It's known that the Norse landed in Canada to become the first Europeans to cross the Atlantic, but precisely when they encircled the globe to do that remained a question until lately. However,
The Guardian.com in UK reports that with a new type of dating technique using a long-ago solar storm as reference point, scientists have now precisely established that the Vikings had put up a settlement in Newfoundland in AD1021 or 471 years before Columbus’s first voyage to North America.
IMAGE CREDIT: ALAMY THE GUARDIAN.COM UKThe Icelandic sagas depict a Viking presence in North America, led by Leif Erikson
in a place called Vinland.
By examining the tree rings of three juniper and fir logs that were cut from the settlement, the scientists were able to date the event to exactly a millennium ago. This study published in the journal
Nature "made use of the cosmic-ray induced upsurge in atmospheric radiocarbon concentrations during a known solar storm in AD993, which released an enormous pulse of radiation that was absorbed by trees at the time."
Read "Solar storm confirms Vikings settled in North America exactly 1,000 years ago" in the October 31, 2021 issue of TheGuardian.com UK now! RELATED READING IN THE FORUM:"A kaleidoscopic world history through artifacts from the ages"
