USA: The Vikings existed before Christopher Columbus

The Vikings in front of Christopher Columbus. Known, this study was reaffirmed by Dutch scientists: after the Atlantic Ocean, they managed the existence of the Vikings on the North American continent precisely until 1021.

To this day, the only known site of Viking occupation is the Anse Ax meadows north of Newfoundland Island, where the foundations of eight wooden structures are found. But the study was published in a British journal Natural On Wednesday, the traditional carbon-14 of the last century was inaccurate, lasting more than 250 years. However, according to archaeological remains and “sakas” all refer to a narrow and aggressive occupation of this place, these semi-mythological texts describe the epics of the Vikings.

The team, led by Michael Dee and Margot Guidems, a professor of isotope chronology and an archaeologist at the Isotope Research Center at the Dutch University of Groningen, respectively, escaped the ban by an original method. The earth is constantly exposed to cosmic rays, “Continues to produce carbon-14 (heavier and more rare form than carbon atom) in the upper atmosphere”, Margot Guides told AFP.

This form of carbon goes “Enter the carbon cycle, which is absorbed by plants through photosynthesisSometimes radiation is so powerful: these cosmic radiation “events” suddenly raise the level of carbon-14 in the atmosphere.

A Japanese study isolated two such “events” in 775 and 993, the traces of which are in trees well known for age. The sudden rise of carbon-14 was seen in their growth rings on the dates in question, helping to determine the circles we see in the trunk and the age of the tree. The Margot Guides team used a mass spectrometer to trace the 993 occurrence of three pieces of wood taken from the Annex Oaks grasslands site. Canadian experts determined that these pieces were worked there by residents with iron tools.

“When we measured the concentration of carbon-14 in successive dark circles, we saw a sharp rise in one of them, and we were sure it was similar to 993.”, Says the scientist. It was enough to count the number of rings between the rings. “Cosmic event ” And the last before the bark, to determine the date the tree was cut. Answer: Year 1021. This measurement worked for two pieces of wood, and scientists were even able to indicate that it belonged to a tree that was cut down in the spring, and another in the summer-autumn.