The Vikings landed in Canada due to errors

The Vikings unknowingly reached the North American shore while searching for the Greenland ice island thanks to the guidance of the mysterious "sunstone" (a sunstone) - a recent study has said.

Sun Stone is a fuzzy mineral crystal, throughout Iceland (Iceland), capable of passing the polarization of light and becoming an 'amazingly effective' navigation tool by revealing taste the sun in the cloudy days - which is characteristic of the North Atlantic Ocean.

Although he did not know how to use the compass to navigate, the Vikings departed from the waters of western Norway to land in Greenland and settled there since the 10th century by observing the solar crystals in their journeys. go, Dénes Száz - optical physicist from Eötvös University Loránd Budapest (Hungary) and the lead author of the study published in the Journal of the Open Society of Royal Open Science in April - said.

Sza'z led the simulation results on the computer to show that Viking sailors observed the Sun's position at least every three hours to improve their ability to go to the West and land in Greenland. However, those who do not regularly update are at high risk of not being able to go to Greenland, stray south, and if lucky to survive on the ocean, they will arrive in Canada's waters.

'Through archaeological findings, we can be sure the Vikings were present in North America for centuries before Columbus,' Száz said. 'But we still don't know if they got there by the wrong way, or through intentional expeditions from Greenland'.

In his study, Száz and co-author Gábor Horváth from Eátvös University Loránd (Hungary), ran 36,000 computer simulations on their transatlantic journeys, to determine the possibility of successful landing. under the guidance of the Sun stone.

Errors in the use of solar stones may have taken the Vikings to Canada instead of Greenland.(Photo: Shutterstock).

The simulation is based on previous studies to assess the impact of human error in navigating through the use of Icelandic calcite or other fuzzy crystals - from which to create Single or double images depend on the polarization of transmitted light.

According to Száz's explanation, while there is little archaeological evidence about the Vikings using these crystals, a school of novels by St. St. Olaf wrote about 13th-century Iceland described the use of magical solar stones (sólarsteinn in ancient Icelandic) to determine the direction of the Sun in adverse weather conditions, cloudy or thick fog. solid.

Viking sailors are believed to have used a non-magnetic compass to determine the midday Sun's corner, thus helping them to control the ship following a constant latitude - for example, from the west coast of Norway to Greenland.

However, due to the fact that the weather is mostly cloudy and covered all year round in the North Atlantic, it is difficult to see the Sun with the naked eye, for days or even weeks.

According to the theory proposed by Danish archaeologist Thorkild Ramskou in 1967, Viking sailors may have identified the position of the Sun under adverse conditions by turning stones in front of the sky and mandarins. close to the place where the images are aligned or flashed - Száz said.

Simulated trips

The results of the computer show that the use of solar stones to determine the direction in Viking voyages has been surprisingly successful, especially if the crew performed observation at least every 3 hours , and often at noon.

Illustrate the Viking voyages.(Photo: Shutterstock).

These simulations also show that Vikings from Norway have regularly updated their schedules to go in the right direction to the West of Greenland in 3-4 weeks time.'If the period of observation is about 1, 2 to 3 hours, then the success rate is very high, up to 80-100% , ' Száz said.

However, the study of the authors also pointed out that, during the journey, many Vikings only observed the position of the Sun every 6 hours or longer, even without observing, leading to danger. I left Greenland and went to the South. When this happens and if you're lucky not to die of starvation on the sea, many of them can dock in the sea that now belongs to Labrador and Newfoundland (Canada), Száz said.

It is known that the computer model used by Száz and his colleagues took into account factors such as weather changes, mineral composition differences in the sun rocks used, and the time of year that trips The sea voyage from Norway to Greenland takes place. However, future studies will need to add many variables in the simulation, including the effects of storms, waves and wind directions .