Archaeologist not hopeful of finding definite proof
Birgitta
Wallace, senior archaeologist emerita with Parks Canada, says she
believes Vikings had summer camps in New Brunswick's Miramichi and
Chaleur Bay area. (Contributed/Rob Ferguson)
Did
Vikings visit New Brunswick's Miramichi and Chaleur Bay areas?
According to the research done by Birgitta Wallace, senior archaeologist
emerita with Parks Canada, they did.
"I'm really convinced that the Vikings did visit that area. Not all my colleagues would agree with me," said the woman who's been studying Vikings for 50 years.
While she is certain the Vikings did spend time in Miramichi and Chaleur Bay, she says she is not hopeful of ever finding anything to prove it.
Wallace said she determined that the second location that Vikings visited in North America, known as "Hóp," meaning "tidal lagoon," was in the Miramichi and Chaleur region after she studied the Vikings sagas. She also drew on her extensive work at L'Anse aux Meadows, located on the very northern tip of Newfoundland.
The sagas are contained in medieval documentation from Iceland that goes back to the oral history of the Vikings. They were not written down until 300 years after the actual events occurred, so Wallace said the oral telling of the stories may have changed a bit over time.
"There are two separate manuscripts...that talk about voyages to what must be North America because it's land west and south of Greenland."
"These were people who just settled in Greenland in 985. They were immigrating there from Iceland."
Wallace said when voyages began between Norway or Iceland and Greenland, it was inevitable that someone would get blown off course. She believes this is how they found North America.
The other story features a different person and combines all the expeditions into one that go between two areas: "Hóp," meaning "tidal lagoon," a summer camp and a settlement further north described as being in fjord.
"After
working a lot with the L'Anse Meadows and what we found there, it's
really clear that L'Anse Meadows is base camp...it fits with
everything," said Wallace. "And from that camp... we know they went
farther south and we know they must have gone as far south as eastern
New Brunswick."
Wallace believes those explorations were done through the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which would have led the Vikings to find the Miramichi and Chaleur regions.
Wallace based her conclusions on the finding of pieces of wood, butternuts and butternut wood at the L'Anse Meadows camp.
"And butternuts have never grown north of northeastern New Brunswick. They are not native to either P.E.I. or Nova Scotia, so New Brunswick is the closest location."
"It talks about sandbars outside the coast, rivers and wonderful hardwoods and not the least, wild grapes. And it so happens that butternuts grow in pretty much the same location as grapes and ripen at the same time," she said.
"So, whoever picked those nuts would have seen those grapes."
"I'm really convinced that the Vikings did visit that area. Not all my colleagues would agree with me," said the woman who's been studying Vikings for 50 years.
While she is certain the Vikings did spend time in Miramichi and Chaleur Bay, she says she is not hopeful of ever finding anything to prove it.
Wallace said she determined that the second location that Vikings visited in North America, known as "Hóp," meaning "tidal lagoon," was in the Miramichi and Chaleur region after she studied the Vikings sagas. She also drew on her extensive work at L'Anse aux Meadows, located on the very northern tip of Newfoundland.
Sagas tell Viking history
The sagas are contained in medieval documentation from Iceland that goes back to the oral history of the Vikings. They were not written down until 300 years after the actual events occurred, so Wallace said the oral telling of the stories may have changed a bit over time.
"There are two separate manuscripts...that talk about voyages to what must be North America because it's land west and south of Greenland."
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"These were people who just settled in Greenland in 985. They were immigrating there from Iceland."
Wallace said when voyages began between Norway or Iceland and Greenland, it was inevitable that someone would get blown off course. She believes this is how they found North America.
Two versions
The archaeologist said there are two versions of the story. One talks about Leif Erikson retracing the watery path of one of these off-course trips, but it only talks about one settlement where he built a base camp and made four expeditions.The other story features a different person and combines all the expeditions into one that go between two areas: "Hóp," meaning "tidal lagoon," a summer camp and a settlement further north described as being in fjord.
Vikings settled at the L'Anse aux Meadows site on the northern peninsula of Newfoundland. (CBC)
Wallace believes those explorations were done through the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which would have led the Vikings to find the Miramichi and Chaleur regions.
Wallace based her conclusions on the finding of pieces of wood, butternuts and butternut wood at the L'Anse Meadows camp.
"And butternuts have never grown north of northeastern New Brunswick. They are not native to either P.E.I. or Nova Scotia, so New Brunswick is the closest location."
Description fits
Wallace said the descriptions in the sagas match that part of N.B. well."It talks about sandbars outside the coast, rivers and wonderful hardwoods and not the least, wild grapes. And it so happens that butternuts grow in pretty much the same location as grapes and ripen at the same time," she said.
"So, whoever picked those nuts would have seen those grapes."
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