GREENLAND: When Norse settlers arrived in Greenland in the 10th century A.D., they needed wood for fuel, to make tools, and to build ships and houses. While the island has small native trees and a supply of driftwood, these sources didn’t always meet the demands of high-status colonists. Analysis of wood fragments found at the farmstead of Igaliku suggests that from the 11th to 15th century, wealthier Norse Greenlanders journeyed to North America to procure robust hemlock and jack pine logs for construction projects—further evidence that Vikings visited the continent centuries before Columbus.