Ship dates from between 990 and 1050 A.D. To put this in perspective, William the Conqueror didn't invade England until 1066, and Columbus didn't "discover" America until 1492, nearly 500 years after this Viking ship came to rest on the shores of the Mississippi River.
What this means is that the ship probably hugged the coast of what is now the US, rounded Florida, and followed the coast to the Mississippi, where it headed north. The article suggests that the crew fought the local indian tribes.
This latest discovery might give authenticity to the Kensington Runestone and other purported Viking artifacts found in the US.
*Update: The story is a hoax. I apologize to my readers for the error.
3 comments:
That's pretty cool. I never totally bought off on those history lessons of Columbus being the first. Probably because I'm descended from Vikings.
@Brigid: Columbus wasn't the first, of course, but traditionally gets the credit, although Leif Ericson of Iceland is more in favor these days. Other pre-Columbian explorers possibly included St. Brendan of Ireland, Prince Madoc of Wales, among many others. More recently it is thought that there were Chinese visits to the west coast of America. Louis L'Amour often wrote of pre-Columbian explorations in his novels.
Damn. I'm let down about the hoax. That was pretty neat while it lasted.
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