WETENSCHAP
Vikingen ontdekten 1000 jaar geleden Amerika
October 20, 2021 - Archaeologists have determined that Vikings occupied the Americas as early as 1021 – exactly 1000 years ago – revealing the earliest known record of humans crossing from Europe to the New World.
Vikings were the first Europeans to cross the Atlantic, settling at a site known as L’Anse aux Meadows on the northern peninsula of Newfoundland. But the precise age of the settlement had yet to be determined.
Researchers managed to pinpoint the precise date through radiocarbon dating of wooden artefacts found at L’Anse aux Meadows.
The archaeologists are confident that these wooden artefacts were made by Vikings as the artefacts were modified using metal tools, which were not manufactured by the indigenous population at that time.
According to 13th century Icelandic sagas, the Norse explorer Leif Erikson established a settlement at Vinland – in present-day eastern Canada – around the year 1000, five centuries before the voyages of Christopher Columbus.