Vikings

After

Sod house similar to those used by the Vikings in Vinland Copyright/Source

After the failure of these expeditions, it would be another 500 years before any Europeans came back to North America. The archeological site at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland remains the only known Viking settlement in North America. It was discovered in 1960 by a Norwegian team, led by Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad.

	Helge Ingstad gave up being a lawyer in Norway, to become a trapper and explorer in Canada. Years later, he discovered the Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows. Born in 1899, he died March 29, 2001, at the age of 101.

Sod house similar to those used by the Vikings in Vinland Copyright/Source

Found!
The Ingstad team uncovered eight structures (one a smithy), four boat-sheds, three large outdoor pits (two for cooking), rusty nails, a stone lamp, a whetstone for sharpening needles, small pieces of smelted copper, bits of iron, an anvil stone and a spindle-whorl.

The Most Exciting Discovery
A soapstone spindle-whorl used by Viking women for spinning wool into yarn was found. It proved that this was truly a Viking settlement and that women had also lived there. The spindle-whorl was found just outside the south wall of the house. This would have been the most sheltered and sunny spot. A perfect place to sit and spin in the sun, 1000 years ago!

Sod house similar to those used by the Vikings in Vinland Copyright/Source

Who Were the People Who Lived at L'Anse aux Meadows?
While we can't say for sure, there are clues. According to Helge Ingstad's reading of the sagas:

1. Leifr Eiriksson built large houses in Vinland. Several of the structures at L'Anse aux Meadows are very big.
2. Thorvald Eiriksson, Thorfinnr Karlsefni Thordarson and Freydis Eiriksdøttir used the houses Leifr built. Thorfinn Thordarson had woman and livestock, maybe sheep. The spindle-whorl that was found indicates women and wool were at L'Anse aux Meadows.
3. Leifr Eiriksson felt places to graze his animals were very important. L'Anse aux Meadows is unique in the area for its fields of grass.
4. The mention of large salmon and berries for wine. L'Anse aux Meadows has both.
5. Descriptions of the landscape: a pronounced cape pointing north, an island north of the cape, a bay that is shallow at low tide. All these things are at L'Anse aux Meadows.

It may be that Leifr built the houses at L'Anse aux Meadows and the others used them at various times.

Ingstad, Helge. Westward to Vinland: The Discovery of Pre-Columbian Norse House-sites in North America. New York: Harper Colophon Books, 1972, ©1969, p. 219.

	The Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows dates around 1000 A.D. It is now a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Visitors can tour the museum, as well as a sod-building reconstruction to see how Vikings lived.