Legend has it that the Viking Erik the Red sailed to Greenland around 985 A.D., while in temporary exile from his Iceland home for homicide. He returned to Iceland with fabulous tales of pastures and a valuable wild animals in a land he named Greenland. Twenty-five boats with some 500 people are said to have returned with him, eventually building two settlements on the big island. The exact details are lost to history, but the outlines of this story has been proven true by archeologists this century who have excavated Viking remains at two sites on Greenland's west coast. Greenland's two outposts together had about 2,500 inhabitants. For more than 400 years they lived primarily on meat and milk from sheep, goats and cows. For wood and iron implements they traded polar bear and caribou skins and walrus hides and tusks. They launched at least one expedition to North America, landing in modern-day Newfoundland and setting up a short-lived colony. But for a variety of reasons, probably including the devastation of the Plague in Europe and a waning interest in Greenland's luxury products, the settlements lost touch with the old country. The last known record of the Greenland Vikings was in 1408, when a traveler reported a wedding there. Several centuries later, in 1721, Hans Egede, a Norwegian-born missionary sought out the colonies. To his surprise, they were gone, a mystery that remains unsolved to this day. Researchers and history buffs have offered many possible explanations for the disappearance of the Greenland Vikings, including raids by Inuit or European pirates, assimilation into Inuit communities and starvation. Many modern archeologists believe that climate change played a role. Recent studies of ice cores from Greenland show that the 15th century, when the colonies probably died out, was a period of climate deterioration across the Atlantic. But these researchers say their explanation must be more nuanced than simply: "it got cold and they died." For starters, that wouldn't explain why the Inuit survived these lean years. Jette Arneborg of the National Museum of Denmark says the explanation of what happened to Greenland's Vikings must take into account both change in the Vikings' climate and stability in the Viking culture.

	Jette Arneborg There are many theories about the disappearance of Viking settlements in Greenland. Jette Arneborg explains one theory. Viking Trash A Viking garbage pile, or midden, was a central focus of an archeological dig this summer. Many animal bones and several human-made artifacts were recovered in a season of work. Viking Clothing See a photogallery of viking clothing and remnants of several viking ships. Viking Ships Viking ships are rugged vessels, designed to traverse rough seas. See a photogallery of replica Viking ships. Max Vinner The far flung exploits of the Vikings were made possible by their sturdy, efficient ships. Historians have long been interested in what and how these long-past mariners sailed. Max Vinner, ship historian and author took part in a round-the-world test of a Viking-ship replica in 1984. Here, he discusses the ocean-going "knarr" style Viking ship and his experiencesailing one from Iceland to Greenland. Ship Building Viking ships are complicated vessels made with primitive tools. See a photogallery of the craft and work that go into building a Viking ship.