L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site Canada

L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site is located at the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula of the island of Newfoundland; the remains of an 11th-century Viking settlement are evidence of the first European presence in North America. The excavated remains of wood-framed peat-turf buildings are similar to those found in Norse Greenland and Iceland. This archaeological site at the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula of the island of Newfoundland contains the excavated remains of an 11th century Viking settlement consisting of timber-framed turf buildings (houses, workshops, etc.) that are identical with those found in Norse Greenland and Iceland at the same period. The site is thus unique evidence of the earliest known European presence on the American continent.

Continent: North America

Country: Canada

Category: Cultural

Criterion: (VI)

Date of Inscription: 1978

Vikings in North America

L'Anse aux Meadows is the first and only known site established by Vikings in North America and the earliest evidence of European settlement in the New World. As such, it is a unique milestone in the history of human migration and discovery.

L'Anse aux Meadow

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Early History

The site was recognized in 1960, excavated from 1961 to 1968 and then from 1973 to 1976, and protected by Parks Canada since1977, the Epaves Bay archaeological site, which is located near Anse aux Meadows, at the northern extremity of Newfoundland, is of great importance in the history of the settlement of Rwarica. The earliest sign of human activity go back roughly 5,000 years and among the prehistoric and protohistoric populations which succeeded one another is a well-defined branch of Eskirms (Dorset Eskimos) which has been shown to have existed from about AD 400-700.

A temporary settlement for fishermen, this coastal site, which is located on a coastline covered by peat bogs, would appear to have been abandoned for roughly a century. During the 9th century it was re-established by an archaic native population similar to that from which, during the historic era, the Beothuk 'Indians' descended.

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