Greenland’s rulers and landowners were not completely cut off from European politics and commerce.

But the colony’s apparent permanence could be deceptive.

A stone church can survive centuries after the society that built it disappears.

A turf farm can remain visible after its fields have returned to wilderness.

Archaeology often preserves architecture better than it preserves the social system that made the architecture possible.

The ruins therefore create an illusion of stability.

We see thick walls and imagine strength.

The people who lived there may have experienced something very different: dependence.