Leif Erikson slept here -- maybe

In this post I will tend to use Norse or Norsemen and Viking as more or less synonymous. Apparently, according to our guide, Norse and Norsemen refer to Scandinavian explorers/traders, while Vikings refer to Norsemen who set out on voyages of conquest.

Sculpture of Vikings welcomes visitors to L'Anse aux Meadows

I planned this trip with nothing more in mind than visiting St. John's. But as I researched things to do, I came across a mention of a Viking village recreation that other tourists found interesting. Because the site often appeared in conjunction with St. John's, I thought it must not be far away and suggested we should check it out.

We had seen the entire cable series "Vikings," which had prompted us to read a couple of books on Viking history. As I continued to look at Internet sites, I discovered that the recreated village was located a couple of kilometers away from a place called L'Anse aux Meadows, the site of the first, and I believe only, verified Viking site in North America. We had to go. Well, maybe not had to.

L'Anse aux Meadows has nothing to do with actual meadows. It is a corruption of the French Anse a la Medee, Cove of Medee. Medee, in turn, is thought to refer to Medea, an ancient Greek heroine. Don't try running the name through Google Translate -- it will confuse you.

Then I discovered where these sites were located. St. John's is on the far, southeastern part of Newfoundland. L'Anse aux Meadows is on the far, northwestern tip of the island. And there's no simple way of getting there. 

Unidentified cruise ship anchored in the cove near L'Anse aux Meadows. It

left while we toured the site, so none of our fellow tourists (probably) had 

come here on that ship. 

I checked Google Maps for driving directions, and it told me the attractions were almost 1,100 km away -- about 664 miles -- and the trip would take more than 11 hours to drive. Now, I've driven that far in a single day but -- for one exception, a trip to South Padre Island -- I was a lot younger then. We'd have had to split the trip up, meaning the trip would take four days out of our planned seven-day trip. 

I discovered that we could fly to a town near the Viking site, St. Anthony, on a commuter airline, rent a car and drive a short distance to the park, so I began planning to do that. Our move to a new house disrupted my planning, and by the time I tried to make final arrangements, I discovered that the airport we'd arrive at only had one rental car company, and it had no cars for rent. Also no available alternate transportation.

The only other option was to fly to Deer Lake, rent a car -- the airport had several car rental firms available -- and drive four and a half to five hours to get to the site. Both towns have one direct flight in and one out from St. John's, so we'd have to spend the night either way. But had we been able to fly to St. Anthony, we would have arrived early enough to spend a significant portion of the day at L'Anse aux Meadows, the recreated village, and other attractions in the area. Flying to Deer Lake meant we'd only have two or three hours, but Sharon was OK with that, so I made the arrangements. 

The visitor center overlooks the site. You can just see the sculpture on the 

hill behind the building.

We picked up our car in Deer Lake and headed out. Our route would take us up the western coastline, through the edge of Gros Morne National Forest and Park, and east across the northern part of the peninsula. The only hotel with an available room I could find to book operated a multiroom log cabin in the woods -- charmingly called Viking Inn -- about a 30-minute drive away from L'anse aux Meadows. Fortunately it was sort of on the way, so we stopped there, checked in and headed for the site. 

The actual distance to the site wasn't that far, but the drive included a dirt/gravel road and a two-lane, twisty road with a low speed limit. We arrived about two and a half hours before closing. Because of our limited time, we had decided to only visit the actual Viking site. A recreated Viking ship is also housed nearby, but we'd have to skip that as well. 

A metal statue of a band of Vikings sits atop a hill next to the parking lot and entrance, welcoming visitors. The visitor center lay about a quarter mile up a path from the parking lot. When we checked in, we were told that a guided tour had just left, and if we hustled we could catch up with the group before it had progressed too far. 

We missed the opening section of the guide's remarks, which undoubtedly told of the discovery of the site, also recounted on signs and literature available at the center. A Norwegian explorer named Helge Ingstad, having studied the Icelandic sagas of Erik the Red and Leif Erikson, set out to try to find the likely candidates for Norse settlements in North America.  These sagas were based on oral tradition and written down in about 1200 C.E.

He traveled to the area of Canada that best fit his understanding of the sagas and began asking locals about mounds they might know about. In 1960, at L'Anse aux Meadows, a fisherman led Ingstad to an area the locals had always assumed were mounds from an ancient, indigenous people. He and his wife, an archaeologist, recognized the shapes of the mounds and decided they were probably the remains of a Norse settlement. A few years later excavations at the site turned up artifacts with clear ties to Icelandic and Norse settlements, establishing the site as the only confirmed Viking settlement in North America (not counting Greenland -- see that discussion in a previous post).

The site dates to about 1,000 C.E. Archaeologists believe it was primarily used as a repair station for Norse ships exploring the area and doing some trading, and that it was only occupied for a short period. The buildings were probably burned when the site was abandoned.

One of the large halls. Look carefully, and you can see the outlines of the rooms.

This circular mound may be the remains of a hut for servants. Yeah, kinda small.

The visible mounds mark the outlines of eight buildings, two halls that would have been occupied by a community leader and someone of high social status, a couple smaller living quarters for lower status members of the community and servants, another hall that may have housed laborers and three huts for workshops and a furnace for smelting ore to produce iron. 

If I'd had a drone, or longer arms, you could see the room divisions better.
The hall above had four rooms. This one encompasses six or seven rooms.

Our guide conjectured that the larger of the two halls could have been occupied by Leif Erikson, as would befit his status if he had actually been there, but there's no direct evidence to support this hypothesis. 

The re-created hall. This had four rooms, so likely would be much like the 

first of the mounds we encountered. You can see a bit of a fence to the left, 

but this was not a part of the original village. I asked the guide about it, and he

told me they built the fence to keep animals from nearby farms out. The critters

like to eat the recreations. More pics at the end.

At the "back" of the park lie several recreations of buildings constructed using wood framing and peat blocks, the material that would have been available to the Vikings. The walls were at least three feet thick, and the roof was covered with grass. The day we were there, the temps were in the 50s, with decent wind blowing and mist/light rain falling, making it a cold, blustery day. Inside the buildings, an open fire and the natural insulation provided by the peat block made the building pretty cozy. 

Fake Viking.

Inside the long hall, a couple dressed like Norse of the period discussed what daily life was like, and tourists were free to roam around the rooms. One large room contained recreations of Viking helmets, swords, axes, shields and the like, and visitors were welcome to dress up and take pictures.Let me tell you, the large wooden shields are as heavy or heavier than the weaponry, which is plenty heavy, and those guys would have needed a great deal of strength and stamina to wield these items in a prolonged battle. 

By the way, despite a well reported story from a couple of years ago in which a study purported to prove Viking women were warriors, out guide flat out said that Norse women did not fight and were not Vikings. Sorry, Lagertha. (If you haven't seen "Vikings," that reference will mean nothing.)

Meeting of Two Worlds sculpture. The one on the left represents a Viking

sail, and the one on the right is supposed to be a bird, representing indigenous

peoples

A feature in the park we passed through on our way back to the visitor center is a sculpture called "Meeting of Two Worlds," which is supposed to represent when the Norsemen came into contact with the indigenous people of the area. This is also supposed to represent a closing of a circle wherein ancient peoples migrated into North America from the west untold millennia ago and met more modern descendants of our ancient ancestors who had settled in Europe but had now migrated east to come into contact with the native culture. Take a look at the picture, and tell me if you get that.

With the weather as raw as it was, we retreated to the visitor center to see some of the artifacts that convinced archaeologists of L'Anse aux Meadows' heritage and a replica trading ship. Most of the  artifacts from the site are housed in St. John's according to the guide from our tour of the site. That would place them either in The Rooms or at the university. We didn't see any artifacts while touring The Rooms and didn't visit the university.

Next: A little about our drive up the coast and a few observations. 

Bedroom area in the long hall. It looked like about four adults could sleep here. This

is located at the near end of the photo above.

The main gathering area, next to the sleeping quarters above. I've lightened
the photo a bit to bring out detail, but the light was mostly provided by a fire
in the center of the room, so in reality, it was darker than this.. A couple of
lamps hung in the room, but I don't remember whether they were lit.

The far end of the hall. The room containing the replica shields and weapons
in the photo of me above abutted the main gathering room, and this room joined
weapons room. Note the bed at the end. 

This building housed the smeltery. A couple of men inside demonstrated how

the ore was heated to produce the iron, They used an interesting double bellows

to keep the fire supplied with oxygen. And, yes, it was hot in there. 

Replica ship. The Vikings had three kinds of ships: the long boat for waging
war, cargo ships in heavy and light configurations, and small boars like these
for trading, fishing, and transportation along coasts and rivers.

Students from Memorial University in St. John's excavating an area near the
mounds. We were told their time at the site would end soon, and they would
return to start classes.