Where the Middle Ages Begin
Magna Carta, one of the most famous documents in English history, turns 800 years old this month. It’s importance goes far beyond the British Isles, including to Canada, where a new book and exhibition are highlighting the impact the medieval charter made on the country.
Although it was found about fifty years ago, archaeologists have just determined that a small stone container discovered on Baffin Island in Canada’s Arctic region was actually part of metallurgical equipment used by the Vikings around the year 1000 A.D.
Newfoundland is at the heart of what we may consider to be ‘Viking Canada.’
This article (in Spanish) is about Viking shipping and navigation.
Here is a list of medieval studies programs available in Canada, province by province
Any former iron smelting site presents a special problem for archaeologists. The process of converting iron rich ore into a working iron bar requires a complex series of steps. Each separate function is most likely to be undertaken by heavily modifying the previous equipment set up. Unfortunately for the archaeologist, the evidence of those important earlier stages is certain to be blurred, if not totally obliterated, by later steps. It will be the very last part of the whole process which alone remain as evidence.
Furs, Fish and Ivory – Medieval Norsemen at the Arctic Fringe By Christian Keller Journal of the North Atlantic, Vol. 3 (2010) Abstract: Why did the Norse Icelanders colonize Greenland in the late tenth century A.D., and why did they explore the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland? Was it a desperate search for farmland at […]
The aim is to document and discuss Norse knowledge of oceanographic phenomena including tides, non-tidal ocean currents, surface water properties, and sea ice.
Contact between the Norse Vikings and the Dorset culture in Arctic Canada By Robert Park Antiquity, Vol.82 (2008) Introduction: One the most dramatic encounters in human history took place when the Norse Vikings came into contact with the native North Americans whom they called ‘Skraelings’, completing the longitudinal expansion humanity around the earth. Our knowledge […]
Mapping Medievalism at the Canadian Frontier Edited by Kathryn Brush Museum London, 2010 ISBN: 978-1-897215-30-2 Introduction: Art and cultural historians have traditionally examined the mythology of the Canadian frontier in light of the representation of the “wild” and “untamed” Canadian landscape produced by such artists as Tom Thompson and the Group of Seven in the […]
The Matthew of Bristol is the vessel in which the Genoese explorer, John Cabot, sailed with his Bristol companions on their 1497 voyage of discovery to North America.
L’Anse aux Meadows has been a National Historic Site since 1977. Parks Canada operates a Visitor Centre which displays artifacts discovered during the archeological excavations.
The Norse in Newfoundland: L’Anse aux Meadows and Vinland By Birgitta Wallace Newfoundland and Labrador Studies, Vol. 19:1 (2003) Introduction: One thousand years ago, the Old World and the New stood face to face in the Strait of Belle Isle. The landing of the Norse on the shores of North America was not the result of […]
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