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Medieval Icelandic texts describe a 'sunstone' used to find the Sun on cloudy days. Experiments show crystals such as calcite can do this, but there is still no proof that Viking sailors used one at sea.

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The clearest description is in Rauðúlfs þáttr, an Icelandic tale written down in the 13th or 14th century, in which King Olaf checks the Sun's position by holding a sunstone up to an overcast sky. Church inventories from Iceland in the 14th and 15th centuries also list sunstones. Researchers think the stone was Iceland spar, a clear form of calcite that splits light in two; turning it until both images look equally bright points towards the Sun. Tests in 2011 reported good accuracy, though later attempts found it hard to use. In 2013 a calcite crystal was reported from a 1592 English shipwreck off Alderney, lying near navigation tools.

Türkçe oku
Ortaçağ İzlanda metinleri, bulutlu havada Güneş'in yerini bulmaya yarayan bir “güneş taşı”ndan söz eder. Deneyler kalsit gibi kristallerin bu işi görebildiğini gösteriyor, ama Viking denizcilerinin denizde böyle bir taş kullandığı henüz kanıtlanmış değil.

En açık anlatım, 13. ya da 14. yüzyılda yazıya geçirilen İzlanda hikâyesi Rauðúlfs þáttr'da geçer: Kral Olaf, bulutlu bir günde güneş taşını gökyüzüne tutarak Güneş'in yerini doğrular. İzlanda'daki kiliselerin 14. ve 15. yüzyıl envanterlerinde de güneş taşları kayıtlıdır. Araştırmacılara göre bu taş, ışığı ikiye ayıran saydam bir kalsit türü olan İzlanda spatıydı: taş, içinden görünen iki görüntü eşit parlaklığa gelene dek çevrildiğinde Güneş'in yönünü gösterir. 2011'deki deneyler yöntemin oldukça isabetli olduğunu öne sürdü, ama sonraki denemeler taşı kullanmanın zor olduğunu gösterdi. 2013'te, Alderney açıklarında 1592'de batmış bir İngiliz gemisinde seyir aletlerinin yakınında bir kalsit kristali bulunduğu duyuruldu.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Sunstone (medieval)
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