PRIMATIVE AMERICAN ARMOR

aiontay · 3rd September 2009, 12:05 AM

Pallas,

I've read that part of the reason the New World was relatively disease free is that the cold temperatures of Beringia killed most germs, viruses etc. Assuming this is true, then maybe the Norse, coming via Greenland would have been relatively disease free.

fearn · 3rd September 2009, 03:09 AM

Hi Aiontay,

The Western Hemisphere has all sorts of indigenous diseases. What was missing in Beringia wasn't diseases, it was the ability to spread quickly. If someone in a hunter-gatherer band falls sick (say, he picked up influenza from a migratory duck he shot for dinner) then the worst that could happen is that he and his family would die. Others would be unaffected, and a potentially lethal epidemic would fizzle. That kind of disease screen showed up all over the world, including Polynesia, Australia, and so forth. Diseases hit hard there too.

As for why the Norse didn't bring anything with them, I think Pallas might be onto something, in that they happened to voyage at a time when there weren't massive epidemics scudding around. So far as I know, the Black Death made it into Scandanavia, and, well, we all suffer from influenza in cold weather. Cold isn't necessarily a barrier to disease.

F

3rd September 2009, 12:05 AM	#1
aiontay Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 88	Pallas, I've read that part of the reason the New World was relatively disease free is that the cold temperatures of Beringia killed most germs, viruses etc. Assuming this is true, then maybe the Norse, coming via Greenland would have been relatively disease free.

3rd September 2009, 03:09 AM	#2
fearn Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 1,247	Hi Aiontay, The Western Hemisphere has all sorts of indigenous diseases. What was missing in Beringia wasn't diseases, it was the ability to spread quickly. If someone in a hunter-gatherer band falls sick (say, he picked up influenza from a migratory duck he shot for dinner) then the worst that could happen is that he and his family would die. Others would be unaffected, and a potentially lethal epidemic would fizzle. That kind of disease screen showed up all over the world, including Polynesia, Australia, and so forth. Diseases hit hard there too. As for why the Norse didn't bring anything with them, I think Pallas might be onto something, in that they happened to voyage at a time when there weren't massive epidemics scudding around. So far as I know, the Black Death made it into Scandanavia, and, well, we all suffer from influenza in cold weather. Cold isn't necessarily a barrier to disease. F