Those conditions did not make Greenland warm in a modern sense.

They may, however, have reduced some of the environmental difficulties facing settlers.

The later transition toward colder and more variable conditions is associated with what historians often call the Little Ice Age.

For decades, the popular story was almost irresistible: the Vikings arrived during a warm period, the climate cooled, and they froze.

Archaeological and paleoclimate research has complicated that story.

A 2022 study using lake sediments from southern Greenland found evidence for a long drying trend rather than a dramatic temperature collapse during the relevant settlement period.