Artigo Revisado por pares

The Vinland sagas and Nova Scotia: A Reappraisal of an Old Theory

1992; University of Illinois Press; Volume: 64; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

ISSN

2163-8195

Autores

Mats Larsson,

Tópico(s)

Indigenous Studies and Ecology

Resumo

Vinland, which is most comprehensively recorded in Eiriks sa?fa rauda and Gr&nlendinga saga. The discovery also seemed to confirm earlier conclusions by scholars that was to be sought in the area around Pistolet Bay, only a few kilometers west of L'Anse aux Meadows (Tanner, Helluland, Markland och Vinland 54). The efforts to interpret the sagas and identify the different places described seemed to decrease after the discovery, and Newfoundland was identified by many scholars and in popular literature as (e.g. McGhee 6). The traditions about a mild climate, grape vines, self-sown wheat, etc. pointing to a more southern location were interpreted as free inventions, misunderstandings, or exaggerations (e.g. Ingstad 299-322). The confirmation of the saga's general statements about have, thus, led to a rejection of the details. In recent years, however, some scholars have argued against the conclusion that L'Anse aux Meadows represents the final solution to the question. Wahlgren is of the opinion that the details in the sagas make it necessary to search further to the south ( 1 39-67). He and other contemporary philologists suggest that vin in the Norse name, contrary to the position taken by Ingstad and some other scholars, must refer to grapes, not grass. Also Birgitta Linderoth Wallace, responsible for recent excavations in L'Anse aux Meadows, concludes that must have been located more to the south, probably in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This area could easily be accessed and controlled from L'Anse aux Meadows, located at the entrance to the Strait of Belle Isle. Linderoth Wallace bases her conclusion on the fact that butternuts have

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