Apparently there is some evidence about Vikings bringing Native Americans back to Iceland.
https://phys.org/news/2010-11-vikings-brought-amerindian-ice...
Evidence for European presence in the Americas in AD 1021
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Re: Evidence for European presence in the Americas in AD 1021
#32It begs the question then of what happened to them? Did they integrate with existing Native Americans? Or did they just die out? Are there stories from Native Americans in the area that report Norsemen in the area?
Neither the Dorset nor Beothuk people overlapped in that particular place at that time. Newfoundland is an (enormous) island, and while there were various migrations over time there is no record of other peoples c1000 in that (rather inhospitable) site.
Re: Evidence for European presence in the Americas in AD 1021
#33I've never understood the significance of this.
The vikings were in North America for a few years and then went back to Europe. They brought back (almost?) nothing, left a few scattered settlements, and completely forgot about it.
So what.
Re: Evidence for European presence in the Americas in AD 1021
#34Strange to think this discovery was made at the apex of the Byzantime Empire under Basil II. The Roman Empire was still somewhat of a thing.
Even more interesting to consider is the imperial Varangian Guard, comprised of Norse recruits. It's entirely possible that one of these Viking explorers in North America (or their descendants) later resided at court in Constantinople.
Re: Evidence for European presence in the Americas in AD 1021
#35The Icelandic sagas suggest that the Norse engaged in cultural exchanges with the Indigenous groups of North America34. If these encounters indeed occurred, they may have had inadvertent outcomes, such as pathogen transmission7, the introduction of foreign flora and fauna species, or even the exchange of human genetic information. Recent data from the Norse Greenlandic population, however, show no evidence of the las…
oops just saw you post, you are way ahead of me.
https://phys.org/news/2010-11-vikings-brought-amerindian-ice...
Re: Evidence for European presence in the Americas in AD 1021
#36The Icelandic sagas suggest that the Norse engaged in cultural exchanges with the Indigenous groups of North America34. If these encounters indeed occurred, they may have had inadvertent outcomes, such as pathogen transmission7, the introduction of foreign flora and fauna species, or even the exchange of human genetic information. Recent data from the Norse Greenlandic population, however, show no evidence of the las…
Genetic research suggests American Indian descendants in modern day Iceland. https://phys.org/news/2010-11-vikings-brought-amerindian-ice...
you guys are too fast :)
sorry for my dupe post.
Re: Evidence for European presence in the Americas in AD 1021
#37It begs the question then of what happened to them? Did they integrate with existing Native Americans? Or did they just die out? Are there stories from Native Americans in the area that report Norsemen in the area?
I wonder if they could check the DNA of the natives that were originally from that area for any "old" Europeans markers or if there was too much mixing from the colonization for such a thing to work.
Unfortunately, the aboriginal population of Newfoundland didn't survive contact with subsequent European settlers:
Re: Evidence for European presence in the Americas in AD 1021
#38I thought this has been known for awhile. I visited the site in Newfoundland like 15 years ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'Anse_aux_Meadows
From the paper:
> The received paradigm is that the Norse settlement dates to the close of the first millennium9; however, the precise age of the site has never been scientifically established.
The paper is about more precise dating, afaict, not a revelation that they arrived around then.
Re: Evidence for European presence in the Americas in AD 1021
#39The Icelandic sagas suggest that the Norse engaged in cultural exchanges with the Indigenous groups of North America34. If these encounters indeed occurred, they may have had inadvertent outcomes, such as pathogen transmission7, the introduction of foreign flora and fauna species, or even the exchange of human genetic information. Recent data from the Norse Greenlandic population, however, show no evidence of the las…
I can imagine an indigenous woman having a fling with a viking and just rasing the kid in her village. No one the wiser. It would be impossible to know if this happened. Even if you found someone with both indigenous and Viking genetics, you don't know if it's because his great grandfather came from Norway in the 1920s. The history of early American immigration is absolutely fascinating, there was a story of a Chines…
> I can imagine an indigenous woman having a fling with a viking and just rasing the kid in her village. No one the wiser.
Except everyone who saw the kid?
Re: Evidence for European presence in the Americas in AD 1021
#40An interesting counter-factual that comes to mind - if the Norse Greenlanders had brought smallpox or other diseases with them, then Native Americans would have had 500 years to recover (and keep immunity?) - The conquistadors would have faced millions of not-dying-natives. A much different world would have resulted.
Turns out, it belonged to Columbus all along. Put his his statue back up, or get off his land. Europeans did not have smallpox then. Europe got hit with germs from foreigners too.