Ciao, Columbus: Vikings crossed the Atlantic to Newfoundland 1,000 years ago
Posted October 21, 2021 4:00 pm.
Last Updated October 21, 2021 4:09 pm.
A new study of wooden artifacts left by Norse explorers at the famed L’Anse aux Meadows site in Newfoundland shows that Vikings lived in North America exactly 1,000 years ago.
Scientists say a new type of dating technique using a solar storm as a reference point revealed that the Norse settlement was occupied in the year 1021 A.D., five centuries before Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean.
The incredibly precise dating of the wood was achieved by examining growth rings for a once-in-a-millennium cosmic-ray event that showered the Earth in high energy particles. After scientists found the spike in the tree rings, they counted additional rings outside the mark to calculate the exact year that Vikings felled fir and juniper trees, as they explored the edge of the continent.
Microscope image of a wood fragment from the Norse layers at L’Anse aux Meadows. (Petra Doeve/Handout)
Archeologists first linked the site to Viking settlements when a small cloak pin was discovered in 1968. Subsequent discoveries helped prove Leif Erikson and crews of Norse explorers landed in Newfoundland, which they called Vinland.
L’Anse aux Meadows is recognized as a National Historic Site and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is the only authenticated Norse site in North America. The site is located 72 kilometres from Newfoundland’s St. Anthony airport.
