An ancient cosmic ray event has helped archaeologists pinpoint the date more precisely.
Amazing find.
Imagine vikings and native Americans encountering each other for the first time
Centuries before Christopher Columbus stumbled across the Bahamas, the Vikings established a beachhead at L’Anse Aux Meadows, a site on the northern peninsula of what is now Newfoundland, Canada.
A recent study narrows down the date of the Norse arrival in North America to as early as 1021 CE, based on scraps of discarded wood from the site and with help from the aftermath of an ancient solar storm.
and they still managed to lose to the Packers twice that year.
OK so to summarize:
* They found some wood on a site in Newfoundland
* The wood was from trees that had been cut down on site
* They saw that the cross-section of the wood contained growth rings that could be pinpointed to the year 993 CE, due to an unusual solar event that year being observable in the growth rings
* They also saw the wood had 28 more growth rings before reaching the bark layer, meaning that the trees had been cut down in 1021 CE
* This means that the Vikings had been there in 1021 CE and had cut down these trees
* They could also tell from the cells at the outermost ring that one tree had been cut down in the spring while another had been cut down either in summer or autumn, while the third was impossible to tell due to damage.
Correct me if I’m wrong on any of this.
It’s weird that they use the phrase “as early as 1021”. In Denmark, the Viking Age is set to end at around 1050, so this would have been quite late in the period.
I’ll just mention Greenland is also North America and settled earlier. People seem to forget that part.
And then they died for some reason
How come the Vikings did not spread illnesses from EuroAsia and few centuries later people did?
12 comments
An ancient cosmic ray event has helped archaeologists pinpoint the date more precisely.
Amazing find.
Imagine vikings and native Americans encountering each other for the first time
Centuries before Christopher Columbus stumbled across the Bahamas, the Vikings established a beachhead at L’Anse Aux Meadows, a site on the northern peninsula of what is now Newfoundland, Canada.
A recent study narrows down the date of the Norse arrival in North America to as early as 1021 CE, based on scraps of discarded wood from the site and with help from the aftermath of an ancient solar storm.
and they still managed to lose to the Packers twice that year.
OK so to summarize:
* They found some wood on a site in Newfoundland
* The wood was from trees that had been cut down on site
* They saw that the cross-section of the wood contained growth rings that could be pinpointed to the year 993 CE, due to an unusual solar event that year being observable in the growth rings
* They also saw the wood had 28 more growth rings before reaching the bark layer, meaning that the trees had been cut down in 1021 CE
* This means that the Vikings had been there in 1021 CE and had cut down these trees
* They could also tell from the cells at the outermost ring that one tree had been cut down in the spring while another had been cut down either in summer or autumn, while the third was impossible to tell due to damage.
Correct me if I’m wrong on any of this.
It’s weird that they use the phrase “as early as 1021”. In Denmark, the Viking Age is set to end at around 1050, so this would have been quite late in the period.
I’ll just mention Greenland is also North America and settled earlier. People seem to forget that part.
And then they died for some reason
How come the Vikings did not spread illnesses from EuroAsia and few centuries later people did?
But but but Colombus Day…..
Cant wait for HBO’s American Vikings!
Also before that