1000 Year Old Viking Settlement in the Americas

The remains of a settlement on the windswept northern tip of Newfoundland reveals eight timber-framed structures that resemble Viking buildings in Greenland. Scientists now believe that this site, known as L’Anse aux Meadows, was inhabited by Vikings who came from Greenland.

A reconstruction of a Viking-age church at Norstead, Newfoundland, near the L’Anse aux Meadows, site of a settlement of Vikings who were present in 1021. Glenn Nagel Photography

By analyzing the imprint of a rare solar storm in tree rings from wood found at the Canadian site, scientists have decisively pinned down when Norse explorers were in Newfoundland: the year A.D. 1021, or exactly 1,000 years ago! This may have been the first time the Atlantic Ocean was crossed.

Dr. Dee and his colleagues analyzed three pieces of wood and each piece had been cleanly cut with a metal tool, perhaps an ax. That’s a giveaway this wood was cleaved by Vikings because the local people didn’t use metal tools.

You can read the original article at www.nytimes.com

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