Five hundred years before Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World, other Europeans discovered it. Who were these Europeans and where, in the New World, did they settle? They were the Vikings, who founded a small village on Newfoundland’s northernmost tip in 1021. We know the exact year from a tree in the area and its growth rings that scientists studied. Today the settlement is called L’Anse aux Meadows (Grassland Bay).
A Norwegian husband and wife team who shared an interest in Nordic history, Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad, discovered the site. Anne held a master’s degree in Nordic archaeology. Before they discovered it, all scholars knew of this came from Viking sagas that mentioned a settlement they called Vinland.
In 1960 Anne and her husband, while visiting towns in Newfoundland searching for evidence of Viking settlements, came upon an overgrown area which almost concealed ancient foundations. As she investigated them, she recognized that they had possibly been Viking houses.
For seven years, the Ingstads led an international team of archaeologists who studied the site, uncovering numerous Viking artifacts: bronze rings Europeans used for fastening garments, butternuts, a soapstone spindle whorl, stone and ironworking tools, and hundreds of other Viking things.
The settlement’s purpose is unclear. Some believe it was used as a base for further exploration along the coast. It consisted of eight wood-framed buildings with walls of sod, just like those in Greenland and Iceland.
The Vikings may have left Newfoundland because of a conflict with Indians, or maybe because of the great distance from Greenland, about 1,000 miles, which made it difficult to support and resupply it. At any rate, the settlement proved temporary.
Sorry, Mister Columbus. You and your ships’ crews weren’t the first ones to discover the New World. The Vikings were.
Sources
Lorraine Boissoneault, “L’Anse aux Meadows and the Viking Discovery of North America” JSTOR DAILY. July 23, 2015 https://daily.jstor.org/anse-aux-meadows-and-the-viking-discovery-of-north-america/
“The Viking Settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows: Fact vs. Folklore” The Archaeologist: Civilizations of the World, May 13, 2026 The Viking Settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows: Fact vs. Folklore
L’Anse aux Meadows. L’Anse aux Meadows – Wikipedia
History is so much fun!!
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