Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed. The sagas describe the discovered land as Vinland because they found wild grapes growing everywhere. Which does not describe Newfoundland, especially not the northern tip of it where the L'anse aux Meadows sits. (I've been there. It's cold and desolate. We watched icebergs float around 100 feet from the shore). But up the gulf of St Lawrence a bit you'll find wild populations of vitis riparia growing like cra…
The sagas was also mostly written down in the 11th century, long time after the event, based on the oral tradition. Although they put more pride into retelling stories accuratly back then, it is not unlikely that the details had altered during that period. There are many other sides of the sagas that have proven inaccurate. For the sea level, this is areas that was covered by ice during the last ice age, and these ar…
Re: Discovery of 1,000-year-old Viking site in Canada could rewrite history
#91Eastern North America is the genetic centre of diversity for the Vitis genus, and the likely ancestral origin of it. So it is somewhat fitting that the Norse explorers named it Vinland and explicitly called it out as something they observed.