10 Facts About L’Anse aux Meadows, North America’s Only Viking Ruins

Recreated Viking sod houses behind a wooden fence at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada. / Dylan Kereluk, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY 2.0

L’Anse aux Meadows, an archaeological site in Newfoundland, Canada, represents the first and only confirmed Viking presence in North America—proving beyond doubt that Vikings reached the Americas some 400 years before Christopher Columbus. Here are 10 facts about L’Anse Aux Meadows and some of its mysteries that are yet to be solved.

1. Vikings were not the first people to live at L’Anse aux Meadows.

Archaeological evidence of fireplaces, tent rings, and other artifacts suggest that several Indigenous groups lived at L’Anse aux Meadows before and after the Vikings occupied the site. They include peoples of the Maritime Archaic tradition from roughly 4000 to 1000 BCE, the Groswater tradition from 1000 BCE to 500 CE, and the Middle Dorset Culture from 400 to 750 CE. Historians believe there were no people present at the time of the Norse arrival, though.

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