October 9, 1000: Leif Ericson discovers Vinland (possibly LAnse aux Meadows, Canada) reputedly becoming first European to reach North America. The most detailed information about the Vikings’ visits to Vinland is contained in two Norse sagas, the Saga of the Greenlanders and the Saga of Erik the Red. These two accounts differ somewhat. According to the Greenlanders’ Saga, Bjarni Herjulfsson became the first European to sight mainland America when his Greenland-bound ship was blown westward off course about 986. He apparently sailed along the Atlantic coastline of eastern Canada and then returned to Greenland. About 1000 a crew of 35 men led by Leif Eriksson set out to try to find the land accidentally sighted by Bjarni. (The Saga of Erik the Red presents Leif himself as the first to sight Vinland.) Leif’s expedition came first to an icy, barren land which they called Helluland (“Flat-Stone Land”); sailing southward, they encountered a flat, wooded land which they named Markland (“Wood Land”). Again they set sail southward, and the warmer, wooded area that they found they named Vinland. There they built some houses and explored the region before returning to Greenland. In 1003 Leif’s brother Thorvald led an expedition to Vinland and spent two years there. In 1004 (or 1010, according to other historians) Thorfinn Karlsefni, encouraged by Thorvald’s reports of grapes growing wild in Vinland, led a colonizing expedition of about 130 people (or 65, according to one saga) to Vinland. By the time they had stayed there three years, the colonists’ trade with the local Native Americans (First Nations) had turned to warfare, and so the colonists gave up and returned to Greenland. About 1013 Erik the Red’s daughter Freydis led an unsuccessful expedition to Vinland and soon afterward returned to Greenland. So ended the Norse visits to the Americas as far as the historical record is concerned. *In the 1960s, archaeologists Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad used the medieval Vinland Sagas to search for evidence of Viking landings on the North American continent. They eventually discovered the archaeological site of lAnse aux Meadows, a Norse settlement on the coast of Newfoundland. But there was a problem—while the site was clearly constructed by Vikings, some aspects of the site vicinity didnt match what the sagas described. In particular, the Norse sagas refer to the Norse settlement as Vinland, which translates to Wineland in old Norse. Historically, there were no grapes anywhere near lAnse aux Meadows. To resolve this issue, the Ingstads argued that the word actually meant Pastureland—but that is something that very few Norse philologists accept. Archaeologist Birgitta Linderoth Wallace, among others, also believes that the word does indeed refer to grapes, and argues that Vinland included a larger slice of what is today Canada than just Newfoundland: a slice that did contain abundant grapes. Despite conflicting accounts in the Vinland sagas, it is widely accepted these days that a small band of Norse adventurers landed on the North American continent about 1000 AD. Archaeological evidence of that was discovered in the 1960s, in the Canadian province of Newfoundland, at the site of LAnse aux Meadows (Jellyfish Cove). Tying the archaeological site to a specific place name in the sagas has been somewhat tricky. Three place names are given in the Vinland sagas for the North American continent: Straumfjörðr (or Straumsfjörðr), Fjord of Currents in Old Norse, mentioned in Eirik the Reds Saga as a base camp from which expeditions left in the summers. Hóp, Tidal Lagoon or Tidal Estuary Lagoon, mentioned in Eirik the Reds Saga as a camp far south of Straumfjörðr where grapes were collected and lumber harvested. Leifsbuðir, Leifs Camp, mentioned in the Greenlanders Saga), which has elements of both sites. Straumfjörðr was clearly the name of the Viking base camp: and theres no arguing that the archaeological ruins of LAnse aux Meadows represent a substantial occupation. Its possible, perhaps likely, that Leifsbuðir also refers to LAnse aux Meadows. Since LAnse aux Meadows is the only Norse archaeological site discovered in Canada to date, it is a little difficult to be certain of its designation as Straumfjörðr: but, the Norse were only on the continent for a decade, and it doesnt seem likely that there would be two such substantial camps. The buildings were constructed in the Icelandic style, with heavy sod roofs supported by interior posts. The bloomery was a simple iron smelting furnace within a small subterranean hut, and a pit charcoal kiln. In the large buildings were sleeping areas, a carpentry workshop, a sitting room, a kitchen and storage. LAnse aux Meadows housed between 80 to 100 individuals, probably up to three ship crews; all of the buildings were occupied at the same time. Based on the reconstructions accomplished by Parks Canada at the site, a total of 86 trees were felled for posts, roofs, and furnishings; and 1,500 cubic feet of sod was required for the roofs.
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 11:14:33 +0000
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