Crystals may have helped the Vikings cross the Northern Seas
Vikings may have calibrated crystals in sunny weather, then used them to navigate on grey days
Steph Yin
3 hours ago
The Independent Online
When the Vikings left the familiar fjords of Norway for icy, uncharted territories, they were at the mercy of weather. They had no magnetic compasses, and no way to ward off stretches of heavy clouds or fog that made it difficult to navigate by sun. How the explorers traversed open ocean during these times is a mystery that has long captivated scholars.
Norse sagas refer to a solarstein or “sunstone†that had special properties when held to the sky. In 1967, a Danish archaeologist named Thorkild Ramskou suggested these were crystals that revealed distinct patterns of light in the sky, caused by polarisation, which exist even in overcast weather or when the sun dips below the horizon.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-history/viking-history-crystals-sailing-northern-seas-sunstone-a8293401.html
