Daily BrewHow a Viking dig in N.L. could rewrite history
[Sarah Parcak, who earned the nickname space archeologist, is back at Point Rosee in Newfoundland to continue her search for a Vikings settlement. TWITTER]
An international team of visitors to Newfoundland isn’t there this summer to check out the St. John’s harbourfront or go whale watching. They’re looking for Vikings — or more specifically, for a Viking settlement that may have been laying undiscovered on the North Atlantic island for the last millenia or so.
Research done by a team of archaeologists led by Sarah Parcak found evidence of a past Norse Viking settlement at Point Rosee, a narrow peninsula in southern Newfoundland. After a visit last year the team has returned to the island this month to dig for more evidence of Vikings whether it’s from a past settlement, farming, fishing or merely a visit.
A find would verify a second site on the island and would further cement a Norse history that already goes back nearly 1,000 years, to a former settlement at L’anse aux Meadows on the western coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Read on to find out what has already been found at Point Rosee, what researchers are looking for during this excavation, and what any discovery would mean for what we know of Viking history so far.
What are they looking for?
This is the second visit to Codroy Valley in Newfoundland to examine the potential Norse Viking site, after a first visit last year. This site is about 500 kilometres south of L’anse aux Meadows, so far the only confirmed Norse site in Canada — indeed, anywhere in the New World.
The researchers narrowed in on Point Rosee thanks to satellite images showing variations in the landscape at Point Rosee that indicate man-made structures once existed there, the Toronto Star reported. Interestingly, one of those patterns seems to have internal divisions that could indicate rooms and matches the dimensions of longhouses found at L’anse aux Meadows.
Two and a half weeks of excavation that followed in Newfoundland in summer 2015 the team is back at Point Rosee to look for further evidence of a past Norse settlement.
What have they found?
Archaeologists have found two potential signs of a past Viking settlement at Point Rosee: turf structures and a shallow hearth with pieces of cooked bog iron. So far the only other verified pre-Columbia iron-processing site in North America is at L’anse aux Meadows, the Star reported.
And a Codroy Valley local says he has also found evidence of a past Norse settlement. Wayne MacIsaac told CBC News that unusually shaped mounds in the area could indicate a past settlement. Old stories from his grandfather of a strong storm that once unearthed skeletons, a plank-built boat and a stone arrowhead also support his research, MacIsaac says. However, his research has not been independently verified by the archaeologists visiting Point Rosee or others.
What’s also notable is what researchers haven’t found. The excavation so far hasn’t uncovered signs of indigenous people or later European settlers at Point Rosee, which might explain the other findings.
Why is this important?
If Point Rosee is confirmed as a Norse Viking site, it will be the second one on the island of Newfoundland. The first, L’anse aux Meadows, is on the island’s Northern Peninsula and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. But more importantly, a site at Point Rosee would be only the second confirmed Viking site in North America.
Along with the fact that a confirmed Viking settlement would be notable in its rarity, it could also lead to a potential shift in our understanding of the Vikings themselves. The settlement at L’anse aux Meadows was believed to be temporary. Depending on what is found at Point Rosee, a site there could further support that belief or change it if findings indicate a more permanent settlement.
Who’s in charge?
The international team of archaeologists is led by Sarah Parcak, perhaps better known as the space archaeologist. The associate professor of archaeology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham has found more than 3,100 archaeological settlements, thousands of tombs and 17 possible Egyptian pyramids, according to her university bio.
Parcak’s nickname comes from her use of satellite imagery to locate possible artifacts, and that’s how she came to discover the iron ore hearth at Point Rosee. She uses images taken from about 650 kilometres above the planet in order to look for signs of changes and variations in the earth that could indicate past human settlement. For that research she’s earned a National Geographic fellowship and a US$1-million grant from TED to further her exploration of how satellite imagery can be used to uncover fruitful sites for archaeological digs that might not otherwise be detected.
What comes next?
What follows this summer’s excavation at Point Rosee depends in large part what is found. In L’anse aux Meadows, items like a bronze fastening pin made the Viking presence at that site clear. Others, like a butternut squash seed, created more questions than answers — the plant doesn’t grow naturally that far north, but no Viking sites further south have ever been confirmed. Further evidence of metal working, carbon dating that dates to the Viking era, and/or a Norse-specific object are possible finds that would make it clear whether or not this site is indeed a former Viking presence, Parcak told CBC News.
