L'Anse aux Meadows

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Image:Authentic Viking recreation.jpg Image:World Heritage Emblem.jpgL'Anse aux Meadows (from the French L'Anse-aux-Méduses (Jellyfish Cove)) is a site on the northernmost tip of the island of Newfoundland, in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, where the remains of a Viking village were discovered in 1960 by the Norwegian explorer Dr. Helge Ingstad and his archaeologist wife, Dr. Anne Stine Ingstad.

The only authenticated Viking settlement in continental North America, it was the site of a multi-year archaeological dig that found dwellings, tools and implements that verified its time frame. The settlement, dating more than 500 years before Christopher Columbus, contains the earliest European structures in North America. Named a World Heritage site by UNESCO, it is believed to be the semi-legendary 'Vinland' settlement of explorer Leif Ericson around 1000 AD. This attribution is debated by historians; see Vinland for details.

The climate in Newfoundland then was significantly warmer than it is today. As recounted in the sagas, Leifur set forth from Greenland to search for the land Bjarni Herjólfsson had told him of. He found a land rich with grapes, salmon, and a frost free winter, and returned to harvest lumber to take back to tree-poor Greenland. L'Anse aux Meadows has been variously identified as: (a) the first camp made, (b) the camp made after fleeing hostile Skrælings, or (c) a camp not mentioned in the saga. Image:Carlb-ansemeadows-vinland-01.jpg The settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows consisted of at least 8 buildings, including a forge and smelter, and a lumberyard that supported a shipyard. The saga describes a colonizing attempt led by Thorfinn Karlsefni, with as many as 135 men and 15 women, who used Leifur's camp as a base. Sewing and knitting tools found at the site indicate women were present at L'Anse aux Meadows. Among them was Freydís Eiríksdóttir, half-sister to Leif.

The site was only used for 2 or 3 years. It is conjectured, based on both literary and archaeological evidence, that poor relations with natives doomed the settlement to abandonment. Intergroup conflict over women and unexpected weather have both been suggested as the cause for its abandonment. Image:Vikings-Voyages.png L'Anse aux Meadows may also be connected to the Algonquin legend of a Kingdom of Saguenay populated by a race of blond men rich in furs and metals, but this is only conjecture.

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