Archaeologists find house of Viking woman who crossed Atlantic Ocean 500 years before Columbus in Iceland

The house of Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir, who crossed the Atlantic 500 years before Columbus, has been unearthed in Iceland. More than a decade ago, a group of Icelandic and North American researchers began excavations in the Skagafjordur region of northern Iceland on the territory of a large Viking settlement. The Goodrid farm was found next to two cemeteries dating back to the 1000s.

SVT writes about it.

"It is clearly visible that this is a farmhouse lying in ruins. But there are so many layers of soil in the lowlands that, unfortunately, only the fields are visible," says archaeologist Douglas Bolender.

Read also: In China, archaeologists find evidence of human coal mining around 3600 years ago

According to the Icelandic sagas, Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir was one of the great navigators of the Middle Ages. She is mentioned in the Erik the Red Saga and the Greenlander Saga.

Gudrid and her husband Thorfinnur Karlsefni led an expedition to Vinland, where their son Snorri Thorfinnsson was born, the first European born in the Americas outside Greenland. After some time, Goodrid converted to Christianity and went on a pilgrimage to Rome, where she became a nun and lived as a hermit in a local church.

Despite her great achievements, Goodrid was forgotten for a long time. But now several statues of her have been erected in Iceland and Canada.

As a reminder, archaeologists have found an ancient Hittite sanctuary in Turkey.

If you want to get the latest news about the war and events in Ukraine, subscribe to our Telegram channel!