosswater Bay. Thus, two independent determinations of Hope imply strongly that Hope was in Grosswater (vann) Bay.
Indrawing Seas
There is universal agreement among historians that the "Indrawing Seas" referred to Hudson Strait. The tidal surge in Hudson Strait can rise thirty-eight feet or higher. The current in Hudson Strait can move faster than men can row. Early explorers wrote about whirlpools and the roaring of the tides. Adam De Bremen wrote of an episode where the crew of Harald the Hardrada's boat rowed hard to escape the Indrawing Seas. (De Bremen, 1070)
Norse King, Harald the Hardrada
During that era (985-1066) the people committed to the Vikings called themselves "Norse" and their land "Norvege." The King of Norvege, Harald the Hardrada. used a "court farm" at Foss anytime he was traveling in Greenland. Then in 1064 using local pilots, the Viking fleet tried to follow the route of the Norse hunters westward from Greenland. In 1070, Adam De Bremen wrote part of the story:
"... that enterprising Northmen's Prince, Harold, (sic) who explored the extent of the Northern Ocean with his ship, but was scarcely able by retreating to escape in safety from the gulf's enormous abyss, where before his eyes the vanishing bounds of earth were hidden in gloom."
Open Water Marvels and Ungava Bay
The open-water marvels are called "polynya" in modern Arctic books. Polynyas are areas that remain ice free, or nearly so throughout the winter. (Mowat, 1998/2000)
Today satellite photographs clearly show the open-water marvels in Ungava Bay.
Comment: The primary conditions for some polynyas appear to be a high tidal surge, a narrowing of the main flow channel, and a shallow sea floor before the water reaches shore.
The open water marvels shown on this drawing of Ungava Bay were derived from Fig. 7 of The Frozen Echo by Seaver, 1996.
Fig. 7 is a view of Davis Strait from a satellite photograph by ESSA-VIII in February 1995.
Fig. 7 was xeroxed directly from The Frozen Echo book. The Xerox was then scanned into PhotoShop and cropped to show only Ungava Bay. The open-water marvel detail was scaled to match the map above and aligned using Akpatok Island at the base point.
Finally the outlines of the open-water marvels, as shown by the satellite, were drawn onto the map.
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay is usually frozen six months of the year. From December to June the ice enables walking journeys from west Ungava Peninsula shores to the west and east coasts of James Bay. A similar journey, by boat in the summer, would be plagued by swarms of mosquitos and flies.
For twenty-seven years during the Little Ice Age Hudson Bay would have had open water for only two months in the summer. For a few years Hudson Bay might have been frozen year around. No known open water marvels exist in Hudson Bay. The tidal surge is more sedate than on the east coast of Ungava Peninsula.
James Bay
Jesuit Albanel was one of the first Frenchman to reach James Bay. His description of James Bay is summarized below. (JRAD, 1953)
The southern sump of James Bay is the body of water farthest south in Hudson Bay. The western side of James Bay is swampy. Although the ebb and flow of the tide occurs at the south end of James Bay, the area can be described as "land-locked" water. Rivers retain fresh water at their mouths, and fresh water extends for a long distance into the bay.
The sea water recedes a great distance at low tide. (Albanel estimated the distance to be over forty miles.) In the vast area where the water left, all that could be seen was mud and rocks with most of the surface clear of water. At low tides the rivers, flowing out over the mud and becoming lost in the mud, could not float canoes.
Comment: The open-water effect is created by different circumstances than a surging tidal flow. The climate at south James Bay is 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than Hudson Bay. Warm weather systems sweeping off the plains of North America pass over southern James Bay. Streams, running under the snow, add warmer water to the south tip of the bay. Wild animals, birds, and plants leave a residue of manure, feathers, leaves and shattered vegetation on the ice which catch the sun's warmth. The cumulative effect of these factors is to slow the freezing and speed the thawing of the water at the south tip of James Bay.
Blonds
Charles Earl Funk wrote a foreword to Sherwin's The Viking and the Red Men on February 1940. He wrote "the tribe of 'white Indians,' some with 'fair hair and gray eyes,' said to be still inhabiting the west shore of James Bay and speaking a Cree dialect, has also been advanced as such an indication" [of Norse settlement.] (Sherwin, 1940)
Saglok
Saglok is found on modern maps. An "Indian" word with an Old Norse translation, along a coast where maps show English names for most other places, is an interesting oddity. "Saglok" is a combined word from Norse "Sagn" meaning "tradition (knowledge)" and "lokke" meaning "decoy (false) ". The name could mean "false knowledge."
The Viking men had been carried away from Leif's huts, because the outgoing "Indrawing Sea" floated Torfinn Karlsevne's ships onto the Labrador coast. The place was at the correct latitude. The Vikings could determine latitude to within thirty miles. Leif's description of Leif's River appeared to match Struamsfjord, but Leif's huts were not there. So, three years later, the defeated, disparing, departing Vikings may have labeled the location as "false knowledge."
Merica
Merica may have derived from "Marrike"
"Marrike" is a combination of "Marr" meaning, "Sea", and "Rike" meaning, "land".
"Ocean Lands" was a name for the lands in the oceans west of Greenland. (Stromsted, 1973)
Comment: Ptolemy's map of the world, made in the second century, shows a "Serica" on the north coast of China. A 15 th century map prepared by Bartholomew Columbus shows "Serica" as the northern area of the "Mondo Novo" above the portion labeled "Asia."
Chistopher Columbus may have been a crew member on Johannes Skolp's ship that sailed into Davis Strait in 1476. There is no way to determine if Columbus heard "Merica," and thus thought he was near "Serica" or if his brother simply copied Serica along with other names from the second century map.
While a change from "M" to "S" is rare, these two sounds do occur in front of the mouth. The transformation is possible. "Merica" spoken by the local people may have sounded like "Serica" to Columbus' ear that was striving to hear names from Asia.
Norumvege
"Nor" is the name of an ancient king. The story of King Nor is in the "Orkney Saga".
King Nor came from east (Russia/Finland) and conquered the land along the Norwegian coast. This land was later known as Norvege, meaning, "Nor's way."
Later on the country was split up into many small states, until Harald Luva collected the states again in c970, and made Norway one state.
"Norumvege" is equivalent to "Norvege". "Um (om)" means ,"of," so the original name may have meant "of Norvege."
Norumvege was a real place for the Jesuits in Arcadia. They mentioned the name many times as a place in the neighborhood and used the location of Norumvege as a basis for directions. The location was across the bay from Port Royal, Nova Scotia. The center of Norumvege was somewhere between St. John's River and the Kennebec River.
The few Norse ships that sailed west after 1263 did not stop at Greenland. Using a latitude device and sun compass for navigation, they sailed on the East Greenland Current westward into the Labrador Current. Then, they coasted south past Newfoundland and Nova Scotia until they could swing north into the ice-free ports of Norumvege. Returning from Norumvege was relatively easy. Ships caught a wind across the Labrador Current to the Gulf Stream. Then, even if a decent wind never came again, the ships had a free, but maybe slow, ride home.
Akomen
The people in the Walam Olum were going to a land called "Akomen." (Brinton, 1885)
The Native American Place Names in Massachusetts has these listings:
"Accomac, early place name of Plymouth, means 'land on the other side, or beyond the water.'"
"Accomemeck, of which Massassoit was sachem. (Douglas-Lithgow, 1909/2001)
"Accomemeck" may have been derived from "Haakon's man aki" where Haakon Haakonson IV was the king of Norway, "man" is the Norse word for "people." and "aki" is the Old Norse word for "land."
"Accomac" is a shortened version of "Accomeneck."
There are many examples in Norse where a long phrase is shortened with repeated use. Accom- words are also found in Nanticoke, Shawnee, Mahican, and Leni Lenape name listings in the Handbook of North American Indians. (HNAI, 1978)
When the Europeans came, "Nause" people lived in "Accomac" near Plymouth. "Nause" people also lived in "Accomac" on the Delaware Peninsula. Pocahontas was a priestess to the Tsenaccomacah people. ("Tjene" in the modern Norse dictionary means, "serve.")
Akonsee
"Akonsee" was derived from "Haakon's See." "See" (Latin) is a bishop's district. In 1524 Verrazano stayed in a "Norman villa" in "Agonsee." (Stromsted, 1974)
Comment: Records during King Haakon Haakonson IV's reign are rare. He may have had the time to come to Akonsee first in 1247, when he had finally secured the throne from his competitors. King Haakon may have had the western trip already planned when the Pope offered him a naval commander position. He is recorded as having turned down a crusade role as overall naval commander. The stone tower in Newark, Rhode Island may have been constructed at King Haakon's command. King Haakon may have returned to Haakon's See (Akonsee) in 1260. His daughter had been married the year before. Greenland and Iceland agreed to become subject to Norway in 1261 and 1262. A large naval fleet, arriving at the lands, may have inspired those agreements. King Haakon's fleet may have visited Akomac first in 1260.
back to topSt. Jean's Lake
St. Jean's Lake is the French name for the lake which was the summaer gathering place of the Algonquin people. In summer, tepees dominated the horizon. The lake became the summering place of villages from the James Bay shores and the Gaspé region. On the plain beside the lake stood the tepees of seventeen tribes each with their own cluster of family clans.
The families from southeast James Bay rowed eastward up the Nemiskou river. Then, portaging southeast, they crossed a divide and followed the water to St. Jean's Lake. The families from the Gaspé region on the St. Lawrence rowed up the Saguenay River.
Cartier tried, and failded, to reach the "Kingdom of Le Saugenay" north of the Hoxhelaga River , which he renamed to be the St. Lawrence.
Eastman
Eastmain (Eastman) is an area on the east shore of James Bay. The Eastmain River of today used to be the Slood (sleet) River of the Algonquins. The Eastmain name appears during descriptions in Hudson Bay books as if Eastmain was a known location as opposed to men building a trading station and naming it, usually for Englishmen.
The Christian Albans, who originally came from Scotland via Iceland and Greenland, may have intermarried with the infiltrating, Christian Norse hunters to produce the "Indian" physique of Northeast America. Algonquin (Algån kin) and Abanaki.(Aban Land) are verbal clues indicating Alban roots.
Jesuit Albanel also provides tantalizing, but not conclusive, support for this conjecture. In the seventeenth century he describes the unexpected yearning of the people in the southwest James Bay Region to be baptized. (JRAD, Vol. LVI, CXXVIII)
Kanal Dal
"Canada" may have derived from the Norse words "KANAL DAL" Modern Norse dictionaries define "kanal" as, "channel" and "dal" as, "valley. A common linguistic alteration is to drop the trailing "l". So the first French in America may have heard the local people say "Kana da."
The Iroquois people, especially the Mohawks, say a similar word "Canata" to mean town. Which came first, the region name or the word for a town, is difficult to determine. However, Cartier wrote about the region of "Kana da" which meant, "the river valley" before he encountered Iroquois speakers.
Micmac
"Micmac" is derived from the Old Norse words " meget myrkt " meaning "much black."
Farley Mowat proposed that the Albans including the Micmac, a people having black hair and eyes, fled to America ahead of the Vikings. (Mowat, 1998/2000)
A supplemental hypothesis is that when the Albans fled from Iceland, they sailed in two directions. Some of the Albans, may have sailed to northern Norway where they remain today as the Sami (Laplanders). The Sami wear black clothes tailored similar the Micmac.
Barry Fell and others have examined the ancient Micmac symbols. They propose that the origin of the Micmac may be Egyptian. Perhaps an old culture of Egyptian ancestors overlaid with younger Alban ancestors might describe the historic Micmac culture. Whatever the case, the Old Norse saw the people as having " meget myrkt "
Michigamme
Michigamme (Michigan) is the "middle lake basin." "Mi" means, "middle". "Chi" is derived from "sjø", which means "lake", "gumme" means, "basin".
Michigamme is the lake lying in the middle, or between, Ki-chi-gamme ("Ki" means, "great") and the other big lake to the east of Michigamme, which was named by the French after the Huron tribes, who lived on the north shore. (Sherwin, 1940)
The Lenape Indians, and their associated tribes, have stories that they did migrate through Michigan. Hyde suggests there was a tribal division after leaving Michigan, with some Lenape tribes moving east. Other tribes went further south into Ohio before turning toward the east. (Hyde, 1962)
Comment: Michigamme may have been relatively unoccupied when the Algonquins passed through. Even in colonial times Michigamme was under populated. Excavations have revealed evidence of traumatic destruction of villages. Hyde reports that the wolfpacks ate their way through Ohio. They may have done the same in Michigamme. (Hyde, 1962)
"Wolfpacks" refers to a group of people different than the Algonquins who surrounded them. Hyde described the people, who ate their way across Ohio, as behaving similar to wolfpacks. The wolfpacks may also have eaten the people of Michigamme. Strong circumstantial evidence supports that hypothesis. Locations in Michigan reveal buried trauma.
Modern history books state that Michigan was under populated when the Europeans arrived. The fear of aggression by the wolfpacks was the main concern of the Algonquins, so "Wolfpacks" is used in this web site rather than the modern names of the people.
For those interested enough to research further, the modern names of the wolfpack people should be immediately recognizable by their location south of Lake Ontario. Adams, 1951, Coulter, 1993, Hyde, 1962, and Morison, 1972 all testify to the reality of the fear of aggression from the wolfpacks into historic times.