Vikings from Space

(Okay, every part of that headline is sensationalizing and inappropriate.)

Dirty job!

They have been hard to find and confirm, sites of Norse occupancy in North America -- which only emphasizes Helge Instad's achievement at L'Anse aux Meadows in 1960.  But once that one was confirmed, it always seemed likely there would be others.  And one seems, subject to further testing, to have been identified.

Sensors on a satellite 650 km up identified some anomalies in the landscape at Point Rosee on the southwest coast of Newfoundland, and excavations last summer have confirmed what could well be another Norse (not Viking!) habitation site. The project is supported by National Geographic, and the lead investigator, more a technie than a Norse specialist, has a $1 million grant from TED Talks. So, a very 21st century archaeology -- more to be found around the Gulf of St Lawrence.

(There is also Patricia Sutherland's Baffin Island site, still the subject of controversy, and no sat-tech.)

Image: National Geographic.