A groundbreaking study has confirmed Vikings had settled in a remote corner of northern Newfoundland by AD 1021, establishing for the first time a precise date for the earliest European habitation in the Americas B次元官网网址� exactly 1,000 years ago.

The remains of the small Norse settlement at LB次元官网网址橝nse aux Meadows were unearthed in 1960 by Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad and his wife, archeologist Anne Stine. But the methods used to pinpoint the date of construction were imprecise.

Until this week, it was believed the Norse encampment was established around AD 1000 B次元官网网址� a finding that prompted CanadaB次元官网网址檚 easternmost province to stage an elaborate re-enactment and festival in 2000 called, B次元官网网址淰ikings! 2000.B次元官网网址�

That initial date of settlement was based on early radiocarbon dating techniques, the results of which were cross-referenced with analysis of the architectural remains and a handful of artifacts, as well as interpretations of Icelandic sagas written centuries after the Vikings had left the island.

B次元官网网址淭he buildings are typical of 11th and 10th century Iceland and Greenland,B次元官网网址� said Birgitta Wallace, a retired senior archeologist with Parks Canada who worked with Ingstad and his wife in the 1960s. B次元官网网址淭heyB次元官网网址檙e quite distinctive in shape and material and there were enough artifacts to confirm that.B次元官网网址�

As well, Ingstad and Stine found wood cut by metal tools, which were not made by the local Indigenous inhabitants.

But radiocarbon dating techniques at the time were lacking. B次元官网网址淵ou got error factors of plus or minus 100 years B次元官网网址� even more sometimes,B次元官网网址� said Wallace, a co-author of the new study published this week in the journal Nature. B次元官网网址淵ou couldnB次元官网网址檛 even say if it was late 10th century or early 11th century.B次元官网网址�

Wallace stressed that the original AD 1000 date was never meant to be a precise declaration. B次元官网网址淏ut this new method pinpoints the exact year,B次元官网网址� she said in an interview Thursday.

Using accelerator mass spectrometry, researchers re-examined tree rings in pieces of wood used to build the camp. They found some tree rings exhibited a pattern consistent with exposure to a solar storm that swept over Earth in AD 993.

B次元官网网址淭here was one year of solar activity that affected the growth of trees throughout the world,B次元官网网址� said Wallace, who specialized in Viking archeology in Sweden and the United States before she moved to Canada. B次元官网网址淭hose tree rings are really wiggly.B次元官网网址�

Wallace said itB次元官网网址檚 important to understand that the new AD 1021 date represents a precise calculation of when the trees used to build the settlement were felled. ThereB次元官网网址檚 no way to know how long the Vikings were in Newfoundland, either before or after that date, but it is widely believed that the settlement existed for a relatively short time.

Still, it is the first and only authenticated Viking settlement in North America, outside of Greenland.

The studyB次元官网网址檚 contributors, who include researchers from the Netherlands, Germany and Canada, found conclusive evidence from three different trees to support their cosmic radiation theory.

B次元官网网址淥ur result of AD 1021 for the cutting year (of the wood) constitutes the only secure calendar date for the presence of Europeans across the Atlantic before the voyages of Columbus,B次元官网网址� the study says.

The archeological find in 1960 turned Norse myth into historical fact. Led by Norse explorer Leif Ericsson, the VikingsB次元官网网址� voyage to Newfoundland B次元官网网址� completed almost 500 years before Christopher Columbus would lay claim to the continent B次元官网网址� was described in two medieval Icelandic documents, the Saga of Erik the Red and the Saga of Greenlanders.

The site at LB次元官网网址橝nse aux Meadows, managed by Parks Canada, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978.

When asked to explain why the latest findings are important, Wallace said the level of precision was key. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 something we rarely have,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淭here are always many uncertainties in archeology.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址擬ichael MacDonald, The Canadian Press