Viking settlement in Newfoundland dated to 1021

Hugh

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Well it looks like there's a definite date for the date some of the wood that was cut for their buildings.

Exactly a thousand years ago Viking seamen were cutting those trees down.

(Of course I guess they could have been their earlier.)

From today's Guardian:
A new type of dating technique using a long-ago solar storm as a reference point has revealed that the settlement was occupied in AD1021, exactly a millennium ago and 471 years before the first voyage of Columbus. The technique was used on three pieces of wood cut for the settlement, all pointing to the same year.

Interesting comment re the Sagas:
Oral histories called the Icelandic sagas depict a Viking presence in the Americas. Written down centuries later, they describe a leader named Leif Erikson and a settlement called Vinland, as well as violent and peaceful interactions with the local peoples, including capturing enslaved people.
The 1021 date roughly corresponds to the saga accounts, Dee said, adding: “Thus it begs the question, how much of the rest of the saga adventures are true?”


Here's the link:
 

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