New evidence supports the theory that the Vikings were already settled in the north of the continent in the year 1021 and that they were the first to cross the Atlantic
On October 28, 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived on the island of Cuba. Although the entourage thought that he had found a new way to the Indies, in reality, as it was later learned, his route had taken them to the New World. However, evidence is accumulating that indicates that this admiral of uncertain origin was not the first European to set foot on those exotic lands, but rather the Vikings, who would have crossed the Atlantic around half a millennium earlier. Specifically, in the year 1021, they were already settled in what is now Canada. This is attested to by the notches left by their axes in some trees in the north of the continent, which they used to stock up on wood and build their villages, weapons, and ships.
The results have just been published in the journal ‘ Nature ‘.
The Vikings sailed great distances: to the west, they established settlements in Iceland and Greenland. But, as the Icelandic sagas tell (the tales of the Viking people that were passed down orally from father to son, halfway between fantasy and reality), the entourage led by Erik ‘the Red’ went even further from Greenland to the American continent. There, around the year 1000, they founded Leifsbudir, where a small town of about 60 people would live for several years until bad weather conditions and clashes with the natives forced them to return to Greenland.
The story was buried in myth. At least until 1960, the Norwegian researcher Helge Ingstad and his wife, the archaeologist Anne Stine Ingstad noticed some strange bulges in the field of L’Anse-aux-Méduses (in Spanish ‘the cove of the jellyfish’ ), in Newfoundland (Canada). Beneath that grassy terrain was hidden what matched the ruins of old Leifsbudir. The neighborhood was made up of at least three cabins, a forge, a sawmill to supply the shipyard, and three warehouses. Hundreds of objects consistent with those of Norse culture have also been found here, including sewing utensils, indicating the presence of women and a stable settlement.
The surprise came when those ruins were dated: carbon dating indicated that they had been built around the year 1000, almost 500 years before the arrival of Columbus, and coinciding with the adventures of Erik ‘The Red’. “However, this method could only produce results with a margin of error of two centuries, the time that the Viking period more or less lasted,” Michael Dee , from the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) and director of the University of Groningen, explains to ABC. the investigation. That is why his team set out to find a much more specific date. And they have found it: in the year 1021, as evidenced by the marks left by their axes in the bark of the trees, the Vikings were already there. And not only that: they have also shown that this person was the first to cross the Atlantic, at which time the migratory paths of humanity encircled the entire planet.
The key: an ancient massive solar storm
The study analyzed logs of wood that were felled from three trees from L’Anse-aux-Méduses. To make sure that it was the Vikings and not the indigenous people who already lived in those lands, they looked for marks produced by metal blades, an industry run by the Norse, but which the locals would not know about until later. In addition, the authors had an ‘advantage’: in the year 993, there was a massive solar storm that was ‘recorded’ in the trunks of the trees. “In recent years it has been discovered that massive solar storms can cause radiocarbon levels in the atmosphere to increase,” said Dee. This growth is then absorbed by the trees and ‘inserted’ into that year’s growth ring. We knew that one of these spikes occurred in AD 993, and this signal has been detected in tree rings around the world. That is why we looked for this same signal in the remains of wood in L’Anse-aux-Méduses».
And all three samples had this hallmark in just the right place: the tax cuts were located 29 rings after the solar storm signal, which means that those cuts in the wood were almost certainly caused by metal tools like those of the Vikings about three decades earlier. But dating the Vikings’ stay was not as easy as counting rings: “We did a lot of laboratory work to get the date 1021 right. In fact, right now, it is the only scientific proof that they were in that particular year.” there, but not about staying the rest of the time,” says Dee.
The team suggests that this group could have reached hundreds of members during its heyday, being the majority men, although there would also be some women. “We know that their society was very stratified, with various social classes. And we can also deduce that they were in North America to obtain wood, which was scarce in their colony in Greenland”, says the researcher.
Could they arrive earlier?
The number of Viking expeditions and their duration is unknown, although according to current evidence, everything seems to indicate that, as the sagas reveal, the journey was short. Surely this is the reason for the little physical, cultural and ecological evidence that this person left on the New Continent. “However, there is botanical evidence at L’Anse aux Méduses to confirm that the Vikings did explore lands further south than Newfoundland,” the authors state.
“We could find similar evidence to help us reconstruct where else the Vikings went,” adds Dee, who points out that there are already hypotheses that affirm that this person also visited other sites in Canada, “although these theories are being much-discussed ». Perhaps the journey of Érik El Rojo’s entourage did not detract from the adventures of Christopher Columbus’s expedition. Although the real legacy of him was more diluted in the myth.
Editorial Team
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