# New Dating Method Shows Vikings Occupied Newfoundland in 1021 C.E **URL:** \ **Category:** Maritime History\ **Created:** [October 22, 2021, 2:20pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/new-dating-method-shows-vikings-occupied-newfoundland-in-1021-c-e/61089 "2021-10-22T14:20:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kennebec\_Captain](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/kennebec_captain/32/13_2.png) [@Kennebec\_Captain](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Kennebec_Captain)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 2:20pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/new-dating-method-shows-vikings-occupied-newfoundland-in-1021-c-e/61089/1 "2021-10-22T14:20:07Z")
> **[New Dating Method Shows Vikings Occupied Newfoundland in 1021 C.E.](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/new-dating-method-shows-vikings-occupied-newfoundland-in-1021-ce-180978903/)** > > Tree ring evidence of an ancient solar storm enables scientists to pinpoint the exact year of Norse settlement > A new study of wooden artifacts found at Newfoundland’s famed [L’Anse aux Meadows](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/4/) site shows that Vikings lived, and felled trees, on North American soil **exactly 1,000 years ago—during the year 1021 C.E.** The [evidence, published today](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03972-8) in _Nature_ , means that these Norse seafarers accomplished the earliest known crossing of the Atlantic from Europe to the Americas. Such incredibly precise dating of the wood was possible thanks to an intriguing new method that examined growth rings for a once-in-a-millennium cosmic-ray event that showered Earth with high energy particles in 993 C.E. Finding that telltale spike in the tree rings allowed scientists to count additional rings outside that mark to pinpoint the exact year the Vikings cut fir and juniper trees here, as they lived and explored on the edge of the continent. My wife and I were thinking about a trip to L’Anse aux Meadows this summer but the border closure put an end to those plans. ---
**Author:** ![Lee\_Shore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Lee\_Shore](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Lee_Shore)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 3:15pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/new-dating-method-shows-vikings-occupied-newfoundland-in-1021-c-e/61089/2 "2021-10-22T15:15:59Z")
No issue if you’re vaccinated. ---
**Author:** ![Kennebec\_Captain](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/kennebec_captain/32/13_2.png) [@Kennebec\_Captain](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Kennebec_Captain)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 3:18pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/new-dating-method-shows-vikings-occupied-newfoundland-in-1021-c-e/61089/3 "2021-10-22T15:18:58Z")
Yeah, maybe next summer, border opening was too late for us this year. ---
**Author:** ![freighterman1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/freighterman1/32/11176_2.png) [@freighterman1](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/freighterman1)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 4:42pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/new-dating-method-shows-vikings-occupied-newfoundland-in-1021-c-e/61089/4 "2021-10-22T16:42:54Z")
> [@Kennebec\_Captain](#): > > intriguing new method that examined growth rings for a once-in-a-millennium cosmic-ray event that showered Earth with high energy particles in 993 C.E. Finding that telltale spike in the tree rings allowed scientists to count additional rings outside that mark to pinpoint the exact year I am continually amazed by the ingenuity of some people. I can’t even get the same number of socks out of dryer that I put in… ---
**Author:** ![tengineer1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@tengineer1](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/tengineer1)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 7:08pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/new-dating-method-shows-vikings-occupied-newfoundland-in-1021-c-e/61089/5 "2021-10-22T19:08:28Z")
If my ship crashed in Newfoundland I"d be felling trees and making shelter too. Wonder what happened to them? ---
**Author:** ![freighterman1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/freighterman1/32/11176_2.png) [@freighterman1](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/freighterman1)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 8:52pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/new-dating-method-shows-vikings-occupied-newfoundland-in-1021-c-e/61089/6 "2021-10-22T20:52:52Z")
Simon Winchester’s great book _Atlantic_ has a whole section on L’Anse aux Meadows. Apparently it was a small scale exploration/colonization thing run by the Norse from Greenland. The Norse ventured to Iceland and Greenland. Internal squabbles in each settlement sent them looking farther west for more land. But Newfoundland sucked. The Norse left after a few generations. Went back to Greenland, then quit that too for Iceland. Wrote all about in their sagas, but most people thought the sagas were mostly myth, for nearly a 1,000 years. ---
**Author:** ![SaltAir](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/saltair/32/51748_2.png) [@SaltAir](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/SaltAir)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 9:26pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/new-dating-method-shows-vikings-occupied-newfoundland-in-1021-c-e/61089/7 "2021-10-22T21:26:32Z")
[![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/gcaptain_maritime_forum/original/3X/3/9/392590e706c7345c129186f926f3b0cca46ebed7.jpeg "Vikings, TV Ad, Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism (HD)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fLwpybHwhM) ---
**Author:** ![Hogsnort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@Hogsnort](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Hogsnort)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 9:52pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/new-dating-method-shows-vikings-occupied-newfoundland-in-1021-c-e/61089/8 "2021-10-22T21:52:57Z")
A group I’m with have been studying the settlement of the Faroe Islands, Shetland Islands and the Orkney Islands from the time of the Neolithic period onward. The history is fascinating and this news just adds to it. Columbus was an also ran.