Conference turris::scandia

    In his term paper, "Viking Explorations of North America," my son,
    Eric Savage, has this paragraph.
    
    L'Anse aux Meadows on the northernmost tip of the island of
    Newfoundland is the only firm and convincing archaeological site
    in North America of Viking origin.  It was discovered in 1960 by
    Norwegian explorer, Helge Ingstad.  When it was unearthed, it was
    considered by many as possibly the site of Vinland.
    
    Here are found the remains of eight turf-walled structures which
    are traditional Norse long houses.  Also within the area are cooking
    pits, evidence of iron smelting and forging, a steatite spindle
    whorl, a stone lamp and even a sunken sauna bath.
    
    All of the evidence points to a short-lived presence.  [Anyway,
    the settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows seems to postdate the discovery
    of Vinland (at about 1003 A.D.) by nearly 100 years - NS]
    
    For information on L'Anse aux Meadows, Eric relied mainly on the 
    book, "Vikings" by Magnus Magnusson [E.P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1980].
    
    Neil

    I found a National Geographic magazine November 1964 that had a
    whole article on L'anse au Meadow written by Ingstad himself.
    It was listed in the bibliography of an article on Newfoundland
    that was also in the Geographic.
    
    In says in the article that Leif Ericson's name for the land he
    found on his great voyage west was Vinland.  Instad seems to think
    that Vinland was the Newfoundland settlement.  Is this still a
    contraversial issue?  Or do most scholars agree with Instad's view?
    
    The article is worth reading - it's quite interesting.  It details
    the effort by Instad to locate the Vinland.
    
    George

    Re: .2:
    
    Scholarly opinion ranges widely as to the true location of Vinland.
    But information given in the Norse sagas places it fairly precisely
    as the U.S. eastern seaboard; specifically, Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
    
    o Vinland is recorded as 1500-2000 miles southwest of Greenland
    
    o Wild grapes do not grow abundantly north of Nova Scotia [which
      was called "Markland" by the Vikings].
    
    o Salmon are not found in large numbers south of Long Island [which
      rules out the eastern seaboard south of New England].
    
    o Mild winters do not commonly occur north of Massachusetts Bay
    
    o Calculations based on reported times on sunset and sunrise place
      Vinland between the 41st and 43rd parallel.
    
    Given these restrictions, only Cape Cod has the physiographic
    characteristics matching the sagas' description.
    
    The Vikings did not make any immediate record of their exploits;
    instead, the information was passed along from generation to 
    generation orally, as was the tradition of the time.  Centuries
    later, this was written down.  Although some might suspect that
    this would lead to many errors and omissions over the years, in
    fact, oral transmission was very reliable at that time because
    listeners would memorize the stories and correct the narrator if
    and when he made a mistake.  
    
    As a case in point, a German scholar of the 16th century recorded
    a story told to him by Russian peassants; two centuries later, 
    another scholar, unaware of the work of the first, did the same.
    The two stories were identical.

    The good news is that the road to Lancy Meadows (what the locals
    call it) is paved all the way up by now.  We got two flat tires
    from the old shale gravel road two years ago.  There is a very good
    museum and interpreter center on the site with a reproduction of
    a sod hut complex.  In the museum they have a few artifacts (a spindle
    whoerl and a bronze clasp) that have been carbon dated to about
    1050.
    
    Farley Mowat has researched several Norse sites on Newfoundland,
    and based on the information I've read I am more inclined to accept
    that region as a more likely candidate for the location of Vinland.

    Obviously there is some advanced technology involved when they can
    carbon date a bornze clasp.  Possibly it has some bone or other
    carbon parts?
    Phil (the sharpshooter)

    I can nit-pick well, but spell poorly (large fingers hitting too
    many keys)  sub/bornze/bronze/ please

Long before `spinning wheels' were invented, fibers were spun into thread with
a `drop spindle' (a vertically-held stick with a `spindle whorl' [a wooden
wheel, a clay ball, or, in this case, a stone torus] threaded on the lower end
of the stick to act as a flywheel.)