Re: Kensington runestone in the Scandinavian press

t(nospam)kavanagh wrote:

IEJ wrote:


"Eric Stevens" <eric.stevens@xxxxxxxxx> skrev i meddelandet
news:md8pa11u1m8tqa0efa89nspkjlbgrjor67@xxxxxxxxxx


On Sun, 12 Jun 2005 11:30:12 GMT, "IEJ" <Iejohansson@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:



Apart from which. At least two remains of non-native Pre-Columbian
boats/ships/vessels have been found south of Hudson Bay.



I accept that but, so little is known of them that it is not possible
to say where they were built or where the wood they were built from
was grown.


The main thing is that the remains show klinker-built technique used


before


Columbus days in the area in question....


I didn't know they had been dated.


They were. The interesting thing is that as many other artifacts found being
dated to 12th-15th century, they have been assumed to have been native
according to one scholar in British Columbia 


What credentials does a "scholar in British Columbia" have of relevance
to the present claim?

I think the suggestion here is that somewhere in British Columbia there are artefacts - from the context, ships - that prove that 'the Vikings' made it that far. To my knowledge - merely as a well read and interested layman, not someone with any special contacts (though I will say that I can number several working western Canadian archaelogists among my friends) - this is not in fact the case. I was at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria last week and I am sure that this incredibly exciting and important news would somehow have been mentioned in the large areas of the museum that deal with both the pre-contact and contact periods. Not to mention that this would be exciting news across Canada, really. I would suspect that the National Museum in Ottawa would work very hard to poach these ships for their permanent display. And archaeology would make such a pleasant break from our political goings-on.

It seems to me unlikely, especially if the idea is that because 'we know' there were 'Vikings' or someone at all from medieval Europe in the Hudson's Bay area before what is commonly regarded as the contact period. Depending on exactly where you are in British Columbia (I live in Alberta, the next province over, and go to B.C. a lot to visit), the rivers tend to oblige the contential divide and flow either to Hudson's Bay or the Great Lakes - or into the Pacific Ocean. I just can't see early and lost traders or tax collectors fighting their way up some of the wildest waters in the world to get to the coast, or even the interior, of British Columbia.

As an example of the vastness of our country - something which perhaps is not clearly understood by those living in Europe, where the next nation over is probably closer than B.C. is to Alberta - a friend of mine, and his fiancee, and a young pilot, went out for a day trip two summers ago on a perfect July day. They were flying from Calgary to Golden, and following our major highway, Highway 1, the TransCanada. The plane crashed in a sudden thunderstorm.. The plane and their bodies were not found for several weeks, even though they were not far from the most travelled highway in Canada, and the searchers had a good idea where the little plane had gone down. The bush and the forest are that thick, and that unforgiving.

And last week, a woman from Canmore, about an hour from where I sit, was attacked by, and killed by, a bear. She was an experienced hiker and guide. This is not an easy country to know or to travel in.

Elizabeth in Calgary
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Kensington runestone in the Scandinavian press
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