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Exactly 1000 years of Europeans in North America

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:03 pm
by dyqik
New dendrochronology dating of L'Anse aux Meadows has given a date for occupation of 1021 AD.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/vik ... wfoundland

Re: Exactly 1000 years of Europeans in North America

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:19 pm
by monkey
The exactly is doing a fair bit of work there.

Still cool though.

Re: Exactly 1000 years of Europeans in North America

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:24 pm
by dyqik
The paper is open access, by the way: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03972-8

Re: Exactly 1000 years of Europeans in North America

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:37 pm
by jimbob
monkey wrote:
Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:19 pm
The exactly is doing a fair bit of work there.

Still cool though.
Not that much. Depending on what the wood was.

If it was a structural beam etc, it means that one building was made in 1021

Definitely cool, thanks

Re: Exactly 1000 years of Europeans in North America

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 9:17 pm
by dyqik
jimbob wrote:
Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:37 pm
monkey wrote:
Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:19 pm
The exactly is doing a fair bit of work there.

Still cool though.
Not that much. Depending on what the wood was.

If it was a structural beam etc, it means that one building was made in 1021

Definitely cool, thanks
The dating is basically ±1.5 years. The site is believed to only have been occupied for a "short" period, probably less than a decade.

Re: Exactly 1000 years of Europeans in North America

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 9:50 pm
by monkey
jimbob wrote:
Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:37 pm
monkey wrote:
Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:19 pm
The exactly is doing a fair bit of work there.

Still cool though.
Not that much. Depending on what the wood was.
They have very precisely dated a few bits of wood to 1000 years ago in an interesting way, which is the cool bit, and it's fun that it's a nice round number. But that doesn't tell you when they arrived*, just when they did some work. All you know is an "at least" (with an error range) which doesn't fit into my definition of exactly.


*Which is the impression I got from the thread title, and what my comment was based on.

Re: Exactly 1000 years of Europeans in North America

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 10:05 pm
by dyqik
monkey wrote:
Wed Oct 20, 2021 9:50 pm
jimbob wrote:
Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:37 pm
monkey wrote:
Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:19 pm
The exactly is doing a fair bit of work there.

Still cool though.
Not that much. Depending on what the wood was.
They have very precisely dated a few bits of wood to 1000 years ago in an interesting way, which is the cool bit, and it's fun that it's a nice round number. But that doesn't tell you when they arrived*, just when they did some work. All you know is an "at least" (with an error range) which doesn't fit into my definition of exactly.


*Which is the impression I got from the thread title, and what my comment was based on.
Yeah, I know it's mainly numerology that it's interesting that it's 1000 years. But it's maybe a little more likely that it's from the first half of the <decade of occupation.

I guess it's accurate to within a presidential term. ;)

Re: Exactly 1000 years of Europeans in North America

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 6:05 pm
by Bird on a Fire
That is very cool, thanks!

ETA I know in Iceland the Vikings made extensive use of driftwood, which complicates dating a bit, but I guess Newfoundland was better forested

Re: Exactly 1000 years of Europeans in North America

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 6:08 pm
by dyqik
Bird on a Fire wrote:
Thu Oct 21, 2021 6:05 pm
That is very cool, thanks!

ETA I know in Iceland the Vikings made extensive use of driftwood, which complicates dating a bit, but I guess Newfoundland was better forested
That's the argument used in the paper! Along with the waney edge being present and not showing signs of immersion.

Re: Exactly 1000 years of Europeans in North America

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 6:31 pm
by Bird on a Fire
sh.t, totally busted commenting without reading the full paper ;)

It sounds fascinating - will have a proper look after dinner.