Are There Scandinavian-Style Iron-Rich Bogs in Labrador, and Could They Prompt Norse Settlement?

Are there iron-rich peat bogs on the Labrador Coast? If, as many scholars think, the "Markland" where the Greenlandic Vikings got their timber was northern Labrador, could a realization that the area contained both iron-rich peat, and the lumber needed for smelting it into metallic iron, prompt settlement? Would the Dorsets who then inhabited the area have been able to resist Viking incursions? Would the presence of such a colony eventually generate enough epidemics to render the Upper Atlantic Seaboard easy pickings?
 
Simply, Yes...

Iron ore roasting furnace was, AFAIK, discovered at l'Anse aux Meadows site. Bog-iron-ore is widespread in anaerobic bogland and was a major source of Viking-Age iron. Only problem is that it has to be roasted before smelting, to remove water and some impurities. Wikipedia has some interesting information on this - mostly iron hydroxides concentrated by anaerobic bacteria - and the AAM site was an archaeological example, as may be Point Rosee.
 
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Actually, the bog iron bogs were, IIRC, on the island (Newfoundland), but there's certainly enough trees there for charcoal making on that scale. As Corditeman pointed out, they made their own iron at L'Anse aux Meadows.
 
Simply, Yes...

Iron ore roasting furnace was, AFAIK, discovered at l'Anse aux Meadows site. Bog-iron-ore is widespread in anaerobic bogland and was a major source of Viking-Age iron. Only problem is that it has to be roasted before smelting, to remove water and some impurities. Wikipedia has some interesting information on this - mostly iron hydroxides concentrated by anaerobic bacteria - and the AAM site was an archaeological example, as may be Point Rosee.

Actually, the bog iron bogs were, IIRC, on the island (Newfoundland), but there's certainly enough trees there for charcoal making on that scale. As Corditeman pointed out, they made their own iron at L'Anse aux Meadows.

Thank you for your replies. I did mean Labrador itself. As for why just Labrador, the Beothuk natives in Newfoundland were numerous and advanced enough to chase the Vikings out, while the less populous and more technologically primitive Dorset people inhabiting the northern Labrador coast until the 14th Century were unable to resist the annual Viking timber expeditions.
 
Thank you for your replies. I did mean Labrador itself. As for why just Labrador, the Beothuk natives in Newfoundland were numerous and advanced enough to chase the Vikings out, while the less populous and more technologically primitive Dorset people inhabiting the northern Labrador coast until the 14th Century were unable to resist the annual Viking timber expeditions.
Actually, the Beothuk were the least advanced nation in North America. They didn't have pottery, for instance.
There's a reasonable theory that the Skraelings they met were Dorset culture Eskimos (the preceding culture to the Thule culture Inuit who hadn't come this far east yet).
 
Actually, the Beothuk were the least advanced nation in North America. They didn't have pottery, for instance.
There's a reasonable theory that the Skraelings they met were Dorset culture Eskimos (the preceding culture to the Thule culture Inuit who hadn't come this far east yet).
Well, the natives of Newfoundland-whoever they were- were able to make the Norse give up. The people of Northern Labrador weren't able to prevent the Norse from taking their timber for centuries. It's unlikely that relations between the Norse and Labradorians were better than those between the Norse and Newfoundlanders, as the Norse were uniformly hostile to Amerindians. It follows that, if the reason that the Norse were able to obtain lumber from Labrador wasn't mutually advantageous trading, then the Norse were somehow more able to resist Labradorite resistance than Newfoundlander. It may very well be that the people on both Labrador and Newfoundland were Dorset at the time, with the Newfoundland group simply having increased in population and power with a benign environment. However, something caused the people in Newfoundland to be unable to resist the Norse.
 
Lumbering expeditions may be a bunch of guys who come by a ship and operate for a limited time in a limited area. Odds are they won't meet any natives, and if they do they are an armed group with some numbers. Why take timber from Labrador instead of Newfoundland? It's closer.
 
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