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| Looks like Leif Erickson to me |
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| The Hall main compound built of peat bog |
Cheers from L’Anse aux Meadows which is the first Viking settlement in North America dating back to 1000 AD. It is the only authenticated Viking site in the New World. Located at the very tip of the Great Northern Peninsula we have been able to see Labrador just across the strait. This area is often known as Iceberg Alley. In 1960 a Norwegian husband and wife archeological team uncovered the remnants of eight buildings here where the Norse expedition from Greenland settled. The original excavations that took place are overgrown with grasses now, but the mounds are very apparent. Peat from the surrounding bogs was cut and dried for roofing and wall insulation. Enjoy a few photos we captured of some reconstructed sod compounds like the Vikings once lived in here at this World Heritage Site.
The large hall was built for someone with high status like Leif Erickson. It contains a small private room and communal living and working quarters for the rest of the crew.
Lower-status living quarters were a place for roasting bog ore before smelting and quarters for the Irish slaves they brought.
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| Catching a walrus is no easy task |
Store rooms were used possibly for furs,firewood, and perishable items.
History maintains the North America settlement existed ten to twelve years before native aborigines attacked. Also there was a need for the young men of the expedition to return to Iceland to help support the home colony. It takes a hearty soul to live in the harsh long winters October to June in Newfoundland even today. So far we have not experienced the phenominal winds one often hears about here.
