The Vikings are known throughout account for their seafaring ways , having raided and traded their way to stamp down wide areas of Scandinavia , Northern , and Central Europe . Yet their reach stretch forth much further , at time touching on the Mediterranean and even North Africa . Despite having settle on the eastern glide of Greenland , they werenot guess to havemade substantial inroad into North America , apart from a single village identify in the far N of Canada .
Buta newfangled discoverycould shift all this . On a remote , windswept foreland 645 kilometers ( 400 miles ) far south - west than the only other know American Viking site , archaeologist think that they might have uncovered another Viking settlement on the southerly hint of Newfoundland , one which if confirm will once and for all prove that the Vikings , and not Christopher Columbus , werethe first Europeansto plant metrical foot on and settle the North American continent about 1,000 age ago .
While in the 1960s research worker discover a site at L’Anse aux Meadows in northern Newfoundland that is think to show grounds of Viking natural action , it was all up in the breeze as to whether or not the Norse people actually settle the region , or were just there briefly . The difficulty with answering these questions lies with the passing traces that the Vikings leave behind . Their boats , buildings , and household objects were all made from organic stuff , and coupled with the expose and open coastal landscapes they favored means that little evidence of any settlement would survive .
But settlements entrust behind other trace , as building and activity leave behind chemical changes in the soil . While these ca n’t be go through with the naked eye , there are other ways to find the difference . In steps space archeologist Sarah Parcak , who uses infrared satellite look-alike to count below the airfoil and identify these tell - tale foretoken of human activeness . After find previously unidentified ancient sites in Egypt and Rome , she turned her attention to seeing if she could discover any Norse resolution in North America .
By first off expect at maps and visit where would logically make a good site for a village , she then wait at the orbiter images . By doing this , her aid was drawn to Point Rosee , which seemed to show that something had changed the chemic composition of the soil . This led her and a squad to go out to the internet site and start excavations . Andwhat they foundcould vary the story of the Vikings . Under the surface , blackened stones and piles of charcoal seemed to point a fireside , and within it they find fake bog iron . This is indicative of smelting , a technique that no other modern-day civilization in that area was doing at the time it date to , or so a millennium ago .
They have also uncovered what appear to be turf walls , like those seen in know Viking village in other parts of the northern Atlantic . If these findings are confirmed as more tests and digging are carry out , it would be an unbelievable finding , and one that backs up the older Norse stories , which were until now thought only to be myth .
The discovery of the land site has been document for a video show , " Vikings Unearthed " in the U.S. and " The Vikings Uncovered " in the U.K. , being broadcast on Monday , April 4 on PBS in the U.S. at 3:30 p.m. ET , and BBC One in the U.K. at 8:30 p.m. BST .
