...The discovery of the site at L'Anse aux Meadows has not ended the debate for the location of Vinland. Viking artifacts have been found at a dozen or more sites throughout eastern Canada. The norse penny has been found as far south as Maine. The findings fit a pattern if we think of L'Anse aux Meadows as a jumping off place–a base for exploration, trade or hunting parties. They were not temporary landings. They were meant as a winter base where you could go exploring during the summer, and then return late in the fall to spend the winter here where you were safe, and then continue to Greenland the next summer. One reason they needed a base like this was that the sailing season even in the slightly warmer Eleventh Century was quite short when you have to start out from Greenland. So, if they had to go and come back to Greenland in one summer, they wouldn't have time to go much farther than that...