#108 Jun 2015 Wanderlust - 1,000 Years Ago and Now

Ralph and I have always wanted to explore the world around us to know and understand what is out there. Over 45 years we have lived in and traveled to many parts of the world in fairly comfortable conditions.

A thousand years ago, most Norse people were farmers and traders. Raiding became a common way to gain wealth and fame.

Vikings, Old Norse for raiders or pirates, explored westward from Scandinavia to Iceland, Greenland, Labrador and Newfoundland.

They travelled in open boats not more than 100 feet long.  

Norse sagas referred to a land of vast forests teeming with animals. The seafaring people needed wood for boat building and animals for food in order to acquire trade goods to take back to their homeland.

In 1960 Norwegian writer and explorer Helge Ingstad arrived at L’Anse aux Meadows.

His long search for proof of the Norse people landing in North America was rewarded when a community elder led him to the site local people called “the Old Indian Camp”.

The northwestern tip of Newfoundland was a central location for the Norse to explore the new land. They established a year round camp which only lasted about 10 years. Travel time from home was just too great.

The boggy ground preserved evidence of iron smelting and carpentry suggesting that boat repair was an important activity. This original site of the forge hut is recreated in the camp.

Based on years of archeological exploration in the area, life of the "campers" in the village is very well portrayed.

This “modern” Viking discovered how strong and tough his ancestors were. Ralph is braced against the considerable weight of the sword and shield.

Our tour guide was a local who had helped in the quest for proof of the Norse settlement. He gave us a tremendous insight into the original camp and the efforts of hundreds of people to portray life 1,000 years ago.

100,000 years ago some of our ancestors left the cradle of humanity in Africa and slowly migrated east and west. When the Norse met Aboriginal North Americans in Vinland 1,000 years ago, it represented the completion of human migration on Earth. Humankind had encircled the globe. This sculpture interprets this meeting of two cultures and worlds.

Still today the forest is a valuable resource for heating.

 

In St. Anthony we experienced a Viking feast with some modern conveniences like electricity.

This Viking welcomed us.

 

After dinner Captain Hroadsson conducted a Viking Court. Violators were given the opportunity to defend themselves but punishment was the same regardless of their pleas.

Dinner guests were invited to vent their problems with fellow travellers. This man holding the talking stick was part of a Corvette group touring the island. He complained that they had been promised whale sightings and had not seen any yet. 

Their group leader defended himself by saying that they were going on a whale watching tour the next day. The evening was friendly, fun and hilarious.

The Viking feast consisted of salmon, moose stew, cod, cod tongues, caplin and Jigg’s dinner.

Jigg’s dinner consists of local meat and root vegetables that are still a mainstay in local meals. Gardens are planted wherever there is enough soil, often alongside roadways. They are protected from animals by high fences or poles with plastic bags attached. The bags move and rustle in the wind to scare intruders.

 Moose are the only thieves to worry about here.

However, moose are a threat to motorists.