Vikings in Canada: Second North American Norse settlement found?
By Marcus Hondro 8 hours ago in Science
The Viking settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows is the only known place they stayed in North America and is 1,000 years old. It is in the north of the Canadian province of Newfoundland but it appears another settlement may have been found 300 miles south.
Viking settlement in Canada
It has yet to be confirmed that this new discovery was indeed a Viking settlement but those who have worked the site say that they are close to determining that is indeed what it was. It was discovered last June in Newfoundland's southwest corner in the Point Rosee region.
Sarah H. Parcak, a space archeologist, was working upon a PBS/BBC joint production of an episode of the series 'Nova' to be broadcast next week called Vikings Unearthed when she examined satellite imagery of areas of Newfoundland taken from 600 km. (400 miles) above the Earth.
New York Times reporter Ralph Blumenthal, in a piece this week, notes that it was infrared imagery that lead Parcak to the site. The high-resolution data, Blumenthal noted, showed "telltale signs of iron-working" and also showed "possible man-made shapes under discolored vegetation."
Viking artifacts sought
Douglas Bolender, a professor at the University of Massachusetts in Boston and a member of the research team, said that after examining that data, Parcak assembled an excavation team and worked the area. They are close to showing that the Vikings, also known as Norseman, went farther inland than the L’Anse aux Meadows settlement, discovered in 1960.
"We’re right at this tantalizing cusp where the archeology is very suggestive of Norse activity." Bolender told The Telegram in a phone interview. "It’s a series of things that look Norse, but we don’t have a full-fledged settlement or a bunch of very clear Norse artifacts at this point.
"It’s right on the teeter-totter," he added.
What has been found at Point Rosee thus far has been carbon dated to have existed between 800 A.D and 1200 A.D. Numerous prior expeditions have set out in the Eastern Canadian area to find evidence of a second North American Viking settlement only to come up empty-handed.
Read more:
http://www.digitaljournal.com/science/vikings-in-canada-second-north-american-norse-settlement-found/article/461763#ixzz44fhd6pbO
