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L'Anse aux Meadows
Sign in to savearchaeological site on the island of Newfoundland, Canada
L'Anse aux Meadows is an archaeological site on the island of Newfoundland, Canada, where evidence of Norse settlement has been found. It is significant because it represents the only known confirmed Viking presence in North America, predating Columbus by roughly 500 years.
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Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- archaeological site
- Country
- Canada
- Located in
- Newfoundland and Labrador
- Area
- 7991
- Image
- 2022-08-27 05 View of L'Anse aux Meadows, NFL CAN.jpg
Show 3 more facts
- Commons category
- L'Anse aux Meadows
- heritage designation
- World Heritage Site
- native label
- L'Anse aux Meadows
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Encyclopedic overview
L'Anse aux Meadows is an archaeological site, first excavated in the 1960s, of a Norse settlement dating to approximately 1,000 years ago. The site is located near St. Anthony on the northernmost tip of the island of Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
With carbon dating estimates between 990 and 1050 CE (mean date 1014) and tree-ring dating of 1021, L'Anse aux Meadows is the only undisputed site of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact of Europeans with the Americas outside of Greenland. It is notable as evidence of the Norse presence in North America and for its possible connection with the accounts of Leif Erikson in the Saga of the Greenlanders and the Saga of Erik the Red, which were written down in the 13th century. Archaeological evidence suggests the settlement served as a base camp for Norse exploration of North America, including regions to the south.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “L'Anse aux Meadows” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.