Stories of Vínland

Abstract

Abstract This penultimate chapter focuses on the evidence for the famous Viking colony of Vínland. The Viking voyages to North America occupy a space in Viking Studies between legend and history. The journeys are evidenced in written sources and the archaeological record. Two Icelandic sagas provide complementary narratives about the voyages, but they disagree about key facts such as the number of settlements established. Later texts track efforts to visit places mentioned in the sagas but mention no additional settlements. Only one site has been verified archaeologically: L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. L’Anse aux Meadows offers a clear example of scholars seeking a very specific level of confirmation of the sagas from archaeological evidence. The archaeological site has confirmed the basic saga narrative that Viking Age Scandinavians reached North America. But how detailed can the correspondence be? This chapter pursues this question and shows how much more we know now from the combination of sagas, archaeology, and new scientific analyses. Finally, the chapter shows the value of exploring the contradictions among texts, archaeology, and the sciences. These specific contradictions are ripe for scholarly disagreement and offer rich avenues for further research.