File: <norse

The first arrival of humans in America is indefinite, but there is considerable evidence for immigrants from Europe, Asia and Africa going back to the time of mammoths and other extinct animals that were hunted before a mass extinction began around 12,000 BCE. (Mass Extinction & (Pleistocene). The extinction may have resulted from the devastating effects of an asteroid's plunge into the then existent ice sheet covering southeastern Canada (See: Climate ). The extinction is best characterized as a sudden event that took place between 13.8 and 11.4 thousand years before 2017 AD. It probably involved human overkill, comet impact or other rapid events rather than a slow attrition.

There is also evidence for Trans-Atlantic arrivals from southwestern France and western Iberia that derives from the occurrence of Clovis points in eastern North America (See: Aquataine & Map ). The heaviest concentrations of these ancient points are throughout the Ohio, Tennessee, and Mississippi River basins and the eastern United States. Concentrations are fewer in the United States Great Plains and Canada. Clovis points are rarely found west of the Continental Divide and into the Artic region of Canada and Alaska. This kind of point is not reported from the coastal regions of Alaska and Canada, which indicates that it was brought to America by a different route. It is also not reported from the ice shelf regions of the Canadian interior. Genuine Clovis Points have not been found in northeastern Siberia from where they might have been transported to North America. The technology actually originates in the Aquataine Region of southwestern France and northwestern Spain, from whence it was carried in ancient times across the Atlantic Ocean to America. Ancient navigators could have followed glaciated coastlines that periodically occurred in the northern Atlantic Ocean over the millennia. In western Indiana there are skilled carvings on granite stones of extinct mammals and some humans with European appearances (See: Indiana ). This dates the site to the presence of these mammals before their mass extinction around 12,000 BCE.

To account for the massive amount of copper required in Europe during the Bronze Age, ancient explorers between about 2500 BCE and until 1200 BCE obtained great quantities of pure copper from the American Lake Superior region. Transportation is believed by Myron Paine (2007, 2008 & 2013 ) and others to be down the Mississipi River to Louisiana, where it was prepared for shipment and sent to Europe and North Afruca on ships that took advantage of the Gulf Stream. (Hoenke & Paine 2013). However, the remains of ships and burials have not been found, albeit wooden vessels disentegrate over time and cremation leaves scant evidence. Nevertheless, publication in scientific journals for this theory is also lacking.

In the Pacific around 2,000 BCE, Japanese seafarers sailing from southern portions of Japan established colonies along the western portion of South America. In Ecuador they brought with them their pottery, which was of such high quality that the technology of its manufacture spread rapidly out to other parts of the continent and into North America (See: Valdivia Culture.) Some colonies might have been established in North America as well because many Japanese words are still found in some of the Southwestern Amerindian cultures, such as the Zuni. With the melting of the ice sheet in western Canada (See: Climate ) there began an overland immigration of people from Siberia.

Translations of petroglyphs in America by Dr. Barry Fell of Harvard University and his wife René have substantiated the presence of Norsemen from Scandinavia in America during the Late Bronze Age (See: Bronze) and Robert Morritt(). Recent decipherments of the Maya Script have uncovered Maya history going back hundreds of years before the Christian Era. Also, voyages of people from West Africa are not only supported by many ancient stone carvings in southern Mexico (See: Diversity ), but also by aerial photographs showing identical layouts of agricultural plots on both continents (Stuart 1993).

A great mystery is an archeological site in Kansas that indicates the presence of a hominid with a prehensile foot amongst an array of ancient tools (See: Kansas ). As of 2017 there has been no evidence for the existence of pre-human Homo erectus in America, although the investigators have their suspicions of the Kansas site.

In the History of the Liang Dynasty, published in China ca. 629 AD, there is mention of a voyage around 499 AD to a country that was very likely America (Shao 1976). The actual place was described as "The Country of the Extreme East." Shao (1976) also showed many photographs of statues and temple art of Mesoamerica that bear a very close resemblance to similar early art of China and India. Gavin Menzies (2003) also presented more evidence for early Chinese explorations to America in his book, "1421 The Year China Discovered America."

Greenland Vikings

The Vikings in Greenland began to arrive in America about 800 AD. The word "Viking" means “Valley Place” in the Norse Language. The name originates from about 800 AD, when the Norse occupied the valleys of England driving those who resisted into the hills.

A possible visit to North America between 1019 & 1066 by Nordic (Viking) King Harald Sigurdsson Hardråde has been proposed by some groups studying Viking explorations. They suggest that about 200 boats and 3000 Norsemen arrived with him. Some founded temporary settlements along the east coast of Canada, while others rowed through the Christian Sea (now known as Hudson Bay), then up the Nelson and Red Rivers over the Minnesota Tableland into the Mississippi River. Eventually they returned to Norse territory in England. Those Norse may have used the same route as was suggested for the Bronze Age copper explorations. Decipherments of drawings on sticks suggest that they were Christians who recited Genesis as a rowing chant.

Well documented in the scientific literature, Sigurdsson and his men lost the battle with the English at Stratford Bridge. Sigurdsson himself took two arrows in the neck, thus ending the Viking age. The English preferred to use "Viking", with scorn because of their ferocious behavior.

Roman Catholic Bishop Eiríkr Gnúpsson, nicknamed Henricus, came to America in 1121 AD. He was active in the conversion of the natives of Greenland, and was the first bishop that exercised jurisdiction in America. As soon as the Norwegians under Thorwald began to form settlements in Vinland, Eiríkr followed his countrymen from Greenland to the newly discovered continent. Here he labored among the natives for several years.. He built a church in Henricus County, which is near Richmond, Virginia. During his stay he may have converted some Christians in America to Roman Catholicism. Then when colonies began to form in America 500 years later, some of the native people may have been Catholic Christians (Paine 2007, 2008). Those who presently believe that native Americans were pagans should realize that the later colonials might have preferred to perpetuate the pagan myth so that they could occupy native lands (Paine 2007, 2008). However, it is doubtful that in the long absence of contact with Rome native Americans would have retained their faith into the time after Columbus. Also, Dr. Paine's indictment of English colonists exterminating native Americans is contrary to most historical evidence. Although initially conflicts arose with certain Northeastern tribes, for the most part the relationship was rather more amenable and mutually beneficial. Formal trade in 1609 is known with tribes along the Hudson River. There is also some evidence of a treaty with the Lenape Indians known as The Penn Treaty that allowed for colonists land on which to farm. But the treaty was never recorded and with time was broken. Land guaranteed to native Americans has been regularly overrun with development up to the present 2017-2018 government expansion of mining interests in Utah.

Viking Navigation

The Viking Network of Norway (wigo@viking.no) has researched the mystery of how Viking ships were navigated, even in foggy or overcast weather. There were several devices deployed.

Weather Vanes

Weather vanes were found on every ship that gave the wind direction that was vital albeit imperfect information when remote from land. Therefore, it was also essential to have additional navigation instruments.

Bearing Circles

The Vikings had knowledge of a primitive bearing circle. It was based on information about the sun's position at sunrise and sunset. You could find the latitude with the help of a shadow from the vertical pin and the pointer on the platform marked the course. A primitive bearing circle was found on Østerbygda in Greenland, but it is uncertain if this was the same type of bearing circle in use at a later time

Sunstones

The Vikings used the so-called sun stone in order to find the sun on overcast days. The stone was made of the mineral cordierite, a mineral that could show the direction of the sun on cloudy days. The sun stone could only be used when one could see a hint of blue sky.

Sunboards

In the middle of the day the course was corrected with the help of the sunboard. This was an instrument used to measure the height of the sun. If the angle of the sun had gotten much bigger the ship had kept a too southerly course, less of an angle and it had sailed too far north. In cloudy weather or in a fog it was therefore difficult to navigate. Making a course change on the open sea could be risky. Just a small change could result in not coming to the planned destination.

Ottar from Hålogaland in telling about his voyage to the White Sea about 880 said that when he made a course change it was with land in sight but not on the open sea.

Semi-Wheels

Seafarers made many observations of the sun all year round and they knew the sun's path through the heavens for all the seasons. There is a table that was written in Iceland. The table gives the height of the sun for the whole year along with a rundown of sunrises and sunsets. Here you can find where on the horizon the sun goes down and comes up the whole year. All the measurements from this table were put on the so-called semi-wheel. It was then not difficult to find the four directions nor calculate the latitude. It was perfectly natural that guides for seafarers were produced even though the sagas tell us nothing about this.

They often had to find their way back to previously discovered sights by mere chance, places like Iceland and America.

The Red River Valley Viking Settlements

There are archeological and linguistic discoveries of Vikings in the Red River Valley of Minnesota and North Dakota, with some discoveries being made only recently. There is now increased credibility that Viking activity in the Red River Valley is one of the oldest historical areas in North America with many artifacts and testimony to support a coherent 4,200-year-old history.

Over 680 years before 2017 the Vikings began to record the Norse History in America. One-fourth of that history was deciphered by 2017. Thus far revealed is a 4,000-mile, 235-year Immigration through northeastern North America, with the route being traceable on an Old French Map. Also included is information about the locations and experiences of the Norsemen. During a recent Tour of the Viking Waterway, a large ancient jetty was discovered in Stakke Lake. A landowner near the jetty had also found a large stone with a hole in it on his own property near the lake. Later during the tour, a second man-made jetty and four large stones with holes in them were found, apparently defining an ancient gathering place (See: Mooring Stones & Examples ). These discoveries support the existence of a Viking Waterway, with the inability to recover Viking vessels and burials today possibly attributed to wood decay and cremation. Nevertheless, it seems that some metal artifacts associated with vessels would have persisted.

LENAPE = "To Abide With The Pure."

About 880 years before 2017 a Roman Catholic Bishop who lived in North America first used the word "Lenape". Some 600 years earlier 4,000 Lenape people in Greenland began a journey to the Atlantic coast of North America. Their route was over the ice to James Bay, west to the Nelson River, south to the Missouri River, east across the Mississippi River, up the Ohio River, and over the Allegheny Mountains. Then they spread along the Atlantic coast from northern New York to the Carolinas.

In 1708 when the data for the Carte du Canada were collected, the Lenape, occupied more than twenty times the area of the more recent European Christian arrivals.

Old Norse History & Historical Facts

A history of the Norse in America may be correlated to known historical facts, geographical locations and the Viking Visitors conclusions. More history of the Greenland Vikings should gradually unfold as old documents and new ones are discovered.

Bibliography