Viking Map May Rewrite US History

ABC/AFP ^ | 11-26-2004 | AFP

[motife]

L'anse aux meadows in Newfoundland was discovered in 1960 by Helge Ingstad of Norway to be the site of Leif Ericsson's settlement. "Vin" in Vinland is Old Norse for meadows. The area is similar to Greenland's coastal areas.

[Zavien Doombringer]

Here's a better Photo

[verifythentrust]

Thanx, it looks like the Vikes also discovered the west coast of Europe and North Africa.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

If the clan of Eric the Red settled Greenland in 986 and stayed there until 1400, there's a fair chance they ventured further West. At least that's what my Great Grandfather Gustavis Adolphis Svenson said...

[8mmMauser]

I know what you mean. My brother watched Fargo and thought we were being laughed at, but I loved it, felt at home. Mom would have just said, "Oofda".

[Rakkasan1]

here's a Viking...

[Rakkasan1]

Thanx, it looks like the Vikes also discovered the west coast of Europe and North Africa.

I wish they'd discover the end zone more often...

[Rakkasan1]

http://www.vikingage.com/vac/about.html

SONS OF NORWAY CLUB

[Not A Snowbird]

Just how does this affect the Viking Kitties, I wonder?

The kitties will be impossible to live with now. They'll insist that they're in charge and we are their subjects. Oh... wait... they already do. (Never mind.)

[dansangel]

Oh... wait... they already do. (Never mind.)

Good. Then you've confirmed my worst fears.

:::SIGH:::

No kibble tonight - guess it will be shrimp and salmon.

Here kitty, kitties......

[EGPWS]

Gosh, being 25% Norwegian I just can't place a correlation to the Kensington Rhinestone to Norway.

[Alberta's Child]

Just looking at a map of the North Atlantic will tell you that the presence of vikings in North America long before Columbus should come as no surprise; the trip across the Atlantic from Europe to what is now Labrador is relatively short, particularly when you take into account the presence of Greenland in the middle.

Ironically, the vikings were apparently forced to abandon Greenland when it became increasingly difficult to send ships there from the European mainland during the "mini-Ice Age" of the 12th or 13th century.

[SoDak]

I agree. It also became increasingly hard to grow any kind of crop for food and for food for animals. Even in this day and age, with the current technology, it's awfully hard to scratch out a living in Greenland. I would very much like to go to Iceland and Greenland and Labrador via ship, just to see what they saw.

[truth_seeker]

"The U.S.E. The United States of Eriksen."

make that Erikssen.

As in Erik's sen (son)

[hattend]

How does a Viking landing in 1400's re-write the history of a country that wasn't yet in existence?

[verifythentrust]

not enough moss on the field.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks blam. The weird thing to me is that resistance to the idea of precolumbian navigation still rears its ugly head here in the 21st century.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[GoforBroke]

Here is a summary of a recent book that studies the map and such.

Seaver, Kirsten A.
Maps, Myths, and Men: The Story of the Vinland Map.
Stanford Univ. 2004.
c.462p. illus. bibliog. index.
ISBN 0-8047-4962-0. $65;
pap. ISBN 0-8047-4963-9. $24.95. HIST

Seaver, an independent historian and fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in London, has traveled the globe in her quest to ascertain the authenticity of the Vinland Map in Yale University's Beinecke Library. The map has been published with a companion manuscript in R.A. Skelton and others' The Vinland Map and the Tartar Relation (1965; new ed., 1995). After introducing readers to the Norse colonies in Iceland and Greenland as well as contemporary reports of voyages west to North America, Seaver begins a detailed and scholarly study of the controversy surrounding the map, including its uncertain provenance, the position of its worm holes, the chemical composition of its ink, the nature of its parchment, and its relationship to the accompanying manuscript. Seaver concludes that the manuscript is genuine but that the map is a modern fake created on cleaned parchment from the manuscript. In the final and most interesting chapter, the author explores the life and career of her candidate for the map's creator, Father Josef Fischer, S.J. (1858-1944). Most suitable for academic libraries. (Index not seen.)

I have not come to a conclusion to the map yet

[Publius6961]

Contemplate the Piri Reis map too!

Don't forget the bunch of voyages the Chinese made in 1421.

Chinese, Vikings, Basques, Greeks, it doesn't matter. They all failed to make a comtemporary record of it. Tough noogies.

Columbus discovered a continent of savages, Europeans came over and tamed the place. The rest is history as they say.
Vikings, Chinese and others are simply curiosities.

[truth_seeker]

"The significance of Columbus was not that he was here first -- he wasn't -- but rather that he brought news of the area back to Europe, sparking an historical period of settlement and colonization."

I read that the significance of Columbus was: He embodied true modern business enterprise.

His effort combined the best science and technology, with fundraising.

Maps from previous Atlantic explorers yielded the route to take.

Queen of Spain gave the Italian money.

Alotof American history sure skips quickly from 1492 (discovery by latin-types) to 1620 (settlement by decent north-western europeans).

Lief came in 1000. He left, rather than get clobbered by Skraelings. By 1000 Lief was believed to be a Christian. A Norwegian, by way of Iceland and Greenland.

Mayflower 620 years later.