News of Norway, issue 2, 2000
In the year 1000, the old world made contact with the new world for the first time. It was 'the first step in the first process by which human populations became reconnected into a single global system,' says archaelogist William Fitzhugh of the Smithsonian Institution. Humanity had finally come full circle.
The development of specialized rigging equipment for large ships allowed the Vikings to tack into the wind, which gave them true marine supremacy. In their ocean-going knarrs, driven by curiosity and ambition, the Vikings sailed past the Orkneys and Faeroes, Iceland, and Greenland before finally hitting shore in the new world. Vinland -the fabled land to the west where food and timber was abundant-was first recorded in the famous Old Norse sagas, written in the earlier part of the 13th century. Leif Erikson, Icelandic seafarer and explorer of Norwegian heritage, reached the shores of what is now called the North American continent about three hundred years prior to actual documentation in the sagas. The vast wilderness was already inhabited by aboriginal people they called Skraelings, and in less than a decade the Vikings returned.
Vikings exhibition
In commemoration of a thousand years of contact between Europe and North America, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC will host the opening of a two-year traveling exhibit. This exhibit will display artifacts from the Viking period (ca. 750-1050 A.D) and will also feature a free scholarly symposium which is open to the public (April 28 and 29).
The $3 million, 5,500-square-foot exhibition showcases more than 200 artifacts, including Viking jewelry; wooden carvings; Medieval church carvings; Romantic period (1800-1900) paintings; and contemporary pop-culture items. The exhibition has been organized in collaboration with the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) as well as with Swedish automobile manufacturer Volvo and the White House Millenium Council.
Adventurers and diplomats
The Vikings' remarkable adventures were captured in the Icelandic sagas that documented the Vikings' spread from their northern European homelands to the British Isles, and beyond to the islands of the North Atlantic-the Faeroes, Iceland, and Greenland. More importantly, archeologists have uncovered evidence that the Vikings reached the shores of North America over 500 years before Christopher Columbus. Their first contact with the native peoples inhabiting the land must have been marked by reciprocal interest and curiosity. The natives must have wondered, 'Who are these explorers and where did they come from?'
Far from being horn-helmeted sackers of villages and monasteries ('Vikings are not Wagnerian opera,' says Sharon Begley of Newsweek), the Vikings were explorers, farmers, and fishers who survived in one of the last regions on Earth to be populated. As Begley notes, '[The Vikings] were truly people of the sea, able to read the swells and winds well enough to navigate the north Atlantic without instruments.'
The exhibition will showcase artifacts that will dispel some of the myths surrounding the Vikings and their escapades. Several hundred years before famous explorers such as Vasco da Gama and Marco Polo, the Vikings were crisscrossing the globe, trading and honing their diplomatic skills in search of wealth and adventure.
L'Anse aux Meadows
Dr. Helge Ingstad, famous Norwegian explorer, archeologist and author of numerous books is, along with his wife Anne Stine, responsible for the rewriting of modern history. Dr. Ingstad rediscovered Vinland (the Land of Wine), which was described in the ancient sagas, on the northern tip of Newfoundland. Basing his explorations on a radical theory, Dr. Ingstad found the ancient Viking settlement L'Anse aux Meadows built around AD 1000. Along with several other archaeologists, Dr. Ingstad spent eight seasons unearthing eight turf-walled houses, a soapstone spindle whorl, and a piece of jewelry from the historic L'Anse aux Meadows site.
Royal Visitors
Dr. Ingstad, now a centenarian, will take part in the opening ceremonies in Washington, DC. He will be joined by several Nordic Heads of State and members of the Royal families of Denmark, Sweden and the King and Queen of Norway.
After four months at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History, the exhibit will travel throughout the United States and Canada for two years, visiting New York, Houston, Los Angeles and Ottawa. For more info. visit our Vikings webpage
Dates
Friday, April 28
Viking symposium
9:00 am - 3:00 pm
Enjoy a day of scholarly presentations discussing the Viking journeys to North America. Sneak preview of exhibition for symposium attendees. This is a free non-ticketed event, with attendance available on a first come-first served basis.