A Viking settlement in Newfoundland in Canada has been dated to having existed exactly 1 000 years ago, in 1021.
It has long been known that Europeans had reached North America before Christopher Columbus in 1492 but this is the first time that the date has been calculated with such precision.
Scientists examined a tree that had been cut down in the Viking settlement and using radiocarbon dating, and a solar storm that had occurred in 992 AD as a reference, it was determined that the tree had been felled in 1021.
This did not mean that the settlement had not existed prior to that year but that 1021 could definitively be identified as a year in which the settlement was inhabited.
The site, known as L’Anse aux Meadows and classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the only place where Viking settlement has been confirmed in North America.