Researchers find new evidence of Viking presence in Canada

The Viking crucible found on Nunavut's Baffin Island is pictured here. Researchers say it dates back to around 1,000 AD and came to Canada from Greenland. (Patricia Sutherland, Peter Thompson, Patricia Hunt)

A small stone vessel found on Nunavut’s Baffin Island more than 50 years ago is proof of a previously unknown Viking presence in Arctic Canada, researchers say.

The object, dating back to around 1,000 AD, was first unearthed by American archeologist Maxwell Moreau in the 1960s.

But its origin was in dispute until Canadian researchers Patricia Sutherland, Peter Thompson and Patrician Hunt recently found traces of glass and bronze inside the vessel.

The discovery has given them reason to believe that there was a Viking presence in the area.

“The presence of bronze traces in the crucible from Baffin Island is notable, as brass is more characteristic of finds from Scandinavia,” said the authors in a paper about the findings published in the journal Geoarcheology.

Since the discovery of a 1,000-year-old Viking settlement in Newfoundland 50 years ago, archeologists have been combing North America’s east coast for more traces of the Norse visitors with little result until now.

Sutherland has spent the last 15 years focusing her search in Arctic Canada.

“We are aware of only one stone crucible,” she said in the paper, “which was recovered from a Viking Age context in Rogaland, Norway.”

The vessel would have been used as a crucible for melting bronze, likely to make tools or ornaments, the researchers said.

It may also be the earliest example of high-temperature metalworking north of what is now Mexico.

The researchers believe the item made its way to Canada from Greenland with Norse seafarers. They were known to have travelled this route between the 9th and 14th centuries.

“The crucible provides new evidence of an early European presence in the Canadian Arctic,” the researchers said.