Vikings Settled In North America As Early As 1021, Researchers Say

RECONSTITUTION D' HABITTATIONS VIKINGS, ANSE-AUX-MEADOWS, TERRE-NEUVE, CANADA

Photo: Getty Images

New research has dated Viking ruins in Canada’s Newfoundland to 1021. While archeologists have known that Vikings had settled in North America hundreds of years before European explorers ventured across the Atlantic Ocean and reached the shores of North America, they had never been able to pinpoint exactly when they arrived.

new study published in Nature provides evidence that around 100 men and women settled at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland 1,000 years ago.

“This is the first time the date has been scientifically established,” said archaeologist Margot Kuitems, a researcher at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and the study’s lead author.

“Previously, the date was based only on sagas — oral histories that were only written down in the 13th century, at least 200 years after the events they described took place,” she said.

In order to build their new settlement and repair their ships, the Vikings had to cut down trees in the area. The researchers noted that a burst of cosmic radiation, possibly from a solar storm, hit the Earth in the year 993. Evidence of the storm can be found in tree rings, and researchers used that as a starting date to count the rings on the felled trees. After examining three different pieces of wood, they determined all three were cut down in 1021 using metal tools.

Researchers believe that the Vikings only stayed there for between three and 13 years before they returned to Greenland. The study authors are planning to continue their work and determine exactly how long the Vikings were at L’Anse aux Meadows.


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