New research shows the Vikings were in Newfoundland exactly 1,000 years ago (Vikings score again!)

CBC Radio ^ | October 22, 2021

[dennisw]

Wood from three different trees cut by Vikings found at L'Anse aux Meadows been precisely dated to 1021 CE - 1,000 years ago this year.

The Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows, located at the tip of Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula, was discovered in the 1960s, but has never been precisely dated. Previous estimates about when the Viking crossed the Atlantic and made their way to present day Newfoundland and Labrador have been based on Norse sagas and radiocarbon dating that typically has an error margin of about 50 years. The best estimates put their arrival at around 990 at the earliest, and about 1050 at the latest.

Activity from the sun provided the clue to Viking presence

helps pinpoint an actual date that Vikings were active at L'anse Aux Meadows. A massive global solar storm was known to have occurred in 992. The storm of particles from the sun created a spike in radiocarbon that was absorbed by growing around the world trees over the following year.

This fact became very important when excavations of what is referred to as the Viking layer at L'anse Aux Meadows turned up three different samples of wood from three different trees. One was a stump, one was a log, and the third was a branch.

These artifacts were significant finds for two reasons. One is that they showed cut marks made by metal blades, specific to Vikings, not Indigenous stone blades. The second reason is that all three artifacts still had the outermost layer of the tree intact. All exhibited 29 growth rings from that outer layer back to the previously known solar storm ring. That enabled the archaeologists to assign the year 1021 to all three artifacts, the earliest possible year Vikings were actively cutting those trees at L'Anse aux Meadows.

[Seruzawa]

Slavers who practiced human sacrifice. Great role models. Lol.

[Steven Tyler]

Back in the day, Vikings had steel, natives had stone.
When Columbus landed, natives were still using stone. Natives had not got around to inventing the wheel

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks for the pings.

The rest of the L'Anse aux Meadows keyword, sorted:

• Were the Vikings Smoking Pot While Exploring Newfoundland? [07/28/2019]
• Discovery of Viking site in Canada could rewrite history [04/23/2019]
• Arctic people were spinning yarn before the Vikings arrived [08/01/2018]
• Ballast: Creating Cultural Connections Across Time and Space [03/20/2018]
• Archaeologists Closer to Finding Lost Viking Settlement [03/20/2018]
• The Mystery of Maine's Viking Penny [12/27/2017]
• View From Space Hints at a New Viking Site in North America [04/01/2016]
• Can You Dig It? More Evidence Suggests Humans From The Ice Age [02/28/2015]
• The Diffusionists Have Landed [02/22/2015]
• America's First Mass [Ecumenical] [05/18/2014]
• Spanish documents suggest Irish arrived in America before Columbus [05/14/2014]
• Happy 2013 Leif Erikson Day! [10/09/2013]
• New North America Viking Voyage Discovered [06/06/2013]
• Native Americans descended from three Asian groups: study [07/11/2012]
• 600-Year-Old American Indian Historical Account Has Old Norse Words [03/06/2011]
• Global Temperature Trends From 2500 B.C. To 2040 A.D. [Awesome chart] [03/04/2010]
• Scientists Behaving Badly [12/05/2009]
• Viking New England [from 1976, and it's not about the next Super Bowl] [11/23/2009]
• Ptolemy's Geography, America and Columbus: Ancient Greeks and why maybe America was discovered [09/25/2009]
• Vikings visited Canadian Arctic, research suggests: Artifacts suggest Norse settlement in Nunavut [09/16/2009]
• Newfoundland Viking Site Remarkable [05/24/2008]
• Tooth marks link Vikings, Indians [01/14/2006]
• What A Viking's Smile Revealed [01/08/2006]
• Legendary Viking home site found [10/07/2002]

[Vaduz]

New research shows the Vikings were in Newfoundland exactly 1,000 years ago.

The Cree waved at them as they neared.

[SuperLuminal]

Anyone watching the Vikings on TV knew that many years ago...

[Red Badger]

And Canada has gone down hill ever since...........

[Texan5]

The weather-not the natives-it got radically colder around 1000 AD-and the site in Greenland wasn’t a settlement in the sense of families farming, etc-it appears to be more of a port for ships to stop and get repairs done/get certain supplies, etc-no evidence of firewater or native interference-just frigid, windy climate...

[Texan5]

You just have to use your imagination-there weren’t any African Vikings-that is just PC nonsense, not historical fact...

[minnesota_bound]

Did they find any footballs the vikings left behind?
Dad to son: Time to mow the roof

[dennisw]

“The weather-not the natives-it got radically colder around 1000 AD-and the site in Greenland wasn’t a settlement in the sense of families farming”

But they were farming. The famous example is growing grapes. They were able to grow them until the climate turned cold in Grrenland.

Grapes to make wine, I assume. Viking need alcohol! And perhaps Greenland was not suitable for growing enough grain to make enough beer/alcohol etc ______ The grains (rye, barley and wheat) were used to make bread, would be the priority. Rye bread and fish is delicious and a Scandinavian favorite today._______ And maybe was a Viking Greenland staple. Fresh and dried smoked fish.

[Texan5]

When the Vikings got to Greenland, it was a lot warmer-but a little ice age came along-even port workers need something to drink-and grapes grow in soil with a ph lower than 7-but they don’t need a certain type of soil. Greenland isn’t exactly fertile, and grains need good soil to grow, so they probably would not have done well there, cold or no cold. Whatever climate problems there were, they were enough for the Vikings to get out of Dodge and set up shop someplace warmer and more fertile for growing things-probably someplace in coastal Canada, then to the most northern US-I’m sure they were familiar with that whole area by that time...