27 May 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Vikings arrived in Newfoundland 1,000 years ago: Scientists

Vikings’ first permanent settlement in North America – the coastal outpost in Newfoundland known as L’Anse aux Meadows now has a  precise date.

This site, which has excited archaeologists for 60 years, turned out to be 1000 years old.

According to scientists, a new sort of dating procedure that used a long-past solar storm as a reference point indicated that the colony was occupied in 1021 AD, exactly a millennium ago and 471 years before Columbus‘ first trip. The technique was used on three pieces of wood cut for the settlement, all pointing to the same year.

 A massive cosmic burst, most likely a solar flare, created a pulse in the creation of carbon-14 in the Earth’s atmosphere in 993 C.E., which was taken up by plants all over the planet through photosynthesis. Every living tree in 993 C.E. bears a telltale ring with a greater than normal carbon-14 concentration. Researchers may determine the exact year a tree died by counting out from that ring. A comparable cosmic explosion in 775 C.E. let scientists correctly date the construction of a church in Switzerland as well as a volcanic eruption near the Chinese–North Korean border.

Famous Oseberg ship.
Famous Oseberg ship.

Researchers from the University of Groningen, led by radiocarbon expert Michael Dee, used this approach on a collection of timber pieces recovered from L’Anse aux Meadows during the 1960s and 1970s. Archaeologists know they were hacked by metal axes based on cut marks in the wood, suggesting Vikings, not Indigenous peoples of North America, were responsible. Co-author Birgitta Wallace, an archaeologist with Parks Canada who has spent her career at the site, stored the bits in a freezer for decades.

The Viking expedition marks a number of watershed moments in human history. The settlement has the oldest traces of a transatlantic voyage. It also symbolizes the point at which people completed the circumnavigation of the world, thousands of years after crossing a land bridge that previously linked Siberia and Alaska.

“Much kudos should go to these northern Europeans for being the first human society to traverse the Atlantic,” said radiocarbon scientist Michael Dee of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, who led the study published in the journal Nature.

Vikings, also known as Norse people, were sailors from Scandinavian countries such as Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. They traveled around Europe, colonizing at times and trading or raiding at others. They built colonies in Iceland and Greenland and possessed exceptional boat-building and navigation skills.

Historians think Vikings were seeking timber to bring back to relatively treeless Greenland.

Cover Photo: Wikipedia

Related Articles

More than 1,300 prehistoric burial mounds in western Azerbaijan systematically surveyed for the first time

2 January 2025

2 January 2025

Over 1,300 archaeological sites in Azerbaijan were systematically surveyed and documented in two field campaigns in 2021 and 2023 by...

Four-face ivory dice found at Keezhadi excavation site in India

18 February 2022

18 February 2022

The Tamil Nadu Archaeological department along with the Archaeological Survey of India has unearthed rectangular ivory dice,  in the excavation...

Vindolanda marks the 1900th anniversary of Hadrian’s Wall with an altar discovery

9 February 2022

9 February 2022

The excavation season hasn’t started yet, but the Vindolanda Roman fort has kicked off Hadrian’s Wall’s 1900th anniversary year with...

The Mystery of the Hekatompedon: An Ancient Shepherd’s Graffiti Sheds New Light on the Mystery of the Acropolis’ Lost Temple

13 June 2024

13 June 2024

The Acropolis of Athens and its monuments, the greatest architectural and artistic complex bequeathed to the world by ancient Greece,...

Drone photos reveal Venice of the Fertile Crescent

16 October 2022

16 October 2022

A drone survey of Lagash, a site located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, revealed that the 4,900-year-old settlement was...

A Gold Belt Weighing 432 Grams Unearthed During Excavations in Ani Ruins is on Display

2 July 2024

2 July 2024

The gold belt discovered 22 years ago during excavations in the ancient city of Ani, often referred to as the...

The Roman Imperial period, There was Less Waste in the Production of Marble Slabs than Today

17 May 2021

17 May 2021

When talking about the architecture of the ancient Roman Empire, most people usually think of the mental image of white...

The ‘boiler room’ of the bath in the Ancient City of Metropolis was unearthed

11 August 2022

11 August 2022

The vault section, called the ‘boiler room’, which provides a heat source, has been unearthed in the historical bath of...

Tang-e Chogan bas-relief carvings, Majestic treasures of Sassanid art, are under threat of destruction 

9 March 2022

9 March 2022

Treasures of Sassanid art, some of Tang-e Chogan’s bas-reliefs are under threat of complete destruction due to lack of maintenance...

An Avar Warrior Buried with Lamellar Armor and Equipment Discovered in Hungary

3 February 2024

3 February 2024

Archaeologists of the Déri Museum in Debrecen (eastern Hungary) found the tomb of a fully armed and with a complete...

Research Shows Early North Americans Made Eyed Needles from Fur-Bearers

3 December 2024

3 December 2024

Archaeologists from the University of Wyoming have found bone 13,000-year-old eyed needles crafted from the bones of various furry animals....

An ancient “fridge” have uncovered at the Roman legionary fortress of Novae, Bulgaria

30 September 2022

30 September 2022

Polish archaeologists, during excavations at the Roman legionnaires’ camp in Novae, discovered a container that could be described as an...

World’s oldest wooden structure ‘476,000 years old’ discovered in Zambia

20 September 2023

20 September 2023

An ancient wooden structure found at Kalambo Falls, Zambia—dated to about 476,000 years ago—may represent the earliest use of wood...

The oldest ceramic roof tiles ever found in land of Israel may be from Antiochus’ Lost Citadel in Jerusalem

6 December 2023

6 December 2023

The 16 ceramic roof tile fragments, from the Hellenistic period in the second century BCE, were discovered during an archaeological...

Poland’s oldest copper axe discovered in the Lublin region

30 March 2024

30 March 2024

A copper axe from the 4th to 3rd millennium BC identified with the Trypillia culture was found in the Horodło...