By golly, that WAS a better job! :)

A quick ramble through old research shows a pretty even split among scholars on the question of why the Norse left Greenland. I think Wikipedia does a pretty good job of encapsulating what I've read. Interfighting amongst the Norse, the encroaching cold, the declining food, and fights with the other inhabitants of Greenland all appear to have played a part.

But you're right that the period of warming that coincided with the Norse adventures is pretty clearly directly responsible for their ability to maintain those colonies for as long as they did. And when the warm period went away, the Norse were not able to continue living on the island unless they were willing to adapt to the ways of the "other" Greenlanders . . . which they pretty clearly weren't.

So, I suppose there are lessons all over this story!

Herring405

PS: babies are cool