Research has confirmed that the Vikings were in America 500 years before Christopher Columbus, the website of the “Daily Mail” reported, referring to a scientific study by the University of Iceland.
Archaeologists analyzed wood from five different sites in West Greenland that were inhabited between 1000 and 1400. The results showed that some of the samples were of species imported from the Americas and Europe. Hemlock and eastern North American pine, for example, are not found in Northern Europe during the second millennium, BTA adds.
According to some “sagas” spread by Viking societies, the first European to set foot on the American continent was Leif Eriksson. It was he who should have brought the timber.
Eastern North American pine is found along the Mackenzie River, Nova Scotia, and in New England. Hemlock grows near Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Ontario and Nova Scotia.
The Viking “era” in European history lasted from 700 to 1100. During this time, many Vikings left their birthplaces in Scandinavia and traveled with their ships to other countries such as Britain and Ireland. When the people of Britain first saw a Viking ship, they gave it a welcome. However, the Vikings fought with the local people, plundered the churches and burned the buildings. In Britain they were called “Danes”, but in fact the Vikings came from Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
The name “Vikings” comes from Old Norse and means “pirate voyage”. The first Viking voyage recorded in Anglo-Saxon chronicles is from around 787.
According to the scientists, the findings of transported timber show that the inhabitants of northern Europe had ships good enough to reach the east coast of North America several centuries before Columbus. Many historians assume that the Vikings living on Fr. Greenland between 985 and 1450, used iron and wood to build ships and create art. It is likely that the native trees were not suitable for their purposes.
The research, published in Antiquities magazine, is the result of the scientists’ intention to establish the proportion between imported and local timber, as well as where the “imported” came from. To establish the origin of the tree, the cell structure was examined with a microscope. 0.27 percent of the samples were from introduced species, either from North America or Europe.
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Assessment 4.1 from 9 voice.
