L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site

L'Anse aux Meadow, Canada
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Authentic_Viking_recreation.jpg
Author: Dylan Kereluk


L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site, at the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula, Canada, is where remains of an 11th century Viking settlement has been unearthed. It presents evidence of the first European arrival in North America. The wood-framed peat-turf structures that were escavated at L'Anse aux Meadows are similar to those found in Norse Greenland and Iceland.

L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site was inscribed as a World Heritage Site during the 2nd session of the World Heritage Committee which met in Washington, D.C., USA, on 5th to 8th September, 1978.

The name L'Anse aux Meadows actually comes from L'Anse-aux-Méduses, which roughly translates as "Jellyfish Cove". Somehow "Méduses" became "Meadow" in English. The site was only discovered in 1960 by Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad and his archaeologist wife Anne Stine Ingstad. It remains to this day as the only site where a Norse village had once been established outside of Greenland. It is proof that the Vikings did arrive in North America.

Among the structures excavated at L'Anse aux Meadows include the remains of eight buidings of turf over wooden frame. These structures are believed to be living quarters and workshops.

L'Anse aux Meadow, Canada
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carlb-ansemeadows-vinland-03.jpg
Author: Carlb


Artifacts discovered on the site include those connected to iron work, carpentry and boat repair. Also found are everyday items of the Vikings, including stone oil lamp, whetstone, fastening pin, knitting needle and part of a spindle. The discovery of the knitting needle and spindle suggests that there may have been women at the site in addition to men. The discovery of food remains, such as butternuts, point to the possibility that the Viking people had travelled further south, as butternuts do not grow that far north, and could only be found in places like New Brunswick.

World Heritage Site Inscription Details

Location: N 51 28 0 W 55 37 0
Inscription Year: 1978
Type of Site: Cultural
Inscription Criteria: VI

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