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'L'Anse aux Meadows' (from the French ''L'Anse-aux-Méduses'' or "Jellyfish Cove") is a site on the northernmost tip of the island of Newfoundland, located in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, where the remains of a Viking village were discovered in 1960 by the Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad and his archaeologist wife, Anne Stine Ingstad. (Newfoundlanders pronounce the name of the site 'lance ah meadows'.)

Contents

The Settlement

History

See also

References and notes

External links

Pictures

The Settlement

The only authenticated Viking settlement in North America outside Greenland, it was the site of a multi-year archaeological dig that found dwellings, tools and implements that verified its time frame. The settlement, dating more than five hundred years before Christopher Columbus, contains the earliest European structures in North America.^[1] Named a World Heritage site by UNESCO, it is thought by many to be the semi-legendary 'Vinland' settlement of explorer Leif Ericson around AD 1000.
The "Skalholt" map (1570) shows the "Promontorium Winlandia" at the northern tip of what is likely to be a depiction of Newfoundland.
The settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows consisted of at least eight buildings, including a forge and smelter, and a lumber yard that supported a shipyard. The largest house measured 28.8 by 15.6 m and consisted of several rooms^[2] Sewing and knitting tools found at the site indicate women were present at L'Anse aux Meadows.

History

The climate in Newfoundland then was significantly warmer than it is today. As recounted in the sagas, Leifur set forth from Greenland to search for the land Bjarni Herjólfsson had told him of. He found a land rich with grapes, salmon, and a frost-free winter, and returned to harvest lumber to take back to tree-poor Greenland. L'Anse aux Meadows has been variously identified as: (a) the first camp made, (b) the camp made after fleeing hostile Skrælings, or (c) a camp not mentioned in the saga.
The saga describes a colonizing attempt led by Thorfinn Karlsefni, with as many as 135 men and 15 women, who used Leifur's camp, perhaps L'Anse aux Meadows, as a base. Among them was Freydís Eiríksdóttir, half-sister to Leif. While it is not possible to verify that L'Anse aux Meadows is indeed the Vinland of Saga, it is certain that a group of Norse colonists lived here around the year AD 1000.²
L'Anse aux Meadows may have been a way station between a colony in Greenland and another settlement in the southern Gulf of Saint Lawrence region, or it may have served as an overwintering station for Norse explorers from Greenland.^[3] The site was only used for two or three years. It is conjectured, based on both literary and archaeological evidence, that poor relations with natives doomed the settlement to abandonment. Intergroup conflict over women and unexpected weather have also been suggested as the causes for its abandonment.
The sagas also tell an interesting story: in their wish to build good relationships with the native Indians, the Vikings invited some Indian chieftains to one of their feasts, where milk was also served. The Indians probably suffered from lactose intolerance, as they got sick, and suspected poisoning. Thus, the contact attempt was unsuccessful.

L'Anse aux Meadows may be connected to the Algonquin legend of a ''Kingdom of Saguenay'', said to be populated by a race of blond men rich in furs and metals, but this is conjecture.

See also

★ List of communities in Newfoundland and Labrador

★ Norse colonization of the Americas

★ Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact

★ Vinland map

References and notes

1.
A critical review of radiocarbon dating of a Norse settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada, Nydal, Reidar, , , Radiocarbon, 1989

2. From the Canadian Encyclopedia article on L'Anse aux Meadows.
3. North American Exploration: A New World Disclosed. Volume: 1., Allen, John Logan, , , University of Nebraska Press, 1997,

External links

★ UNESCO

★ Parks Canada

★ Severed Ways, The Norse Discovery of America, a drama set in 1000A.D. and filmed in L'Anse

Pictures