Vikings, On a Cloudy Day

Light On Light Through · Jul 28, 2007

The Norse - or Vikings - were an amazing seafaring people. They got as far as North America, and played a role in Russia and the Byzantine. They even used crystals - sunstones - to navigate on cloudy days.

For most of our recent history, until the 1970s, in fact, many historians doubted that the Vikings ever made it to North America. All we had of those trips were myths and legends, whispered in the Norse winds, as flimsy as chilly gusts of air. Then, finally in the 1970s, Norse remains were dug up in Newfoundland, and carbon-dated to 1,000 AD. The time of Leif Ericson's arrival.

Columbus had…