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L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland is the only confirmed Norse site in North America: tree-ring dating shows Norse people were cutting wood there in AD 1021, nearly five centuries before Columbus.

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The Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad and his wife, the archaeologist Anne Stine Ingstad, found the site in 1960 and excavated it over the following years. They uncovered the remains of eight turf-walled buildings, a smithy where iron was worked, iron boat rivets and a bronze cloak pin, all typical of the Norse world rather than of local peoples. In 2021 a study in Nature fixed the date: a burst of cosmic radiation in AD 993 left a marker in tree rings worldwide, and by counting rings outward from it in wood cut with metal tools, researchers reached the year 1021. The site became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978.

Türkçe oku
Kanada'nın Newfoundland adasındaki L'Anse aux Meadows, Kuzey Amerika'da kesin olarak doğrulanmış tek İskandinav yerleşimidir. Ağaç halkaları, İskandinavların burada MS 1021'de, yani Kolomb'dan yaklaşık beş yüzyıl önce ağaç kestiğini gösteriyor.

Alanı 1960'ta Norveçli kâşif Helge Ingstad ile arkeolog eşi Anne Stine Ingstad buldu ve sonraki yıllarda kazdı. Çim kesekleriyle örülmüş sekiz yapının kalıntıları, demir işlenen bir demirci ocağı, tekne perçinleri ve tunç bir pelerin iğnesi çıktı; hepsi yerel halklara değil, İskandinav dünyasına özgüydü. 2021'de Nature dergisinde yayımlanan bir çalışma tarihi kesinleştirdi: MS 993'te Dünya'ya ulaşan güçlü bir kozmik ışınım, o yılın ağaç halkalarında her yerde bir iz bıraktı. Araştırmacılar, metal aletlerle kesilmiş ağaçlarda bu izden dışa doğru halkaları sayarak 1021 yılına ulaştı. Alan 1978'de UNESCO Dünya Mirası Listesi'ne alındı.

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