Landmark North America
L'Anse aux Meadows
L'Anse aux Meadows is a place by the sea in Canada. More than 1,000 years ago, Vikings sailed here. They built a small camp of houses covered with grass and earth!
L'Anse aux Meadows is at the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland, in Canada. Here, in the 11th century, Norse sailors from Greenland built a small camp of eight timber-and-turf buildings. It is the earliest known evidence of Europeans in the Americas, and it has been a World Heritage Site since 1978.
L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site, at the tip of Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula, holds the excavated remains of an 11th-century Norse encampment of eight timber-framed turf buildings, found in 1960. UNESCO calls it the first and only known site established by Vikings in North America; a 2021 tree-ring study placed the Norse there in AD 1021. It was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1978.
Photo: Photo: Gordon Leggett, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover L'Anse aux Meadows
L'Anse aux Meadows is in Canada, on a big island called Newfoundland. It is by the sea.
Vikings came here in their ships more than 1,000 years ago.
L'Anse aux Meadows lies at the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula, on the island of Newfoundland in Canada. Parks Canada describes rugged cliffs, bog and coastline around it.
More than 1,000 years ago, Norse sailors from Greenland built a small camp here. Its remains are the first known evidence of Europeans in the Americas. Today the site is a National Historic Site run by Parks Canada.
UNESCO describes the excavated remains of an 11th-century Viking settlement on a narrow terrace overlooking a peat bog and a small brook, near the shore of Epaves Bay on the Strait of Belle Isle. It calls the site the first and only known site established by Vikings in North America, and the earliest evidence of European settlement in the New World.
Parks Canada adds that in the past four to five thousand years many people have lived at L'Anse aux Meadows, and that the Norse were one small group among them.
- Where
- tip of the Great Northern Peninsula, Newfoundland, Canada
- Built
- 11th century, by Norse sailors
- Found
- 1960
- World Heritage
- inscribed 1978
Sailors from Greenland
The Vikings who came here sailed from Greenland, far to the north.
They worked iron and wood, probably to fix their ships. Some sailed farther south.
Norse sailors came here from Greenland and built a camp. Things found at the site show that they made iron and worked wood, probably to repair their ships, and that some of them sailed farther south.
Old Norse stories called the Vinland Sagas tell of voyages by Leif Erikson and other explorers from Iceland and Greenland. UNESCO says the remains fit those stories.
UNESCO notes that the artifacts show iron production and woodworking, likely used for ship repair, as well as signs that those using the camp voyaged farther south. The remains correspond with the stories told in the Vinland Sagas about the voyages of Leif Erikson and other Norse explorers westward across the Atlantic from Iceland and Greenland.
In 2021, a study in Nature dated wood cut with metal tools at the site using a burst of radiocarbon from a cosmic-ray event of AD 993 in the tree rings. It concluded that the Vikings were present in Newfoundland in AD 1021.
Houses of wood and turf
The Vikings built eight buildings. They had wooden frames with thick grass and earth on the walls and roofs.
Inside, long fireplaces gave heat and light.
The camp had eight buildings: three dwellings, one forge for working iron and four workshops. Each had a timber frame covered with turf, cut from the nearby bog.
They were built in the same style as buildings in Norse Greenland and Iceland at that time. Long, narrow fireplaces in the middle of the floor were used for heating, lighting and cooking.
UNESCO lists eight timber-framed turf structures, three dwellings, one forge and four workshops, built like those of Norse Greenland and Iceland of the same period. Research after 1960 showed that they had a particular type of gabled roof covered with turf from the surrounding peat bog, and that the layout of rooms, fireplaces and openings followed Norse design.
Parks Canada describes walls and roofs of sod laid over a supporting frame, with long, narrow fireplaces down the middle of the floor for heating, lighting and cooking.
Clues in the ground
People found a bronze pin, a stone lamp and tools for making yarn here.
The yarn tools show that women came on the voyage too!
In 1960, a local man, George Decker, showed the explorer Helge Ingstad some grassy bumps and ridges. For the next eight years, Helge and his wife, the archaeologist Anne Stine Ingstad, led a team that dug them up. The bumps were the bottoms of the walls of the eight Norse buildings.
They found a bronze pin for fastening a cloak, a stone oil lamp, a spindle whorl for spinning yarn and lots of iron boat nails. Parks Canada says the spinning and knitting tools show that not all the Norse there were men.
Parks Canada recounts that George Decker led Helge Ingstad to overgrown ridges in 1960, and that Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad led an international team from Norway, Iceland, Sweden and the United States for the next eight years. Finds included a bronze ring-headed cloak pin, a stone oil lamp, a spindle whorl, part of a bone needle and a gilded brass fragment.
Slag from smelting and working iron, together with many iron boat nails or rivets, more than any other find led archaeologists to identify the site as Norse. UNESCO counts about 800 wooden, bronze, bone and stone artifacts; the excavated remains have since been reburied to protect them.
- Buildings
- 8: three dwellings, one forge, four workshops
- Artifacts found
- about 800
- Excavated
- 1960 to 1968, led by Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad
Meadows by the sea
In this photo, green land runs down to blue water. Can you find the island far out in the sea?
This photo was taken on 27 August 2022, looking out over L'Anse aux Meadows from a rocky spot. Green meadows and low bushes stretch toward a curving bay, with a path winding across the land.
Far away there is a rocky island in the sea, and on the left are the houses of Hay Cove.
The photograph (27 August 2022, by Gordon Leggett) looks across the national historic site toward the sea: gray rocks in the foreground, meadows and scrub, a curving bay, paths, the houses of Hay Cove on the left and a flat-topped island offshore.
The site was declared a National Historic Site in 1975, and UNESCO notes that it extends far beyond the areas with Norse remains, covering 7,991 ha.
Amazing facts
-
Tools for making yarn showed that women came here with the Vikings!
A spindle whorl and part of a knitting needle were found at the site. Such tools were used by women, so not all the Norse here were men.
Parks Canada notes that the spindle whorl, the bone needle fragment and a small whetstone point to women among the Norse at the site.
-
Scientists used tree rings to find a year when the Vikings were here: 1021!
A 2021 study of tree rings in wood cut by Norse metal tools showed that the Vikings were in Newfoundland in the year 1021.
Using the radiocarbon spike of AD 993 as a marker in the tree rings of wood cut with metal tools, a 2021 Nature study placed the Norse in Newfoundland in AD 1021.
-
Iron boat nails helped show that Vikings built this camp!
Lots of iron boat nails and waste from working iron, more than any other find, showed that the site was Norse.
Slag from iron smelting and working, with a large number of iron boat nails or rivets, more than any other find led archaeologists to identify the site as Norse.
Words to know
- Norse
- the people of Scandinavia in the Viking Age, and their language
- turf
- grass with the soil and roots under it, cut into blocks; also called sod
- forge
- a workshop with a fire for heating and shaping metal
- saga
- a long story from Iceland or Scandinavia about people and their voyages
- spindle whorl
- a small weight on a stick that helps it spin while making yarn
- archaeologist
- a scientist who learns about the past by studying things people left behind
Discovery challenge
-
Who built the camp at L'Anse aux Meadows long ago?
Which seafaring people built the camp at L'Anse aux Meadows?
Which people, sailing from Greenland, built the 11th-century encampment?
- The Vikings (Norse)
- The Romans
- The Egyptians
Show the answer
The Vikings (Norse)
The Vikings!
The Norse, also called Vikings.
Norse sailors from Greenland.
-
What did the Vikings cover their houses with?
What covered the timber frames of the Norse buildings?
With what material, cut from the surrounding peat bog, were the roofs covered?
- Turf (grass and earth)
- Glass
- Metal sheets
Show the answer
Turf (grass and earth)
Grass and earth, called turf!
Turf, also called sod.
Turf from the peat bog.
-
In which country is L'Anse aux Meadows?
In which country is L'Anse aux Meadows?
On which country's island of Newfoundland is the site?
- Canada
- Norway
- Mexico
Show the answer
Canada
Canada!
Canada.
Canada.
-
When were the Viking houses found?
In which year were the remains of the camp found?
In which year did George Decker lead Helge Ingstad to the overgrown ridges?
- 1960
- 1021
- 1978
Show the answer
1960
In 1960!
1960.
1960.
-
How many buildings did the Vikings build here?
How many Norse buildings were found at the site?
How many timber-framed turf structures does UNESCO list?
- 8
- 2
- 80
Show the answer
8
Eight!
Eight.
Eight: three dwellings, a forge and four workshops.
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Explain how archaeologists recognized a Norse site from building remains and finds such as iron nails and spindle whorls.
- Describe how turf houses were built over timber frames.
- Explain how tree rings and a known radiocarbon spike can give an exact year.
Recommended ages: 4 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- The Norse sailed from Greenland across the Atlantic in wooden ships. What would you need to bring on such a voyage?
- Some finds showed that women were part of the group. What can objects tell us about the people who used them?
- Why do you think the remains were reburied after they were studied?
Try at home or in class
- Look at the rings on a cut log or a photo of one, and count them to find how old the tree was.
- Build a small house frame from sticks and cover it with moss or grass to see how a turf house was made.
Key vocabulary: Norse, turf, forge, saga, spindle whorl, archaeologist
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site (World Heritage List) , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Culture and history: L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site , Parks Canada
- L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site , Parks Canada
- Evidence for European presence in the Americas in AD 1021 (Kuitems et al., Nature, 2021) , Nature
- File:2022-08-27 05 View of L'Anse aux Meadows, NFL CAN.jpg , Wikimedia Commons
- UNESCO World Heritage List , UNESCO World Heritage Centre (Linked as a reference; site facts come from Wikidata)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.