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In 1596, a Dutch expedition reported the discovery of an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, halfway between Norway and the North Pole, surrounded by waters filled with enormous quantities of whale, walrus, and other species. The sailors’ testimonies prompted several of Europe’s greatest seafaring nations to send fleets northwards to discover this new land and explore its commercial opportunities. Whaling began on Svalbard soon after, growing into a lucrative industry over the next few centuries as demand increased for whale blubber (used for lamp oil and soap) and baleen (whalebone used to make corsets and parasols). But life was not easy for the men who procured these precious goods: many whalers died each year during the hunting season, and several large burial sites were established on Svalbard.
The majority of these sites are found in the area of Smeerenburgfjorden, in the Northwest Spitsbergen National Park, which is home to approximately 600 burials, spread over several different sites. The largest of these is Likneset, with 225 burials, but the sites of Ytre Norskøya, Jensenvatnet, and Smeerenburg also contain a considerable quantity of graves. In the 1980s, 96 of these graves were excavated, revealing exceptionally well-preserved human remains and textiles thanks to the cold, dry climate and permafrost of this Artic region. These discoveries are unique, as similar finds representing the ‘ordinary’ (male) population of Europe at this time have rarely survived elsewhere. However, new excavations at Likneset, conducted by the Governor of Svalbard in 2016 and 2019, have produced alarming evidence that preservation conditions may have deteriorated significantly since the 1980s.
Preservation problems
The climate is changing rapidly in Artic regions, leading to increasing destruction of unique and indispensable cultural heritage environments. In Svalbard, this is happening faster than anywhere else in the world. The archaeological material from the recent excavations – the first to be carried out here in three decades – therefore offers a valuable opportunity to evaluate the effects of climate change on the archaeological environments of Svalbard over the past 30-40 years. In my role as a researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU), I received a grant from the Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund to carry out new analysis of the skeletons that were excavated at Likneset during the period from 1985-1990. This was undertaken in cooperation with forensic anthropologist Elin T Brødholt, from the Forensic Pathology and Clinical Forensic Medicine department at Oslo University Hospital (OUS), with the goal of comparing the condition of these skeletons to those excavated from the same area in 2016-2019.
The results showed that almost all of the burials closest to the shoreline have suffered significant damage from erosion. As the graves began to slide down the hillside, many of the coffins started to collapse, gradually exposing the skeletal remains and textile material within to sediment, water, and oxygen. Surprisingly, apart from this erosion damage, it appears that the majority of the human remains from Likneset are still relatively well preserved. Most have retained some head and body hair, as well as the dried remains of skin, nails, soft tissue, and so forth. There are no visible differences, either, between the condition of the skeletons excavated in the 1980s and those excavated in 2016-2019. The same cannot be said for the textiles, however, which appear to be in much poorer condition than those excavated in the 1980s. This is believed to be due to the different material properties and the geological conditions in the field, and will be investigated in more detail at a later stage of the project. If these conditions are representative of archaeological sites on Svalbard in general, this has very serious consequences not just for the site in question, but for the whole region’s cultural heritage.
A hard life
The other aspect of the project involved uncovering a wealth of osteological data to provide new insights into the health and living conditions of the whalers and, at a broader level, the people of Europe in the Early Modern period.
The skeletons represent a group of men in the young/middle adult age categories, with the majority being young men aged 20-25. The average height is 173.3cm, which is significantly taller than the skeletons previously examined at Ytre Norskøya and Jensenvatnet. This may indicate that the cemetery at Likneset was used by groups with a higher socio-economic status than the other cemeteries. Despite this, traces of enamel hypoplasia were found in the teeth of 63% of the individuals, suggesting periodic illness and/or malnutrition during childhood. As many as 95% of the skeletons examined show clear signs of advanced scurvy.
Most of the skeletons have visible changes in the bones as a result of wear and tear caused by high levels of stress and trauma, suggesting that these men endured heavy physical work from a young age. A quarter of the individuals examined display specific bone changes in the clavicle, shoulder, and sternum consistent with extensive and repetitive upper body movements, which could potentially be used to identify occupational injuries among the whalers that relate to specific activities involving significant use of the upper body: perhaps rowing, paddling, or harpooning. One individual also has abnormal bone changes in the ear canal associated with irritation from prolonged exposure to cold wind and water.
These skeletons paint a harsh picture of the lives of these whalers, characterised by poverty, periods of malnutrition, and very hard work from an early age. However, ongoing analyses of both skeletal and textile material from Likneset, Ytre Norskøya, and Jensenvatnet reveal indications of socio-economic differentiation among the buried. The preliminary results show, among other things, that the different burial sites might have been used by different social groups, perhaps based on the whalers’ social status, occupation or role on the ship, or maybe according to the national affiliation of their employer. Isotope analyses of a selection of the skeletons from Likneset suggests that several of the individuals may be from the western Norwegian region, and that some might be of Dutch origin.
Research into these unique cultural heritage sites is ongoing, and there are plans for publication soon. In the years to come, we plan to use innovative GIS analysis to approach the complex datasets from the burial sites. We hope to expand the study with aDNA and isotope analysis, to gain more precise data about the whalers’ origins and diets.
