L'Anse aux Meadows and Vinland: An Abandoned Experiment

TLDR: In this paper, the authors argue that the Viking westward expansion followed migratory patterns observed elsewhere, and that L'Anse aux Meadows was the Straumfjorðr, 'Fjord of Currents' of the Vinland Sagas.

Abstract: he Vinland migration represents the ultimate stage of Viking expansion, an expansion that stretched from mainland Scandinavia to new worlds where no Europeans previously had set foot However, it was a settlement that left little trace except in literature Lasting only a few years, it was an experiment quickly abandoned L’Anse aux Meadows, the Norse site in northern Newfoundland, was part of this ultimate Viking expansion In this chapter I will argue 1) that the Viking westward expansion followed migratory patterns observed elsewhere, 2) that L’Anse aux Meadows was the Straumfjorðr, ‘Fjord of Currents’ of the Vinland Sagas, 3) that it was the base camp from which other localities, including the lands in and around the Gulf of St Lawrence, were explored, and 4) that the Vinland experiment never led to settlement but was abandoned as unprofitable after a few years David Anthony, in a 1990 article, complained that archaeologists generally deal with migration in a cavalier way because they have failed to understand the structure of migratory patterns (Anthony 1990) Anthony suggests that migration encompasses components that are applicable in all large movements of people He emphasizes that migration is a process, not an event