August 5, 2014 L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland

And here we are, finally, at Leif Erikson's place:  L'Anse aux Meadows.  It was discovered in 1960; when I was in elementary school it was talked about and in the news, and is now a UNESCO site.  Never would have imagined that I would be standing here!  We took the guided tour, and learned that after the archaeological dig was complete, they covered the remains with sand and then backfilled them, leaving mounds to show where the foundations of the building were.  Nearby is a reconstructed longhouse and outbuildings based on the results of the archaeological dig.  Thank you, Canada, this is a wonderful National Park!

The area is a peat bog, with acidic properties, so a lot of relics were destroyed; however, some wooden pieces were well-preserved.  A single iron cloak pin was found.  They wasted nothing.  When they abandoned this temporary camp, they took everything with them, even the wooden building frames, and burned what was left.  They spend a total of 10 years here, over the course of a 25-year period.  They were here to harvest supplies needed in their Greenland settlement, which had no trees and thus no building material.  They wintered here on each visit.

Here is the story.

Here are the discoverers.

Actual site.

Longhouse that was reconstructed.

Happy Viking woman! 

Site of the one-use iron ore smelter.  They needed nails to make boat repairs, so they dug up some iron oxide from the peat bog and smelted down enough to make 100-200 nails.  

Captain's wife.

Me and a Viking Dude.

Trying my hand at net-making.

Weaving loom.

The building is a wooden frame, with thick peat walls, and sod for the roof.  There were vents on the roof that could be opened or closed from inside. 

Peat walls.

Kitchen/sleeping.

Captain's quarters. 

Oh lawd, be afraid!  She's got a sword!

Man with a hammer!

We are sitting in Leif Erikson's bedroom....