The Viking Discovery of America: The Excavation of a Norse Settlement in L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland

W.J. Keith is a retired professor of English at the University of Toronto and author A Sense of Style: Studies in the Art of Fiction in English-Speaking Canada.

In the 1950s the Norwegian archeologist Helge Ingstad became convinced
that the site of Vinland, where the sagas maintained that Vikings first
wintered in North America around A.D. 1000, was situated in Canada
rather than on the eastern seaboard of the United States. In 1960 he
discovered a likely site at L’Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of
Newfoundland, where he and his wife conducted excavations during the
1960s. These excavations did not uncover any of the substantial
artifacts that excite tourists and museum visitors, but they found
enough—a stone lamp, an anvil, a bone needle, and especially a
characteristic bronze ring-headed pin—to justify their theories.

In this book, beautifully produced with numerous maps, drawings, and
photographs, the Ingstads present an account of their discoveries
designed not merely for the specialist but for the serious general
reader. They offer sober descriptions of their archeological
discoveries, carefully sift the literary references in sagas and
historical documents, yet also manage to convey the romance and
excitement of their triumphant quest. Though a little repetitious and
somewhat prolix in style, these reports provide a full cultural context
for their findings.

It would be a slight exaggeration to call Helge a 20th-century Heinrich
Schliemann discovering Viking North America with the aid of the
Greenlanders’ Saga instead of Troy with the Iliad, but he admirably
exemplifies what can be done when historical and archeological expertise
is linked with imaginative vision.

Much of the text has appeared before, but this edition contains new
material (including some up-to-date illustrations), and is the first
time that the full story has appeared in Canada, where L’Anse aux
Meadows is now a national park and appears on the UNESCO World Heritage
List. Anyone paying a visit to the site will profit from this attractive
book.

Finally, one cannot resist noting with awe that the foreword was signed
by Helge Ingstad in August 2000, when he was in his 101st year.