Viking longhouse reconstruction similar to what was found in Ungava in Northern Quebec. This shows that the Vikings did live communally (all together in one building) like the many Native groups we have studied this year.

Vikings in NewfoundlandThe best example of a Viking Village in Canada was found in Northern Newfoundland in a place called L’anse aux Meadow.In 1960, a Norwegian explorer named Helge Ingstad conducted an extensive search along the Newfoundland coast looking for evidence of the Vikings in North America. A local resident named George Decker led him to an area of overgrown mounds and ridges. Ingstad and his wife, archaeologist Anne Stine Ingstad, recognized the similarities between these mounds and mounds found in other Viking settlements in Europe. They spent the next eight years leading an international team of archeologists who excavated the site.

They uncovered many things like the ruins of buildings, cooking pits, and an iron forge that would have been used by a blacksmith. They also found smaller artifacts such as a bronze cloak-fastening pin, a bone needle, and spindle whorl. The last two items were used for sewing and knitting suggested there were women in the settlement as well.

This small village was likely only a seasonal summer camp for Vikings who were living in Greenland. They would use Newfoundland and other areas further south for getting wood for homes and fuel as well as animals and furs for food and clothing. No one knows how long they stayed in Newfoundland, but long enough to get into a little trouble with the Natives!The Viking Sagas talk about the Skraelings, the name the Vikings gave to the local Natives who lived in that part of Newfoundland. Today, we know that the Skraeling Natives the Vikings fought with were the Beothuk.

BeothukOne thing that is known about the Beothuk was their love of the colour red. This red came from a mineral called red ochre that was found in the clay. Many Natives used red ochre as colouring, but no other tribe used it as extensively as the Beothuk. They literally covered everything - their bodies, faces, hair, clothing, personal possessions, and tools - with a red paint made from powdered ochre mixed with either fish oil or animal grease. The reasons why they used it are unknown, but two reasons might be their religion (about which we know very little) and to protection them from insects, like mosquitoes.

The practice was so excessive, even the Micmac Natives referred to them as the ‘Red Indians’, and it is believed the term "redskin“, a disrespectful term used for Native Americans hundreds of years ago, probably started after early contacts between European fishermen and the Beothuk. Shanawdithit, the Last Beothuk died in 1829.

A Viking Cow? Do not try to milk it!

The Sagas tell of trading and fighting between the Vikings and the Skraelings (Beothuk). One large battle between the two was fought because of a disagreement over a Viking cow!The Vikings did not stay long in Newfoundland. By 1100, they had left the area never to return.

So if the Vikings were so good at fighting and settling, why did they leave Newfoundland?Some reasons may be:1. These Vikings were small in

numbers and were not interested in continuous settlement.

2. The world experienced a temperature drop which made Newfoundland less desirable to live in.

3. The Vikings were tired of constant fighting with the Natives.

4. The Vikings experiencesd fighting from within their own group.

Did you know that the NFL football team in Minnesota is called the Vikings? If the Vikings only made it to Newfoundland, then why is their name being adopted by a region a thousand kilometers away? There are two explanations for this:

Swedes come to Minnesota

The first reason is that many people from Sweden left their country in the mid 1800s and settled in Minnesota. This happened a long time ago, but these people still feel a strong connection to their Swedish heritage. Naming a football team after the history of where the people came from is a way to respect their heritage.

Kensington RunestoneThe second reason is this weird looking stone.This stone is called the Kensington Runestone of Minnesota. It was accidentally discovered by a Swedish farmer from Kensington working in his field in 1898. The farmer’s name was Olaf Olsson Ohman, who was a Swedish immigrant. He dug up the stone and realized that it was very special. It had lots of markings on it that looked like some sort of old language.

The Runestone became very controversial. Some believed that the stone markings were a type of Old Norse language and that the stone was evidence that the Vikings had made it all the way to Minnesota. They even dated the markings to around the year 1362.Most experts believed it was not from the Vikings. Some even said that it was a hoax and that the farmer was the one who made the markings on the stone.

For over one hundred years, this stone has been a source of great discussion and debate, and the debate is still going on today. Did the Vikings really travel all the way to Minnesota and other places? Did they start villages, like the one in Newfoundland? We may never know the real answer.