UNESCO World Heritage Site and the only confirmed Norse settlement in North America, scientifically dated to 1021 AD. Located on the northern tip of Newfoundland, roughly 600 miles from Oak Island. Butternut wood found among the remains proves the Norse explored as far south as New Brunswick or Nova Scotia, placing Viking activity within reach of Mahone Bay.
About This Site
L'Anse aux Meadows sits on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland, on a grassy terrace overlooking Epaves Bay. It was discovered in 1960 by Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad and his archaeologist wife Anne Stine Ingstad, who spent the next eight years excavating the site. What they uncovered were the remains of eight Norse buildings: three dwellings, a forge with iron slag and a stone anvil, a carpentry workshop, and several smaller structures. Radiocarbon dating and, more recently, a solar storm marker in the tree rings of cut wood have fixed the occupation to approximately 1021 AD.
The settlement was not a permanent colony. Archaeologists interpret it as a seasonal base camp, a gateway station used by Norse crews exploring the coastline further south. The buildings could house between seventy and ninety people. The forge produced iron nails from local bog iron, likely for ship repair. The carpentry workshop contained wood shavings from plank production. Everything about the site points to a logistical hub for expeditions deeper into the continent.
The most significant find for the Oak Island question is butternut. Butternuts and butternut wood were recovered from the site, but the butternut tree (Juglans cinerea) does not grow in Newfoundland. Its northernmost range is New Brunswick and the coast of Nova Scotia. For butternut to be present at L'Anse aux Meadows, someone had to bring it back from at least 600 miles to the south. The Norse sagas describe exactly this kind of journey. The Saga of the Greenlanders and the Saga of Erik the Red both describe a place called Hop, a sheltered bay with wild grapes, self-sown wheat, and abundant salmon, located south of the base camp. Researchers have proposed various locations for Hop, from the Miramichi River to Passamaquoddy Bay to the coast of Nova Scotia itself.
The site was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978, the first cultural site to receive the designation. Parks Canada maintains the archaeological remains under protective cover, with a reconstructed Norse longhouse and outbuildings open to visitors. The original artifacts, including the ring-headed bronze pin, iron rivets, a bone needle, and a spindle whorl indicating the presence of women, are held at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec.
Connection to Oak Island
The connection between L'Anse aux Meadows and Oak Island rests on two facts: the Norse were physically present in Atlantic Canada around 1021 AD, and they explored significantly further south than Newfoundland. The butternut evidence alone places Norse crews in the coastal zone that includes Nova Scotia and Mahone Bay. Several artifacts on Oak Island have returned dates consistent with this period. The stone wharf in Smith's Cove was dated by archaeoastronomer Adriano Gaspani to approximately 1200 AD. Coconut fibre from the Money Pit has been radiocarbon dated to medieval ranges. While no artifact on Oak Island has been directly attributed to Norse construction, the question is no longer whether the Vikings could have reached the island. The question is whether they did.
The Villiers Bloodline theory adds another dimension. The De Villiers family emerged from Norman soil barely a century after Rollo's Norse settlers accepted land from the French crown in 911. Godefroy de Villiers appears in the records around 1013, just eight years before the Norse occupation at L'Anse aux Meadows. The Norse who settled Normandy and the Norse who crossed the Atlantic were separated by one or two generations at most. Atlantic seafaring was a living capability within the wider network from which the De Villiers emerged.
Fieldwork Notes
The team visited L'Anse aux Meadows during Season 11 of The Curse of Oak Island to investigate the Viking connection. The visit focused on examining the archaeological remains and understanding the evidence for Norse exploration south of Newfoundland. The butternut discovery and its implications for how far south the Norse travelled were central to the discussion.
The site was revisited in Season 12, Episode 3 ("The Saga Continues"), when research into the Norse sagas and their descriptions of voyages south of the base camp continued to inform the team's understanding of medieval activity in Atlantic Canada.
