Viking Outpost in Baffin Island

[rognvald]

National Geographic announced this week the discovery of Viking finds in the Canadian Arctic that post dated the abandoned settlement in L' Anse Aux Meadows in northern Newfoundland by several hundred years and established an open ocean trading route between the Vikings and the indigenous Dorset people. Brass, bronze, smelted iron, whetstones, European style wool and wooden objects were discovered in Tanfield Valley on Baffin Island as well as Williams Island. It is now believed that the Vikings traded well into the 15th Century throughout the Canadian Arctic and eventually traveled well South along the US eastern seaboard. These courageous Northern Europeans who had the most technologically superior sailing vessels in the Old World were not the simple plunderers as many believe, but sophisticated traders who help connect the Old World with the New. The article is printed in the Vancouver Sun dated 10/24/12 "New Find Bolsters Case for Viking Presence in Candian Arctic."

[Tbrad]

Shouldn't that be "predated" by several hundred years?? Just sayin',

[hpeer]

Here is a link

Evidence of Viking Outpost Found in Canada

[rognvald]

Originally Posted by GordMay

So what?
Interesting, but does this deserve duplicate posts? I think not.

Gord, it seemed relevant to post this in two areas since it appeals to a general audience and also those interested in the polar regions. I don't quite understand the "so what?" I would think many would be interested in a new important archeological discoverey related to seafaring that broadens our knowledge of our historical roots and the world as it existed in the Dark Ages.

[rognvald]

Originally Posted by Tbrad

Shouldn't that be "predated" by several hundred years?? Just sayin',

Tbrad, the new settlement occurred after L' Anse Aux Meadows had been abandoned and trading with the local indigenes continued until the 15th Century.

[Pete7]

I have deleted the other post so we keep the discussion all together in one thread.

Pete

[Katiusha]

Originally Posted by rognvald

National Geographic announced this week the discovery of Viking finds in the Canadian Arctic that post dated the abandoned settlement in L' Anse Aux Meadows in northern Newfoundland by several hundred years and established an open ocean trading route between the Vikings and the indigenous Dorset people. Brass, bronze, smelted iron, whetstones, European style wool and wooden objects were discovered in Tanfield Valley on Baffin Island as well as Williams Island. It is now believed that the Vikings traded well into the 15th Century throughout the Canadian Arctic and eventually traveled well South along the US eastern seaboard. These courageous Northern Europeans who had the most technologically superior sailing vessels in the Old World were not the simple plunderers as many believe, but sophisticated traders who help connect the Old World with the New. The article is printed in the Vancouver Sun dated 10/24/12 "New Find Bolsters Case for Viking Presence in Candian Arctic."

Very interesting! Thanks for posting [didn't see the other post ]

[marc2012]

Yes thanks for posting.Very interesting,also misses other thread.marc

[Kiwi303]

Not JUST plunderers, They did a good extortion racket extracting danegeld from suckers.

As to trading, they went as far afield as Turkey and the middle east via the Rhine and Danube and other rivers across the Russian steppes.

[S/V Alchemy]

Very intriguing finds. I suspect we will continue to discover that calling one C. Columbus the "discoverer" of North America to be fatuous.

Not only was he one of an increasing number of European visitors, he was pretty late to the party, after the Vikings, Basques and probably an assortment of summer fisherfolk.

[DeepFrz]

Why would the Vikings stop trading after the 15th century? Anyone know anything about that?

[roverhi]

Swedish women. No actually the mini ice age in the mid 1000s probably made the voyage more difficult and the rewards less so. Way more lucrative trade routes heading south around Africa and across the Atlantic after 1500. Remember the first real estate scam was Greenland. First settled at the beginning of the millenium but pretty much abandoned as the earth cooled by mid millenium. Also, advances in ship design made the long boats functionally obsolete for open ocean voyaging. Even though the Vikings made some impressive voyages, their stitched together open boats were not that seaworthy and had small carrying capacity.

[DeepFrz]

Thanks Peter, makes sense.

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

Why would the Vikings stop trading after the 15th century? Anyone know anything about that?

The Little Ice Age killed off Nordic settlement in Greenland (although had they adapted the diet and dress of the Inuit, instead of trying to remain European farmers in a deteriorating climate, they might have survived) and it also made life very hard in Iceland.

I suspect it was weather and lack of resources to keep an ocean-capable sailing fleet that ended trade as far as North America.

That and the fact that the sailors who knew how to get there were likely illiterate and didn't leave pilot charts.

[TomandAnitas34]

The Black Plague swept through in 1348 to 1350. It changed everything.