2.24 America: a.d. 1001 to 1100

America

Back to America: A.D. 901 to 1000

North america

The far north and canada

The Arctic Thule Culture of northern Canada, northwestern Alaska and western Greenland existed at least from about A.D. 1000 to 1800. The people lived in circular houses, partially subterranean, with whalebone, turf and stone roofs and they used dog sleds with the dogs harnessed in a fan-shape, rather than in tandem. They had Umiak and Kayak boats and represented the final Eskimo Culture of the northern maritime tradition. (Ref. 189 ) Please also see adjacent modules.

Rose Palmer (Ref. 165 ) of the Smithsonian Institute confirms the distinct physical and language characteristics of the Northwest coastal Indians. She describes the Nootka and Kwakiutl people of Vancouver Island as having long, distinct faces with high hooked noses. They used copper and had well built houses 40 to 60 feet square, with gable roof s, fireplaces and doors facing the sea, along with family totems. The Haida of the Queen Charlotte Islands were also of a unique Indian type, larger, more stalwart and of lighter complexion. The women were tall and athletic in contrast to other typical Indian women, who tend to be short and fat. The Haida made long voyages in dug-out canoes of red cedar, some carrying 100 persons and equipment, to as far as Vancouver Island and Puget Sound. Wood carvings on totem poles often 50 to 60 feet high, formed part of the front of their buildings. All of the north coastal Indians remained fairly well isolated from the remainder of the continent and other Indian tribes by virtue of the high coastal mountain ranges which made access inland very difficult. (Ref. 95 , 165 )

Carbon- 14 dating of recent excavations of several buildings and a great hall of an old Viking settlement in northern New Foundland, puts the date as A.D. 1060 (+70 years).

This settlement was probably founded by Leif Erickson, who also apparently went ashore on Baffin Island, calling it "Helluland" and then on down the American coast to Labrador, which he called "Markland". "Vinland", also described by the Norse, undoubtedly was somewhere on the North American coast, possibly Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Labrador or Newfoundland. The latter seems most probable because of the recent excavations, but if so, its wine industry certainly disappeared quickly. At any rate, subsequent to Leif's visit to Vinland, Thorfinn Karlsefne settled this new land with 60 men and 5 women, along with cattle and other animals. Although at first friendly with the native aborigines, eventually there was war, with the Indians attacking in swarms by canoe, ultimately driving out the newcomers. Two Indian boys were captured, however, subsequently taught Norwegian, baptized and taken to Greenland where the colonies were thriving. The warm climatic situation of this century, which allowed an ice-free North Atlantic Ocean, certainly was a factor in these Norse voyages. (Ref. 160 , 176 , 39 , 95 , 156 )

The united states

The Mississippian and related cultures continued to exist in the mid-continent. Please see the preceding chapters. It should be mentioned, in passing, that Barry Fell (Ref. 66 ) feels that numerous artifacts which have been found along the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers, as well as among the Algonquin and Iroquois Indians, are in fact replicas of old Irish-Norse coins and English pennies which had been paid as Danegeld, and originally distributed along the North American coast and rivers by additional voyages of Leif Erickson. Gloria Farley, a co-worker of Fell, has described finding Norse runes in Oklahoma rock inscriptions, dating to about 1050. (Ref. 215 , 66 )