June 13th 2005 by ScottishKyle
Christopher Columbus is the internationally celebrated discoverer of
North America. However many may not know or may not accept that Leif Eriksson
and the Vikings really discovered North America years before Columbus's journeys. Many people do not recognize that Leif Eriksson and the Vikings were the first settlers and discovers of North America. We have no national holiday to celebrate the Vikings but we do have one to celebrate Columbus. Christopher Columbus is in no way connected to the discovery of North America, forget about him period. The absolute, authentic discovery of North America must be credited to Leif Eriksson and the Vikings because of tangible evidence, excavated settlements, and research by worldwide professionals.
According to carbon dating and archaeologists, Leif Eriksson and the Vikings discovered North America around 1000AD. This is about 500 years before Columbus made his journey to seek a new world. Therefore, it does not matter whether Columbus discovered America or not because the Vikings were there first. As Leif sailed toward the coast of North America, the first area Leif Eriksson saw of North America was what is now called Labrador which he named Markland meaning Woodland because of all the woods there. The second area Leif fell upon was what now consists of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island which he called Vinland which means Wineland because of all the grapes growing wild there. Tangible evidence for this journey is found in many places in North America. One example of such evidence is the Norwegian silver penny found at the Goddard site, a large Native American archaeological site at Naskeag Point, Penobscot Bay, Maine in the summer of 1957 by Guy Mellgren. At first, Guy Mellgren did not say anything about it, for years and did not even record it in his log but he did put a small C on the Goddard map to record it. He thought people would think he was crazy if he said he found a Viking penny in North America. He finally told people about it in the early 1970s after it had been sitting in a Maine Museum collection of Indian artifacts for 15 years. You would think a visitor would have said something. Some heard his voice but the Archaeological community did not listen as well. Fortunately, he was a well standing archaeologist and respected by many. After much debate about the coin between professionals in the 1970s a professional coin dealer and collector in London identified it as a rare Norse penny minted from 600AD to 1100AD. Shock was sent around the world but by this time the Viking settlement known as LAnse aux meadows had been discovered in Newfoundland and excavated but thats in Canada and this coin was found in America. The fact that the coin was found among traded Native American goods makes it very possible that it was from Vinland or LAnse aux meadows (Viking settlement) in Newfoundland. Therefore, it must have been traded with the Native Americans for food or something. Archaeologists know that the Vikings traded
and battled with the Native Americans of Canada. An example of this is when a Native American killed Leif Erikssons brother. The point I am trying to make is that this Viking coin is evidence of the Vikings in North America long before Columbus sought to find the new world.
More tangible evidence includes the first excavated Viking settlement in Newfoundland, Canada called LAnse aux meadows by the French meaning Jellyfish Cove which was discovered in 1961 by the Norwegian explorer Dr. Helge Ingstad and his archaeologist wife, Dr. Anne Stine Ingstad (1918-1997). LAnse aux meadows in northern Newfoundland is pronounced locally Lancy meadows. Dr. Helge Ingstad (1899-2001) was an amazing person being a Norwegian writer, adventurer, trapper, lawyer, politician and discoverer. He transformed a myth and legend into scientific fact in 1961 when he & his wife found ruins in LAnse aux meadows on the north coast of Newfoundland which proved beyond a doubt that the Vikings, not Columbus, were the first discoverers and settlers of North America. This discovery was so big that when Dr. Helge Ingstad died on March 29, 2001 at the age of 101 his funeral was attended by Norways Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, who gave the eulogy and King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway and other important politicians. The Prime Minister of Norway in the eulogy praised Dr. Helge Ingstad saying that he "changed the understanding of world history". (Phillips) Another example of how big this discovery was is when in the millennium (2000AD) the Smithsonian Museum went on tour around Canada and the USA showing original artifacts from LAnse aux meadows and other artifacts like the Viking coin found in Maine and replica Viking ships. The exhibit lasted from 2000 to autumn 2002. A Viking IMAX movie is presently underway. The Smithsonian Museum of Washington, DC picked the year 2000 to do the tour because it was the 1000th anniversary of the Viking discovery of North America. In 2000 an Iceland native named Gunner Marel Eggertsson set sail on a replica Viking ship named the Icelander. He set sail from Iceland to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the discovery of North America and he traced the Vikings footsteps to Newfoundland and sailed down the coast of Nova Scotia and all the way to New York City stopping off and on. This trip got lots of publicity and lots of people welcomed Gunner Eggertsson to their ports. That journey is just another example of how big this discovery was. LAnse aux meadows was excavated by Dr. Helge Ingstad and his wife from 1961 to 1968. During this excavation they found a total of 2,400 artifacts. About 1,500 of the 2,400 artifacts were wood and found in a peat bog. Artifacts that were found included loom weights, a whetstone, a cloak pin of bronze, a glass bead, bone needle, ship parts, ship repair tools, spindle whorl, iron rivets, iron reminisce and other artifacts. They also found eight foundations of buildings and huts. The buildings and huts were made from timber and sod, traditional Icelandic style buildings. Many of the buildings were workshops. The workshops included a blacksmith, a boat repair shed and a furnace. A lot of artifacts were found in and around the foundations. Dr. Helge Ingstad and his wife wrote a book on their excavation at the L Anse aux meadows site it is called The Viking Discovery of America. From 1973-1976 the Canadian Park Service started another excavation of the site, finding even more artifacts. These excavations of artifacts can tell us a lot about what happened during the Viking occupation like loom weights, bone needles and a spindle whorl show that there were women making clothes at the site. All the Iron remains including rivets show that there was blacksmithing occurring there. The wood scraps and wood items show that the Vikings used carpentry a lot there too. There also were ship repairing tools and parts found at the site which show they may have made or repaired their boats there. All the Viking artifacts show that the Vikings did settle here in about 1000AD. There is no question that the Vikings did settle in North America in c1000AD.
Research by world wide professionals including Archaeologists, Historians, and Scientists conclude that the Vikings discovered North America. It has taken a while to prove that the Vikings discovered North America but it is finally out and about, making its way into classrooms around the globe. Research and studies done by professionals have included archeology digs, studying Icelandic Sagas including Leif Erikssons saga, radio carbon dating, surveying land, compiling evidence, organizing evidence, and numerous other studies and research. These professionals know what they are talking about and many archaeologist and scientist not only study Viking history they also teach it at major universities and colleges around the world.
In conclusion there is tons of more evidence and artifacts that I have not mentioned. We have been living in North America under the assumption that Columbus discovered North America and now that we have Columbus Day still it is outrageous and a lie, there should be a Viking holiday and a memorial to celebrate the Viking discovery and settlement of North America and credit towards the discovery should be given all to the Vikings and their descendants like me!
Works Cited
Cohat, Yves. The Vikings: Lords of the Seas. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1992.
Haywood, John. The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings. London: Penguin Group,
1995.
Henriksson, Karin. Vikings on the tour in the West. Svenska Dagbladet. Feb. 1998. 13
June 2005 .
Phillips, Ellen and Tara Prime. WebQuest. Halifax Regional School Board. 13 June 2005.
2 comments:
In a college class about Native American history which I attended in 1982 in Riverside Calif. We have known for a very long time that a North Eastern tribe called the Iraqois had people with blue eyes and blond hair and people with green eyes and red hair. They were fair of skin and said to be a beautiful people with fine features. They were known to were beautiful colors of jewelery and clothing. I have known since then that the european Columbus was not the first to discover North America. And if we study the Nights of Templar name St. Clair or Sinclair we also know Columbus was FAR FROM First to dicover N. America. English and Spainish Politics are the only reason Columbus was acknowledged a discoverer. And yet both the English and the Spanish may have been used by Columbus as he was on a mission of his own to track the Templar Sinclair and find the religious artifacts which could change the world if they were to be brought to the light of day. The Minora of Solomon and the Ark of the Covenent
Post a Comment