Finding Vinland

The Sagas Continued

for

Anne & Helgewho lead the way

Norway

Home of the Vikings

It’s easy to understand why Norwegians have always been attracted to the open sea! With limited land available for farming, the first Vikings set out from the fjords of west central Norway with “a wild, pagan energy; driving them to explore, colonize and trade in lands beyond the horizon,” according to Norwegian historian, Ann Mette Heindorff.

These “devils from the sea,” as the English author Henry Wadsworth Longfellow described them, were

not merely warriors though. Most Vikings lived peacefully - farming, fishing and hunting.

The many chiefdoms throughout Norway controlled resources and trade both at home and overseas. Viking

chiefs were skillfull organizers, effective military leaders and great explorers. Their conquests and discoveries would stretch the boundaries of the known world and

would lead the way for others later, including Christopher Columbus, John Cabot and Jacques Cartier.

KaupangVestfold, Norway

900 A.D.

BirkaStockholm, Sweden

900 A.D.

Other Viking Era Sites in Norway

In Search of New Lands

One of the greatest Viking pioneers in its Golden Age of Discovery (800 A.D. to 1250 A.D.) was Skalla-Grimr Kveldulfsson and his son, Egil Skallagrimsson – who were from west central

Norway. They would venture west across the open sea to Iceland. Their adventures would

become part of the great Norse Sagas.

In Iceland they would meet other Norwegians who would press on to Greenland, and from there, the New World. These included the great Erik the Red and his son, Leif Erikson, who discovered,

and established a colony in Vinland.

The New World

First discovered 15 years before, Leif Erikson ventured west from Greenland at the beginning of the 10th Century A.D. in search of new lands to colonize.

He first passed a land of ice and rock, Helluland – today’s Baffin Island.

Next, he encountered a wooded land; Markland – modern day Labrador.

Eventually he reached a land of grassy meadows, containing rivers full of salmon and

enough other resources to support his colony, including berries to make wine from. He named his colony for these, calling it Vinland.

Most believe it to be the island of Newfoundland.

Vineland

A Viking Paradise!

L’Anse Aux Meadows

In the spring of 1960 a husband and wife team from Norway, Helge Ingstad and Anne Stine Ingstad,

found ruins on the north coast of Newfoundland. Islanders assumed that they were the remains of an

ancient Indian camp, but they were wrong!

In the first excavation season, six houses were identified as being of Norse origin, the largest

being 60 ft. long and containing several rooms. Radiocarbon dating put the site at 1080 (+/- 70) A.D.

Over the next several summers an international team excavated the site. The remains of more buildings were

uncovered. They also found many unique artifacts.

Iron nodules were found along with lumps of iron slag: evidence of the Viking colonists producing a form of

metal called “bog iron.” This process had been developed in Europe and dates back to 2000 B.C.

In 1964 several small household items were dug up. These included a stone lamp, a whetstone (for

sharpening utensils), but most importantly, a stone Norse-style spindle-whorl. This would have been used

exclusively by women for making fabric.

UNESCO World Heritage SiteIn the 1970s Parks Canada recreated what the Norse

community at L’anse Aux Meadows would have looked like. Today, tourists can visit there and

experience, first-hand, what it would have been like to be a Viking colonist or New World explorer.

L’Anse Aux Meadows is the only Viking settlement to be discovered in North America. But, is it Vinland?

The sailing directions giving in the Sagas suggest that Newfoundland was Vinland, but L’Anse Aux

Meadows hardly fits the descriptions given.

The Sagas speak of a land of lush vegetation, capable of growing crops like wheat. Likewise, they

speak of another valuable natural resource important to the Vikings, both for use in its colony and for export

back to Greenland and Iceland; forests for timber!

The sagas tell of at least four separate voyages from Greenland to the Viking New World. In fact, Leif Erikson’s brother, Thorvald, is said to have been the first European buried in North America. He died from being struck by an arrow during a battle with “Skraelings,” the local natives.

And, Eric’s brother-in-law, Thorfinn Karlsefni, is said to have lead an expedition which established two settlements, one near a lake. With Thorfinn came his wife, Gudrid, and other settlers from both Iceland and Greenland, including several women,

who also brought livestock with them, according to the Sagas.

But, no evidence of domesticated animals has ever been found at L’Anse Aux Meadows,

which is situated on an exposed headland.

The archaeological evidence at L’Anse Aux Meadows points to a small settlement that supported

no more than 75 people for less than 10 years.

The Ingstads believed that it was Leif Erickson’s camp.

Today, experts generally agree that it was probably a base camp for repairing and maintaining Viking ships. It’s

also easy to find, making it the perfect “gateway” community for Vikings arriving in the New World.

The question then is were there other colonies? And, if so, is there any archaeological

evidence of their existence.

The Arctic

Evidence of Viking occupation in North America has been reported since the arrival of Europeans on its shores.

However, hard proof of this has been difficult to come by.

But, in recent years archaeologists have discovered Viking sites in the High Arctic. A stone inscribed with Norse runes was discovered on Kingigtorssuaq

Island, Greenland, just below 73 degrees North.

Viking artifacts have also been discovered on Canada’s Ellesmere Island - as far up as 79 degrees North. These included a decorated barrel bottom, an iron rivet from a

boat, pieces of woolen cloth and even a bit of chain mail.

A Inuit artifact was also found at Lake Harbour on Baffin Island. It’s a wooden carving, believed to depict a

Norseman wearing a “strut-hette,” a foot-length man’s robe made of wool – which was popular in the

Middle Ages.

A number of these were recovered, along with their wearers, in the permafrost, at the cemetery of

Herjolfsnes Church in Greenland.

Helge Ingstad speculated that the unique Inuit art object depicted a New World colonist and

not a Norse mariner or hunter.

The Other Side of the World!

The Near East

Viking sites and monuments have been reported in other parts of North America,

from the coast of Maine to the Gulf of Mexico.

Probable New World sites

Newfoundland

Thorvard & Freydis

Nova Scotia

Thorvald’s Grave

Thorvald died while exploring Vinland, the Sagas say. He and his men are said to have landed at a place

which was so beautiful that Thorvald wanted to build a farm and remain there for the rest of his life. The site was at a headland between the mouth of two

fjords.

But, the Skraelings swarmed down one of the fjords towards Thorvald’s party and a terrific

battle ensued. Before he died though Thorvald commanded his men to bury him on the spot

and to establish a colony there, the Sagas say.

Coincidentally, modern-day Kelly’s Mountain on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, is also the traditional

home of the Mi’kmaw. Their legends tell of a creator, Glooscape, who was a foreigner; but lived with them,

teaching many things, before leaving for a far off land.

In recent years, a Canadian author has claimed that stone ruins found on top of Kelly’s Mountain are, in fact,

Chinese from the 15th Century, following the success of the book, 1421: The Year China Discovered the World.

The Mi’kmaw are unique amongst the peoples of the Americas, both in their traditions and dress. Prior to

the arrival of Europeans, they had a written language of symbols, which some say resembles ancient Norse.

English and French historical records show no occupation of the headland by

Europeans prior to the 18th Century.

Archaeologists from the Province of Nova Scotia have stated that there are no

man-made features on Kelly’s Mountain.

However, this doesn’t explain the large quantities of rocks which exhibit unusual “cleavage.”

Geologists use this term to describe how rocks break apart due to geological processes.

Cleavage at right-angles is very unusual in nature!

The Vikings were very adept at using rock to build structures at their colonies in both Iceland

and Greenland, such as Hvalsey Church.

New Brunswick

Thorfinn & Gudrid

Oklahoma

Near the town of Heavener, Oklahoma, stands a slab of rock, “the Heavener Runestone,” with what, some believe, are Norse runes carved on it. Originally named,

“Indian Rock,” it was known to the local Choctaw Indians and was first seen by white settlers in the 1830s. In 1970 the Runestone State Park was created

by the State of Oklahoma to protect the monument.

In 1923 the Smithsonian Institution identified the letters as being Norse runes. Since then, a number of different experts have dated the message as being written between 750 A.D. and 1012 A.D.

Texas

In 1993 noted history professor, Dr. Valentine Belfiglio, from

Texas Women’s University, at Denton, put forward the theory

that a Roman shipwreck had been discovered at Galveston.

His source, an article from an 1886 newspaper; which stated that an

unusual shipwreck had been discovered there, “composed of the most massive and solid oak, six or seven inches in thickness, and the pieces laid crosswise over each

other, secured with iron spikes.”

The ship was reported to have been 15 feet wide.

Dr. Belfiglio theorized that ancient Romans traveled across the Gulf of Mexico and entered Galveston Bay, which the Trinity River flows into.

He also pointed out that Roman coins are reported to have been

found in an Indian burial mound at Round Rock, Texas. These are

reported to date to 800 A.D.

An otherwise distinguished scholar and historian, Dr. Belfiglio has largely been ridiculed for his

“Roman ideas!”

Interestingly, the Trinity River flows north through Dallas and into

Lake Texoma on the border with Oklahoma.

Lake Texoma is southwest of Heavener!

Heavener can also be reached from the Gulf of Mexico by traveling up the Mississippi River, and its tributaries,

to the Arkansas River, and then, the Poteau River.

The Sea Stallion is a reconstruction of a 30-meter Viking longship, modeled after the largest of five Viking ships discovered at Skuldelev in Roskild Fjord, Denmark,

in 1957. The original ship was constructed in 1042 A.D.

Sea Stallion sailed from Denmark to Ireland in July and August, 2007. It was built using the same tools and techniques the Vikings used and took four years to build. Three hundred oak trees were used, along

with 7,000 iron nails and 112 square meters of sail.

When it first sailed, the Sea Stallion displaced 25 tons, was equipped with 60 oars and had a crew of 80. It’s average speed was 6 knots, but could manage a top speed, under full sail, of 20 knots. It displaced less

than a meter of water. And, it’s only 4 meters wide!

Maine

The Goddard Norse CoinFound at Penobscot Bay, Maine, (near the

New Brunswick border) in 1957 during the archaeological excavation of a Native American site, possibly the largest native settlement in

the area of Maine 600 to 900 years ago.

The coin, a Norse Penny, minted in Norway and issued during the first half of King Olaf Kyrre’s reign (A.D.

1065 to 1080), is considered to be authentic. But, because no other Norse artifacts were discovered at the

site it’s believed that the coin’s presence there is due to it being obtained by natives from

somewhere else. And, it eventually ended up where it did through trade.

Massachusetts

Roman CoinsA number of early Roman coins from the 4th Century A.D. have also been found to the south, from several sites around Beverly, near Cape Ann, Massachusetts.

Some believe that they are from a Roman shipwreck located off the coast nearby.

But, could it have been a Viking ship?

Ancient Old World coins have been reported found across the United States in Indian burial mounds, on farms and

homesteads, in river beds, from the bottom of wells and at building sites - mostly during the 19th Century.

The Return Home

Around 1250 A.D. North America’s climate got colder. A lot colder!

This was due to, what Climatologists call Medieval Glaciation (1200 A.D. to 1460 A.D.) – which proceeded the Little Ice Age (1560 A.D. to 1890 A.D.).

This was the coldest period of the last 10,000 years (the Holocene).

There were also fewer merchant ships arriving from Norway each year as a result of Germany’s Hanseatic League growing stronger.

The last reported shipment of lumber from Markland to Iceland was 1347.

And, by 1372 A.D. the Vikings no longer had North America to themselves. Basque whalers had followed

them to Newfoundland and were competing for resources.

English and German pirates also become a problem, attacking Iceland in the 15th Century.

By 1450 A.D. the Vikings had left Greenland for good! But, where did they go? The Sagas don’t tell of

them returning to either Iceland or Norway though.

Could they have sought out new territories and warmer climes beyond Vineland, disappearing into the New World?

“The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them!”

Arthur C. Clarke

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