The Norse in Vinland
The Atlantic crossed in 1021, and then given up
See it on the timeline →In depth
Vinland is the name the Norse gave the land they found west of Greenland, and L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland is the one settlement that has been found again. L'Anse aux Meadows is the only confirmed Norse site in the Americas, and its discovery in 1960 settled a question the sagas had raised for centuries. The date of 1021 is unusually precise because a cosmic ray event in 993 left a global marker in tree rings, letting each ring be counted from there. That the settlement was abandoned is the historically interesting part: the distance was too great, the party too small, and the resistance from people already living there too strong.
For children
Norse from Greenland sailed to Newfoundland and built houses there. In 2021 researchers dated the timber exactly to the year 1021, using a solar storm signal in the tree rings. They stayed only a few years before leaving again.
Sources
- Kuitems m.fl., Nature 601 (2022) — dateringen til år 1021
- UNESCO verdensarv: L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site
Connects to
Report a correction
Found something that does not hold? Tell us — sources help, but are not required.
Report a correctionPart of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org ·