Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 07/31/2008 8:48:40 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Knut Espen Solberg, leader of 'The Melting Arctic' project mapping changes in the north, said the remains uncovered in past weeks in west Greenland may also be new evidence that the climate was less chilly about 1,000 years ago than it is today.
'We found something that most likely was a dock, made of rocks, for big ships up to 20-30 metres (60-90 ft) long,' he told Reuters by satellite phone from a yacht off Greenland. He said further study and carbon dating were needed to pinpoint the site's age...
Viking accounts speak of hunting stations for walrus, seals and polar bears in west Greenland. Inuit hunters also lived in the area.
In a Medieval warm period, trees and crops grew on parts of Greenland. The Vikings disappeared in the 14th century, coinciding with a little-understood shift to a cooler climate.
Solberg said that the expedition, linked to Norwegian climate research institutes and including an archaeologist, reckoned the dock was probably built by Vikings because the Inuit only used small kayaks and had no need for a large quay.
The team, which came upon the ruins during their expedition, also found remains of several small stone buildings nearby. Both Inuit and Vikings had similar building styles.
Christian Keller, a professor of archaeology at Oslo University, was quoted as telling the daily Aftenposten that the buildings were similar to Viking structures in west Norway but that the dock was unlike known Viking quays.
Any carbon dating placing the site between 900-1400 would make it 'an exciting find' from the Vikings, he said. A later date could mean it was built by European whalers in the 16th century.
(Excerpt) Read more at signonsandiego.com ...
Farley Mowat wrote a book titled “Farfarers,” in which he postulated that Vikings were not the first Europeans to colonize Greenland or North America. He proposed that instead inhabitants of northern Britain ventured far to seaward and colonized both places some two to three centuries earlier than the Norse.
His belief is based on rather flimsy (in my opinion) archaeological evidence from rock piles in the Canadian high arctic, that he believes resemble similar ruins in the Shetland and Orkney islands.
If you read the book, you can form your own conclusions.
Thanks for the ping. I have seen other articles that say parts of the Greenland coast were green at various times in the past, but the central ice is very, very old.
He is my cousin that is why I was curious. I figured it would center around Scotland and Ireland. Our family land and castle is in John O’Groats and no doubt he has been there.
He mentioned it in the book. I can’t disprove his assertions. They may be correct. I just believe his evidence is weak. A site on the west coast of Greenland carbon-dated to 650AD would be history-making, though and would prove Mowat right.
Quite an admission, isn't it, in light of IPCC's claimed "confidence" CO2 is behind it all.
IMHO, the fact of climate cycles is increasingly understood, but not the cause or causes.
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