Scientists studied the wood from which the settlement of "L'Anse aux Meadows" was built, and found that it dates back to about 1000 years.
This discovery helped clarify how far before the Vikings reached the Americas, predating Christopher Columbus. The study was published in the journal Nature.
L'Anse aux Meadows is the earliest known Viking settlement in North America, located in what is now Newfoundland, Canada. To determine when the Scandinavian seafarers arrived, researchers used a new method of dating the timbers from which the dwellings were built.
This method is based on the fact that solar storms leave a clear imprint on the levels of radioactive carbon within the annual growth rings of trees, and a strong solar storm was recorded in 992.
After analyzing tree trunks from three different sources, 29 annual rings were found after the signal associated with the solar storm, indicating that the trees were cut down in 1021.
Accordingly, it is likely that the Vikings arrived in North America about 471 years before Columbus, since Columbus's arrival in the New World dates back to 1492.
The study's leader, geologist Michael Dee of the University of Groningen, said the wood was not made by the indigenous people, based on the presence of traces of metal tools that were not available to them at that time.
It remains unclear how long the Vikings stayed in the area, but estimates suggest it may have been no more than ten years, with around 100 settlers likely present at the site at any one time. Their buildings resemble Scandinavian architecture found in Greenland and Iceland.
Michael Dee noted that this discovery reinforces the idea that the Vikings were the first human society to cross the Atlantic Ocean, suggesting that their motives were to search for new resources, especially timber, which was scarce in Greenland.
Icelandic sagas describe the Viking presence in North America, mentioning a leader named Leif Erikson and a settlement known as "Vinland," as well as both peaceful and violent interactions with the local population. The researcher believes that the year 1021 aligns closely with the accounts in these sagas.
