{"id":583,"date":"2018-02-20T14:39:09","date_gmt":"2018-02-20T19:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=583"},"modified":"2018-02-22T20:44:51","modified_gmt":"2018-02-23T01:44:51","slug":"fear-alan-we-are-going-to-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=583","title":{"rendered":"FEAR: “ALAN, WE ARE GOING TO DIE!”"},"content":{"rendered":"
FEAR\u2026FEAR\u2026FEAR\u2026FEAR\u2026FEAR<\/span><\/div>\n
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FEAR changes people. \u00a0The picture above is Marjorie today in 2018. \u00a0The picture below was taken in 1994 HIGH above western Newfoundland. We were wedged in an old\u00a0Cessna 170 about 2,000 \u00a0feet above the \u00a0Strait of Belle Isle heading north to L\u2019Anse aux Meadows, one of the most mysterious UNESCO world heritage \u00a0sites \u00a0on this planet. \u00a0 Why the fear? \u00a0Lots of reasons\u2026Lots of reasons.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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FEAR\u2026 \u201d\u00a0“ALAN, WE ARE GOING TO DIE.’\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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alan skeoch<\/span><\/div>\n
FEB. 2018<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Alan, we are going to die!\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cClose your eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t!”<\/p>\n

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“Just updrafts and downdrafts, Marjorie”<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“Making me sick!\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWe \u00a0did not expect these headwinds.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0\u201cTurn around\u2026turn around.”<\/p>\n

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“The pilot knows what he is doing, Marjorie,”\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“But all this gasoline! Drums loaded all around my seat.”<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“Just don’t strike a match!”<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“Alan, stop trying to be funny…I am scared.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I dared not agree with Marjorie by saying so. \u00a0But I was scared too. \u00a0How did we get in this predicament? Thousands of feet\u00a0in the air heading north up the west coast of \u00a0Newfoundland. \u00a0Great swaths ice and snow wrapped around bare and brutal rocky spots.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Back home in Toronto it was the month of May, 1994, and the spring flowers were in full bloom. Here, high above Gros Morne Wilderness the\u00a0<\/span>lands mostly white punctured by \u00a0shades of grey and \u00a0which folded into the brutal black of bare \u00a0rock. \u00a0We \u00a0had taken off from\u00a0<\/span>the nearly abandoned old US Air Force base at Stephenville. \u00a0 The only plane on the cracked tarmac where once \u00a0fleets of \u00a0shiny\u00a0<\/span>new Lancaster Bombers prepared for the cross Atlantic flight to Scotland during World \u00a0War II. To say \u00a0it was bleak was an understatement.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A day earlier, while having a coffee in Cornerbrook, I met our pilot.\u00a0 \u201cWouldn\u2019t it be nice \u00a0to drive \u00a0up to L\u2019Anse Aux Meadows, if \u00a0only we had \u00a0enough time.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI could fly you there tomorrow if \u00a0you want\u2026have a Cessna in an empty hanger at the old American base.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cReally? \u00a0I can pay your costs.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cGood\u2026Tomorrow at first light. \u00a0I\u2019ll get some extra gas.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cGot room for two?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYour wife? \u00a0Yes, we can squeeze her in.\u201d<\/div>\n
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So much time has flown by that I have lost our pilots name. \u00a0He was a gregarious fellow, that much I remember. \u00a0 Italian \u00a0Canadian. And, somewhat daring, but I did not \u00a0know \u00a0that until we were airborne.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThat\u2019s a place for Marjorie\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAre those \u00a0five gallon cans of gas?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNeed them for the return flight. \u00a0Marjorie \u00a0can fit \u00a0between \u00a0them and \u00a0lean \u00a0against the big one at her back.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAlan?\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWrap that feather stuffed coat around you\u2026could be a \u00a0bit crafty. \u00a0 Still winter around these parts.\u201d<\/div>\n
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I boosted Marjorie in before she could \u00a0back out and make a run for it. \u00a0There was no place to run anyway. \u00a0The pilot pushed a starter and the propeller hiccuped a couple \u00a0of times then whispered into life. \u00a0I would \u00a0like to say thundered. \u00a0Hoped I could say thundered. \u00a0But it whispered.\u00a0 Unsettling \u00a0sound. Even with the passengers and loads of extra gas \u00a0the Cessna danced across the old runway like a wounded butterfly.\u00a0 Then lifted and began to climb.<\/div>\n
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This great chasm that cuts into Newfoundland from the Strait of \u00a0Belle \u00a0Isle is the treasured UNESCO world Heritage site of \u00a0Gros \u00a0Morne. It was our basic point of reference \u00a0before the Cessna \u00a0headed \u00a0north into the unknown \u201cwhere the highway far below \u00a0is our best guide\u201d said \u00a0our pilot adding \u00a0\u201cunless there is fog\u201d.\u00a0 He \u00a0did not elaborate. \u201cNo soft landing here,\u201d Marjorie muttered.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe\u2019ll head for Gros \u00a0Morne\u2026easy point of reference. Cuts into Newfoundland like a giant bread knife.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWindy up here!\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cGuessed it might be.\u201d<\/div>\n
“Are we \u00a0moving north\u2026seems more up and down.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019m scared, Alan, plane shakes so much.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cJust a bad headwind, might have to fight it all the way to St. Anthony,\u201d interjected the pilot who seemed \u00a0to be holding the controls as\u00a0hard as we were holding \u00a0our seats. \u00a0Then he released hold and grabbed something like a Ouija board.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\u201cWhat\u2019s that thing in your hands?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cKind of calculator\u2026points the way\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDependable?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYes, but I use a \u00a0road map as \u00a0well\u2026look down there you can see the highway.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat about fog?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMakes things a \u00a0bit touchy, don\u2019t you think?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAny places to land if we miss the airport\u2026what is there north of St. Anthony?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNothing all the way \u00a0to the Arctic Circle\u2026no place to land unless you fancy touching down on a iceberg\u2026lots of them this time \u00a0of year. \u00a0Drift down from the Greenland ice \u00a0sheet.”<\/div>\n
\u201cMy wife is worried\u2026scared, really. \u00a0Assume \u00a0you\u2019ve done this trip many times.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNope, first time.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAlan!\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cJust look down there, \u00a0you can see the road\u2026only road north.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to look down.\u201d<\/div>\n
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A few thousand \u00a0feet below the road north to St. Anthony and \u00a0L\u2019Anse Aux Meadows was visible. \u00a0Barely visible. \u00a0The pilot glanced down regularly and adjusted \u00a0his flight path so it lined up with the road. \u00a0Beside him, in a pocket, was a CAA road map.\u00a0 No fog. \u00a0 No fog yet.<\/div>\n
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\u201cSorry that you\u2019re wedged in so tightly with those \u00a0gas drums,\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cDangerous?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot really unless something \u00a0goes \u00a0wrong. \u00a0I tightened the \u00a0spouts this morning.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBut?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t worry so \u00a0much \u00a0Marjorie. \u00a0Enjoy the \u00a0scenery.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat scenery\u2026all I see is snow, ice \u00a0and bare rock.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLook West\u2026You might see a pod of whales coming \u00a0down the \u00a0Strait\u2026.some always there,\u201d said the pilot.<\/div>\n
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About then I remember a comment he made back in Cornerbrook. \u00a0\u201cSure, I can fly you up there\u2026it will be a kind of adventure,\u201d Yes, that\u2019s what he said.\u00a0 He did not say \u201cfly up there all the time\u201d or \u201cI took tourists there last summer\u201d \u00a0or \u201cno problem\u201d. \u00a0Instead he used the word \u00a0\u2018adventure\u2019. \u00a0Did this mean he had never flown \u00a0up before this moment.? \u00a0Adventure?<\/div>\n
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“Alan, I am going to be sick!”<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“There’s a tin can near your feet, throw up in that… ” We use the can on fishing trips.”<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“Alan, the can is full of worms!”<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cWhere \u00a0are we \u00a0going?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cTo \u00a0L\u2019Anse \u00a0Aux Meadows\u2026one \u00a0of the \u00a0most mysterious places on earth I am told.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMysterious?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cA Thousand years ago Vikings landed \u00a0here\u2026lived here for a few years\u2026not long but long enough to build homes.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy? \u00a0This is a barren\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cA thousand years ago the weather was warmer\u2026climate \u00a0had changed\u2026ice melted along Greenland coast and in Iceland.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSure \u00a0looks bleak today, a thousand years later\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
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“Marjorie, you know why the Vikings came here a thousand years ago?”<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“No, don’t know and what’s more I don’t care.”<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“They came for the trees. \u00a0No wood in Greenland so a couple of 2x 4’s had high value…and pelts…and maybe wild grape wine or wild grape raisins.”<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“When will we land? \u00a0I hate this trip.”<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“Soon. \u00a0This was obviously not a teaching moment.”<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Trying to distract Marjorie from her feeling we faced \u00a0certain death was no easy task.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cNorse settlers immigrated to Iceland and then \u00a0to the coast of Greenland. Warm enough for pigs, cattle, horses\u2026even grain crops and vegetables. Stayed \u00a0like \u00a0that through 11th and 12th centuries\u2026even longer. \u00a0Norse settlers told \u00a0stories and wrote these \u00a0stories down\u2026called sagas\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cTrue \u00a0stories or fiction?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBit of both I think but always with a kernel of truth. The sagas told of<\/div>\n
violent times way back in the tenth and eleventh centuries.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow did you come to know about them?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI was captivated \u00a0by the book West Viking written by Farley Mowat\u2026 made those Norse \u00a0sagas come to life in the 1960\u2019s”\u00a0\u00a0Loved the book. \u00a0Relived \u00a0the sagas \u00a0in my mine. \u00a0Imagined \u00a0the thrill of \u00a0heading west into the unknown. \u00a0Did Vikings settle in North America 500 years before\u00a0Christopher Columbus? \u00a0No evidence of that until\u2026.Well, let me put its way, For decades it was rumoured that Viking settlers had reached North America, created a village, stayed \u00a0for a few \u00a0years and then pulled out… but no one knew if that was true \u00a0or just a story.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDo you mean we are wasting money and \u00a0risking our lives on a story that may \u00a0or may not be true.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThen what?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAbout 1960 two \u00a0archeologists, the Ingstads, figured the Norse – Viking settlement if it existed \u00a0must have \u00a0been at the northern tip<\/div>\n
of Newfoundland. \u00a0If the saga \u00a0of Lief Erikson could be \u00a0believed. \u00a0So they began \u00a0exploring the coastline below our airplane.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThey discovered\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThe word \u2018discover\u2019 is a tricky word. \u00a0Implies that no other human \u00a0being had known about the Norse\u2026or at least the place where they might have settled.\u2019<\/div>\n
\u201cThe \u00a0Ingstads asked people below us if they knew of any strange sites.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd \u00a0that is where George Decker comes \u00a0into the story\u2026He \u00a0had \u00a0known something was near his house all his life.<\/div>\n
George \u00a0Decker met the Ingstads and said to them that\u2026.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSomething \u00a0wrong up ahead, Alan. \u00a0The airport is \u00a0not there. \u00a0Been \u00a0moved. \u00a0I was just starting my approach .. no airstrip. \u00a0 New one must \u00a0be around here somewhere. \u00a0Gas \u00a0is getting low and the motor seems rough.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat will we \u00a0do?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot to worry, there it is over there. \u00a0Moved it a few miles to get bigger prop planes in.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMotor is coughing.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s going to quit\u2026but I \u00a0can set her down. \u00a0Hold on.\u201d<\/div>\n
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And we bumped our way to \u00a0sitting position on the airstrip \u2018that is surrounded by a chain link fence to keep the moose out.”<\/div>\n
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\u201cHere we \u00a0are, I have a car coming for us \u2026would you like to join us?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSorry, \u00a0can\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNothing else to do \u00a0around here\u2026empty and \u00a0bleak.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cgot to rebuild the motor, \u00a0something wrong\u2026got to spruce her up for our flight home. Get back here around 3 if you can.”<\/div>\n
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Hard to believe this was the first week \u00a0of May. \u00a0The airport was small and \u00a0hard to find. \u00a0While our \u00a0pilot took his motor apart and \u00a0laid \u00a0out the pieces on the windy tarmac at St. \u00a0Anthony, we \u00a0were picked up by the winter custodian of L\u2019anse Ajux Meadows. \u00a0 \u00a0Bleak! Bleak! Bleak! \u00a0 I wondered how\u00a0the \u00a0Norse \u00a0could ever live here then \u00a0remembered that a \u00a0thousand years \u00a0ago this treeless landscape was densely forested and the open spaces must have been rich in sweet berries \u00a0otherwise why would Leif Erikson \u00a0call this vinland\u2026land of wine?<\/div>\n
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\u201cAlan, \u00a0are you sure \u00a0you \u00a0have the right place?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSo desolate\u2026almost empty\u2026a few lonely houses. \u00a0No trees.\u00a0 Lobster traps and small fishing boats.”<\/div>\n
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The \u00a0villages near L\u2019Anse \u00a0Aux Meadows are rather desolate places. \u00a0No trees. Above the tree line. \u00a0 Newfoundlanders who live \u00a0there \u00a0make a living from the sea\u2026lobster traps dropped from \u00a0tiny fishing boats. \u00a0 But when we arrived the shores were \u00a0so \u00a0clogged with slabs of ice that no fishing \u00a0could possibly be done. \u00a0Tough place to live. \u00a0It must have been totally different a \u00a0thousand years ago else the Norse would not even have landed their long open boats with whole families and livestock aboard.<\/div>\n
Vinland? \u00a0Hardly believe that today.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI know it\u2019s bleak \u00a0here now but trees flourished \u00a0long ago. \u00a0That was one reason for the Norse voyages\u2026the search \u00a0for lumber to take<\/div>\n
back to their treeless Greenland communities.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDo the Norse still live along the shores of Greenland?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot the Norse of ancient times. \u00a0New \u00a0people have moved in through. \u00a0And more will \u00a0come if global warming \u00a0turns \u00a0out to be true and the<\/div>\n
ice retreats.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat happened to the ancient Norse people?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo one really knows for sure.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThe earth got colder and colder for hundreds of \u00a0years and the Norse \u00a0were forgotten. \u00a0 By the 15th century the Greenlanders were forgotten. \u00a0Another grand mystery.<\/div>\n
Archeologists have dug \u00a0up some of \u00a0the old graves in Greenland \u00a0and found deformed skeletons suggesting disease or inbreeding. \u00a0 Others comment on some blue eyed Inuit people suggesting assimilation. \u00a0Bottom line is that they disappeared \u00a0and the rumour of a North American Vinland seemed \u00a0to be a \u00a0legend.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI remember the stories of \u00a0Eric the Red \u00a0and \u00a0Leif Erikson\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWild men who travelled with equally wild women according to the sagas.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLots of \u00a0exaggeration\u2026.Fake \u00a0News .\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cEric the \u00a0Red named Greenland in hopes that settlers would think the land \u00a0was green when really the land \u00a0was a treeless verge \u00a0tucked in the shadow of mile high glaciers.\u00a0 Was naming this part of Newfoundland \u00a0\u2018Vinland\u2019 the same kind of Fake News? \u00a0Possibly. The notion of \u00a0a land of milk and \u00a0honey would attract settlers.\u00a0 What you see outside the car windows today is \u00a0hardly that.\u201d<\/div>\n
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The Northern \u00a0tip of Newfoundland is desolate. \u00a0A few fishing villages along the ocean shoreline. \u00a0 A totally empty interior.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cWhen will we get to L\u2019Ans Aux Meadows? \u00a0Must be \u00a0a few buildings there with central \u00a0heating and a cup of coffee?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot sure about that, Marjorie, but maybe.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWe are nearly there now?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo sign of any people\u2026no houses\u2026just a flat monotonous \u00a0slightly rolling flat lane merging with the seashore\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo, \u00a0we \u00a0are there,\u201d \u00a0said our host driver who looked after the site.<\/div>\n
\u201cBut there is nothing here?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLook closely\u2026real \u00a0close.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSome bumps of sod\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s it\u2026L\u2019Ans Aux \u00a0Meadows\u2026the fabled Vinland that flourished \u00a0for a few years a thousand \u00a0years ago \u00a0and was then forgotten<\/div>\n
as was Greenland itself. \u00a0This is it\u2026Vinland..\u201d<\/div>\n
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\u201cSo this \u00a0L\u2019Anse Aux Meadows\u2026the \u00a0Norse settlement in North America \u00a0500 years before Christopher Columbus made \u00a0his discovery.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cIs this some kind of bad joke?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThere \u00a0is nothing here \u2026 just us \u2026almost the tallest figures in the \u00a0whole landscape.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou risked our lives to get to this \u00a0God forsaken \u00a0corner of the \u00a0world \u00a0where \u00a0no birds can sing.”<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat does \u00a0L\u2019Anse Aux Meadows mean anyway?”<\/div>\n
\u201cArguments over the \u00a0name but consensus is \u201cJellyfish \u00a0Clove\u201d. \u00a0The English word \u2018Meadows\u2019 came \u00a0to be used after French settlers left.\u00a0 Original \u00a0word was<\/div>\n
\u2018Meduses\u2019 or Jellyfish. Other names? \u00a0\u2018Medee\u2019s Cove\u2019 named after \u00a0the Greek \u00a0god Medea.\u2019 \u00a0Let\u2019s take the Jellyfish name\u2026easier.<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat has that got to do with the Vikings?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot a \u00a0damn thing.”<\/div>\n
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\"L'Anse<\/div>\n
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See \u00a0that long finger on the left. \u00a0Right at the very tip\u2026as har north as you can go in Newfoundland\u2026is the site of L\u2019Anse Aux Meadows. \u00a0We flew up that western coast from near the bottom to the very top.\u00a0 It was an adventure. \u00a0Worth the effort in m opinion. Not so in Marjorie\u2019s opinion.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cWhat are those bumps?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cFake buildings identical to Norse sod roofed buildings of 1000 AD.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWho built them?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThe Government of \u00a0Canada\u2026Parks Canada.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow are we \u00a0sure the site is authentic?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNow that is an interesting tale. \u00a0Let me \u00a0introduce you to George Decker\u2026He is as much a discoverer of this place as the archeologists.?\u201d<\/div>\n
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\u201cHi, are you George \u00a0Decker?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSeems to be my name around these parts, yes\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAre you\u2019THE GEORGE DECKER\u2019 who showed the Ingstads the ancient Viking settlement?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot quite that \u00a0simple.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBut you are given credit for\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThey asked \u00a0me \u00a0if there were \u00a0any old camps\u2026any BUMPS that are unusual\u2026<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd you said?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an old Indian camp over at the Cove\u2026think it was a campsite \u00a0long ago\u2026long before the Deckers got here.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd that old site is now the oldest European \u00a0settlement in North America. \u00a0One of the wonders of our world.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if I would go that far.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWorld Heritage site\u2026recognized \u00a0as such.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow \u00a0did the Ingstads confirm this had been \u00a0Leif Erikson\u2019s home for a few years?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThe Ingstads spent 7 years carefully excavating the bumps\u2026turned out to be ruins of \u00a0sod houses\u2026found a lot of small things that made \u00a0the place world famous.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLike \u00a0what?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLike \u00a0that big pin and the spindle whorl and some bits of bog iron\u2026you could hold all these things in the palm of your hand but each one was proof of Norse presence here a thousand \u00a0years ago.”<\/div>\n
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THE EVIDENCE: Was this an ancient boat repair \u00a0station or the real \u00a0VINLAND? THE DEBATE GOES ON AND \u00a0ON.<\/div>\n
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1) THE PIN is the same kind of pin that Norsemen used to hold their clothing together. \u00a0The \u00a0same \u00a0pins are found \u00a0in Norwegian museums.<\/div>\n
2) THE SPINDLE \u00a0WHORL is that small round stone \u00a0with a hole in its centre. That little piece of \u00a0stone was evidence that L\u2019Anse Aux \u00a0Meadows was \u00a0not just a temporary Norse campsite. \u00a0The Spindle Whorl indicated they planned to stay here for some time. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Because \u00a0a spindle whorl is \u00a0used to spin wool into yarn. \u00a0Then the yarn is made into clothing. \u00a0The Spindle Whorl indicated that the Norse brought sheep with them in their ships. \u00a0Sheep indicated a permanent settlement was planned. \u00a0The sagas state that Leif brought cattle including a very angry bull.\u00a0 The \u00a0intention was \u00a0to create a community. \u00a0A farm. \u00a0In addition to the \u00a0135 men there were 15 women which seems to be confirmed by the discovery of the \u00a0Spindle Whorl. \u00a0Women used Spindle Whorls \u00a0to make the yarn. \u00a0Men did not do that.<\/div>\n
3)\u00a0 BITS OF BOG \u00a0IRON. \u00a0One small depression turned \u00a0out to be \u00a0a smelting oven for the manufacture \u00a0of iron from a precipitate chemical called Bog iron found in swamps. \u00a0 Some bits of iron and broken rivets were found in the excavation. \u00a0These iron fragments did two things. \u00a0First they established that the site was Viking and that boat building or repair was once a function of the site.\u00a0 Second, according to recent thinking L\u2019Anse Aux Meadows\u00a0was really a boat repair station and not the fabled \u00a0Vinland which has yet to be discovered and \u00a0may never be discovered.<\/div>\n
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AND SO OUR ADVENTURE ENDED.<\/div>\n
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LET\u2019S GET OUT OF HERE:<\/div>\n
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\u201cAlan, \u00a0couldn\u2019t we take \u00a0a bus back to Cornerbrook?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo bus service that I know about.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI just want to get home \u00a0and see the kids \u00a0again.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLook over there, the Cessna has its cowling back on and all those torque wrenches are \u00a0packed away.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot comforting.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWe will have a stiff tailwind all the way back to Cornerbrook\u2026get there \u00a0fast.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot comforting.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWe \u00a0have seen \u00a0L\u2019Anse\u00a0 Aux Meadows \u2026Jellyfish Cove\u2026in all its lonely splendour.<\/div>\n
\u201cNot comforting.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd those big tanks of \u00a0gas are \u00a0now emptied into the gas tank.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot comforting.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAny final comments?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAlan, this was \u00a0a foolish \u00a0trip\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBut unforgettable?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYes, unforgettable, FOR \u00a0SURE.<\/div>\n
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ALAN SKEOCH<\/div>\n
FEB. 20, 2018<\/div>\n
recalling \u00a0an adventure<\/div>\n
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A YEAR LATER:<\/div>\n
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A year later Marjorie, Kevin, Andrew, Tara (the coonhound) \u00a0and \u00a0I drove \u00a0from Mississauga \u00a0to L\u2019anse \u00a0Aux Meadows. Took a \u00a0good part of \u00a0the summer to get there. \u00a0 The place looked different in summer. \u00a0 Replica sod \u00a0houses seemed livable. \u00a0Reminders of \u00a0the long winters \u00a0remained however \u00a0for there were<\/div>\n
several icebergs \u00a0grounded just outside Jellyfish \u00a0Cove.<\/div>\n
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Beneath our feet, however, the \u00a0meadow was carpeted \u00a0with blueberries. Blueberry wine was also sold \u00a0in Newfoundland. \u00a0Vinland.<\/div>\n
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Berries close to the ground. \u00a0Wine \u00a0can be made from any fruit\u2026perhaps these. A thousand years ago when \u00a0the land was warmer it is just possible that there were \u00a0more berries to be converted into wine. \u00a0But that is \u00a0just speculation. Perhaps Leif Ericsson used the skill of an \u00a0advertising executive to name Vinland just as was done when glacier covered Greenland \u00a0was named.<\/div>\n
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VINLAND \u00a0FOUND: THE BUMP IN THE GROUND WAS \u00a01,000 YEARS OLD<\/div>\n
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\nThey found Vinland. \u00a0They found the place where Norse settlers lived a thousand years ago. \u00a0Not just Norse adventurers. \u00a0Norse settlers. \u00a0There is a big difference between the two. \u00a0Adventurers came first. \u00a0Settlers came later. \u00a0 No longer a mystery for they found proof of a settlement when they unearthed part of needle and a small stone with a hole in it. \u00a0The stone was a spindle whorl which the Norse used to spin wool. \u00a0Let me correct that statement. \u00a0The spindle whorl was used by ‘women’ to spin wool. \u00a0Women were present. \u00a0The sagas say that Thorfin Karlsefni, along with 135 men and 15 women along with their animals and three ships spent several years at L’Anse aux Meadows.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Women! \u00a0This was a home settlement rather than a camp. \u00a0IT WAS REAL! \u00a0(Or most authorities think it is real.)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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REPLICA OF THE SITE AT L’ANSE AUX MEADOWS (LEFT).\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0(PARKS CANADA)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cMarjorie, look here, there is George \u00a0Decker staring at the \u00a0BUMPS in the ground that turned out to be what many\u00a0believe is the fabled \u00a0VINLAND.\u201d \u00a0(ABOVE \u00a0RIGHT)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0\u201cAND \u00a0the bumps in the ground \u00a0lasted 1,000 years.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Replica sod house \u00a0above.<\/p>\n

WANT TO READ MORE? \u00a0VINLAND\u2026THE \u00a0SAGAS?<\/span><\/div>\n
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The earliest and most complete information we have about Vinland the Good is found in two sagas,\u00a0Greenlanders’ Saga<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0The Saga of Erik the Red<\/i>\u00a0which tell of the Viking discovery of North America. The two accounts were written independently, though both tell of things which took place in the early 11th century that were passed down by word of mouth in Greenland and Iceland until they were written down in the 13th century in Iceland. Both give general descriptions of the native peoples the Vikings met, relative sailing distances, and landscape features which help us determine the location of Vinland. But the two versions are also contradictory in a number of ways, and while they provide much information about the new lands, they do not conclusively resolve the question, “where was Vinland?<\/span><\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Excerpt from one of the two sagas that describe Vinland.<\/p>\n

They afterward determined to establish themselves there for the winter, and they accordingly built a large house. There was no lack of salmon there either in the river or in the lake, and larger salmon than they had ever seen before. The country thereabouts seemed to be possessed of such good qualities that cattle would need no fodder there during the winters. There was no frost there in the winters, and the grass withered but little. The days and nights there were of more nearly equal length than in Greenland or Iceland. On the shortest day of winter, the sun was up between “eykarstad” and “dagmalastad.” When they had completed their house, Leif said to his companions, “I propose now to divide our company into two groups, and to set about an exploration of the country. One-half of our party shall remain at home at the house, while the other half shall investigate the land; and they must not go beyond a point from which they can return home the same evening, and are not to separate [from each other]. Thus they did for a time. Leif, himself, by turns joined the exploring party, or remained behind at the house. Leif was a large a powerful man, and of a most imposing bearing\u00aca man of sagacity, and a very just man in all things.<\/p>\n

American historical documents, 1000-1904 : with introductions and notes. New York : P.F. Collier, c1910.\u00a0 The Harvard classics v. 43.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FEAR\u2026FEAR\u2026FEAR\u2026FEAR\u2026FEAR FEAR changes people. \u00a0The picture above is Marjorie today in 2018. \u00a0The picture below was taken in 1994 HIGH above western Newfoundland. We were wedged in an old\u00a0Cessna 170 about 2,000 \u00a0feet above the \u00a0Strait of Belle Isle heading north to L\u2019Anse aux Meadows, one of the most mysterious UNESCO world heritage \u00a0sites \u00a0on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-uncategorized","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=583"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":632,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583\/revisions\/632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}