Mystical Viking Settlement
A long lost Viking settlement known as ‘Hop’ is located in Canada, a prominent archaeologist has revealed.
Seafaring Scandinavians built a settlement in North America more than 1,000 years ago, 500 years before Christopher Columbus, it is claimed.
Three key things identify this mystical settlement – an abundance of grapes, salmon and canoes made from animal hide – according to legend.
Now, one expert claims the only place that matches this description is the Miramichi-Chaleur bay area in northeastern New Brunswick in Canada.
This would be the third Viking settlement claimed to have been found in North America, although it could be hard to conclusively prove the new theory.
Dr Birgitta Wallace, a senior archaeologist emerita with Parks Canada told Live Science that the illusive Hop may have referred to several seasonal settlements.
In theories spanning several decades, researchers have suggested it could have been located in Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New York – among other places.
Dr Wallace has pinpointed the location using descriptions from Viking voyages as well as archaeological work carried out at L’Anse aux Meadows, which was the first Viking settlement found in North America in the 1960s.
The second, a site built between 800AD and 1300AD that was uncovered in Newfoundland in 2016, is the second, though scientists are yet to confirm it is of Viking origin.
‘New Brunswick is the northern limit of grapes, which are not native either to Prince Edward Island or Nova Scotia,’ said Dr Wallace.
Wild salmon were also so abundant in New Brunswick that the Mi’kmaq people used them as their totem.
They were not found in other pre-Columbian sites such as Maine or New England, which were also believed to be potential locations for the settlement.
Canoes made of animal hide were also used by the Mi’kmaq people in the area, which again matches the fabled description.
Now, one archaeologist claims the only place that matches this description is the Miramichi-Chaleur bay area in northeastern New Brunswick in Canada. The first Viking site discovered in North America was L’Anse aux Meadows
The post Mystical Viking Settlement appeared first on LewRockwell.
Leave a Reply