Day 12 – Vikings and Icebergs

We had a steady rain all night and skies are grey this morning. The picture above over looking the village of L’Anse aux Meadows (population 18) is about the only sunshine we saw all day. And this was the first cool day so far this trip. What better weather to go see how the Norse lived a thousand years ago?

L’Anse aux Meadows is the location of the only authenticated Viking site in North America. It dates to 1,000 a.d., five hundred years before Columbus. The temporary settlement was only used for a period of 5 to 10 years as an overwintering camp and for ship repairs. They smelted iron from bog ore pulled from the surrounding streams and marshes. No one is quite sure how far south they ventured other than they had to make New Brunswick based on their description of wild grape vines and the finding of butternuts at the site and they were cutting timber from Labrador. The theory that Vikings made it as far as Minnesota is highly unlikely (sorry Minnesota Vikings football fans). Between the cooling climate, conflict with indigenous people, and easier trading with Europe, the site was abandoned.

Norse life was hard. 50% child mortality and the average life span for a Norse woman was only 25 years. Childbirth and black lung disease (from being inside with the cooking fires) were the primary killers. Men didn’t fare much better although a few made it to around 50.

We also went over to Norstead, a representation of a permanent settlement that might have been found in Greenland or Iceland. The Norse were primarily farmers and Christianity was gaining a foothold in their society.

The Snorri is a life-size replica of a Viking ship which was sailed from Greenland to Newfoundland in the late 90’s to recreate Leif Ericsson’s route. It took a crew of nine (the 2nd attempt) 87 days to make the trip the Norse did in roughly 25 although the Norse would have had a larger crew. http://www.norstead.com/main.asp?nav=showEvent&eid=yoUnXyihJj