Friday, November 14, 2014

Evidence of Viking Outpost Found in Canada


(Emphasis mine throughout.)
"For the past 50 years—since the discovery of a thousand-year-old Viking way station in Newfoundland—archaeologists and amateur historians have combed North America's east coast searching for traces of Viking visitors.

It has been a long, fruitless quest, littered with bizarre claims and embarrassing failures. But at a conference in Canada earlier this month, archaeologist Patricia Sutherland announced new evidence that points strongly to the discovery of the second Viking outpost ever discovered in the Americas."
[---]
"While digging in the ruins of a centuries-old building on Baffin Island (map), far above the Arctic Circle, a team led by Sutherland, adjunct professor of archaeology at Memorial University in Newfoundland and a research fellow at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, found some very intriguing whetstones. Wear grooves in the blade-sharpening tools bear traces of copper alloys such as bronze—materials known to have been made by Viking metalsmiths but unknown among the Arctic's native inhabitants.

Taken together with her earlier discoveries, Sutherland's new findings further strengthen the case for a Viking camp on Baffin Island. "While her evidence was compelling before, I find it convincing now," said James Tuck, professor emeritus of archaeology, also at Memorial University." 

Labels: , , ,

2 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

You would think those dumb Vikings would have an outpost further south(like Florida) but noooooo, they go for Newfoundland and Baffin Island of all places. Must have been a global warming going on. Or it's just that they are a lot closer to Norway.

November 14, 2014 11:29 am  
Blogger Louise said...

Doesn't matter how close to Norway Baffin Island is. This was long before the Industrial Revolution and the emission of all that evil CO2 - note the phrase "centuries old". At best, the Industrial Revolution is only a century and a half ago, a bit less actually.

At that time, humans everywhere were still primarily rural agrarians or hunter-gatherer people, so yes, as I've been saying all along, the polar regions have warmed and cooled many times before without the help of fossil fuel burning by humans.

Perhaps you could tell me what happened to all that ice that covered roughly half of North America and was up to two (or more) miles thick at the height of the most recent ice age, from which we are still emerging.

And maybe you could also explain how the Vikings managed to navigate ice covered waters before ice breakers were invented - ocean going vessels that are powered with fossil fuel. Hmmm?

November 14, 2014 1:18 pm  

Post a Comment

<< Home