Vikings Were in America Before Columbus | Drudge Retort

Saturday, August 03, 2024

Vikings Were in America Before Columbus

Vikings from Greenland were living in North America's Newfoundland 1,000 years ago according to evidence from a recent study.

Posted by Corky at 12:30 PM | 17 COMMENTS | permalink

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"The authors of the research were able to trace the Vikings to trees they had cut down in order to build their shelter in Newfoundland.

The trees indicate that the settlers were in the area as early as 1021 " 470 years before Christopher Columbus had arrived on the continent, and exactly one millennium ago.

"This is the first time the date has been scientifically established," said archaeologist Margot Kuitems, a researcher at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands who also led the study.

"Previously the date was based only on sagas " oral histories that were only written down in the 13th century, at least 200 years after the events they described took place," Kuitems said."

#1 | Posted by Corky at 2024-08-02 04:54 AM

More interesting science news...

Miracle Plant Used in Ancient Greece Rediscovered After 2,000 Years

Giovanni Prete
July 31, 2024

The "miracle" plant Silphium consumed by Ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians, which was thought to have become extinct two thousand years ago, has recently been rediscovered in Turkey by a professor, who thinks he's found a botanical survivor.

The plant, which the Ancient Greeks called silphion (silphium), was a golden-flowered plant.

It was once the most sought-after product in the Mediterranean even before the rise of Athens and the Roman Empire."

.

"While Miski was studying the plants on Mount Hassan, he determined it had thirty secondary metabolites that have medical purposes.

Among the compounds are many have cancer-fighting, contraceptive, and anti-inflammatory properties.

Miski believes that future analyses of the plant will reveal the existence of dozens of yet-to-be-identified compounds of medical interest."

There's a link to the original Nat Geo story in the article.

The history of the plant is incredible... and this may well be it.

#2 | Posted by Corky at 2024-08-02 05:07 AM

Good Morning Corky

Those Vikings who originally colonized Newfoundland had no significant military technological edge over the indigenous habitants, so mutual casualty rates in battle were high. But sending Viking reinforcements from Scandinavia was problematic. Dragon-ships carried 100 warriors and the largest Viking ships traveled five to six knots using oar power and up to ten knots under sail.

The later European colonists with firearms, armor, horses, and larger sailboats gave them an advantage over the indigenous peoples so the colonies were worth the effort, unlike Newfoundland. Plus the diseases the later colonists transmitted to the indigenous peoples were much more dangerous to the natives.

Check out "Guns, Germs, and Steel" (1997) by Jared Diamond whenever you get a chance.

#3 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2024-08-02 05:21 AM

Interesting info. Am I correct in thinking the article refers to finds at the L'Anse aux Meadows (en.wikipedia.org) site?

#4 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2024-08-02 05:40 AM

Thanks C... that book was a favorite of mine when it was first published.

#5 | Posted by Corky at 2024-08-02 05:40 AM

You're welcome, Corky.

Then I'm sure you also enjoyed "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers" (1987) by Paul Kennedy.

#6 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2024-08-02 05:45 AM

Morning Doc
How are things today?

#7 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2024-08-02 05:51 AM

had no significant military technological edge over the indigenous habitants,

Mail armor isn't considered an advantage? Or consistent, decent quality steel swords and spear/arrow tips?

#8 | Posted by jpw at 2024-08-02 03:08 PM

Hi JPW

The metallurgic shields and steels of the Vikings were met by the hardwood shields and clubs of the indigenous peoples. Neither side had a casualty-causing weapon like artillery. In the pitched hand-to-hand combat melees that we could only imagine today, the side with the larger numbers would win a war of attrition. For the Vikings, reinforcing this faraway outpost became untenable, especially if there were closer towns along the European coast for them to raid.

Imagery:

#9 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2024-08-02 03:36 PM

yeah, I'm pretty familiar with a typical viking load out.

Hence the initial skepticism/question.

The only advantage the Native Americans would have had was numbers and a much much much shorter resupply and reinforcement route.

#10 | Posted by jpw at 2024-08-03 12:22 AM

Hi JPW. But if the Vikings had QAnon Shaman with them, they might have stood a chance.

See what I mean below?

tse3.mm.bing.net

#11 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2024-08-03 12:29 AM

So... Asians were in America before Vikings.

#12 | Posted by oneironaut at 2024-08-03 01:31 PM

You're an idiot

#13 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2024-08-03 01:33 PM

Chinese German food is my favorite... only thing is, an hour later you are hungry for power!

(old repeatables, lol)

#14 | Posted by Corky at 2024-08-03 01:43 PM

There was (maybe still is, haven't been that way in years) a place with a huge DONUTS/CHINESE FOOD sign in Silverlake.

#15 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2024-08-03 02:22 PM

From the cited sub-article...

... "This is the first time the date has been scientifically established," said archaeologist Margot Kuitems, a researcher at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands who also led the study. ...

Norse colonization of North America
en.wikipedia.org

... The Norse exploration of North America began in the late 10th century, when Norsemen explored areas of the North Atlantic colonizing Greenland and creating a short term settlement near the northern tip of Newfoundland.

This is known now as L'Anse aux Meadows where the remains of buildings were found in 1960 dating to approximately 1,000 years ago.[1][2][3] This discovery helped reignite archaeological exploration for the Norse in the North Atlantic.[4] This single settlement, located on the island of Newfoundland and not on the North American mainland, was abruptly abandoned. ...

From the 1989 [1} citation in the above...

... Recent progress in high-precision calibrations of radiocarbon dates has led to evaluations of earlier research. This has been the case with dates from the Norse settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows which was discovered by Helge Ingstad in 1960. The most problematic feature of this series up to now was the use of sample material which partly derived from driftwood.

The present paper concludes that charcoal from this site demonstrated no greater errors than normal from other settlement sites.

With an assumed total systematic error of 30 20 years, as a mean for various tree rings, the calibrated age range of L'Anse aux Meadows is AD 975"1020. This agrees well with the assumed historical age of ca AD 1000, a result which has also been recently corroborated by high-precision accelerator dating at the University of Toronto. ...

#16 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-08-03 09:53 PM

For the Vikings, reinforcing this faraway outpost became untenable, especially if there were closer towns along the European coast for them to raid.

France was forced to give the Vikings coastal Normandy to stop them from marauding up and down the French coast.

Half of my genetics are Scandinavian and the other half from northern England, where Norman vikings settled after William The Conqueror conquered England in 1066. I am one of his millions of descendants. Most who're descended from ancestors in northern England have Viking blood.

#17 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2024-08-04 12:52 PM

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