Chronology of the Norse TransAtlantic Colonies and Territories

Prior to the Norse traversal of the Atlantic, Eurasia and America had been separated for some ten thousand years. During this time they had followed their own ecological and cultural trajectories. However, the story of the reconnection of these two worlds ironically remains one of the most significant gaps in our knowledge of the past. CONTACT addresses the timing, duration, geographical extent, and lasting significance of this period of initial contact. Using the newly developed tools of spike radiocarbon dating, stable isotope, biomolecular and Bayesian statistical analysis, current understanding of the Norse transatlantic exploration will be both tested and advanced. Dating information of unprecedented precision will cast the history of Greenland into sharp relief, allowing fresh insights to be gained on the role of conflict, climate and trade in the ultimate abandonment of this Norse colony. Furthermore, by analysing artefacts on both sides of the Atlantic, the true extent and timing of the Norse presence in the Americas will be revealed. Drawing all the new evidence together, this project will trace the story of this period, as it has oscillated down the centuries between fact and fiction. In so doing, it will establish a framework for reanalysing the earliest connections between the so-called ‘Old’ and ‘New’ Worlds.

Many of the basic facts about the era of contact remain unestablished, unverified and unclear. The findings of CONTACT will be crucial for the history of the transmission of ideas, but also for palaeopathology and palaeoecology. The impact of European diseases on the Americas is already well understood – but it should be born in mind that extensive or widespread contacts are not necessary for pathogen transmission. Similar open questions include the extent to which exotic flora and fauna and genetic information were exchanged. In short, without better spatiotemporal knowledge, the nature of such exchanges cannot properly be addressed.

The compilation of the Norse Sagas is also one of knowledge transmission. Here, the key process is one of (possibly) factual events being reformed as fantasy. Curiously, the gaps in our knowledge of this time have also allowed for the creation of fact from fantasy; particularly in relation to the often spurious claims about the role of ‘Viking communities’ in the foundation of the USA. The CONTACT project seeks to fill some of these voids, not in order to rewrite history, but to allow it to be written accurately for the first time.