L'Anse aux Meadows
The only confirmed Viking site in the Americas, where wood was cut in exactly 1021 CE, dated by a cosmic-ray spike in tree rings.
- Location
- Northern tip of Newfoundland
- Modern country
- Canada
- Type
- Norse (Viking) settlement; ruins
- Discovered
- 1960, Helge Ingstad and Anne Stine Ingstad
- Dated
- Wood cut in 1021 CE (Nature, 2021)
- Status
- UNESCO World Heritage Site (1978)
What is L'Anse aux Meadows known for?
L'Anse aux Meadows, at the northern tip of Newfoundland in Canada, is the only confirmed Norse site in the Americas. Helge Ingstad and Anne Stine Ingstad identified it in 1960, and excavations uncovered the remains of timber-and-turf buildings, a smithy and Norse artefacts. It confirms the Icelandic sagas' accounts of voyages to 'Vinland' around the year 1000. UNESCO listed it in 1978.
In 2021 a team led by Margot Kuitems published in Nature that wood at the site had been cut with metal tools in 1021 CE. They found the date by locating, in the wood's growth rings, the radiocarbon spike left by a burst of cosmic radiation in 993 CE, then counting the rings to the bark.
That method uses the same kind of solar-storm signal as the famous 774 CE spike. Strictly, the L'Anse aux Meadows date came from the 993 event, a smaller cousin of 774.
The site notes that a cosmic radiation spike in tree rings fixed the Norse presence here to 1021 CE.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeThe 774 CE red cross and radiation spike
Sources
- Kuitems, M. et al., 'Evidence for European presence in the Americas in AD 1021', Nature 601 (2022; online 2021)Primary text
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 'L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site'Reference
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