Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 9, 1966, Winnipeg, Manitoba 18 Winnipeg free press saturday july 9, 1966 archaeologist seeks proof Vikings landed in America by rpm and Hunt orb Stockholm special owns Ever since the mysterious Vinland the Geod of the icelandic sagas was identified with the american coast there has been spor adic academic skirmishing Over the original discovery of the new world. Was it discovered in 1492 by the genoese navigator Christopher Columbus As Are generally told or was Leif Eriksen the Vik ing the first. European to see the great american continent about 500 years before this the p Rob 1 pm seemed settled a few years ago when Helge Ingstad an Oslo archaeologist discovered Viking remains at l Anse Aux Meado ivs fld. He has returned there six times to continue excavations and now he has just left Oslo on his final expedition accompanied by Thor Heyerdahl of the legendary Kon Tiki raft expedition. The purpose of the pre sent expedition is to clean up the Sites and search for any artefacts missed on previous occasions and or. Ingstad wants to preserve the remains and establish a museum. The association with the expedition of or. Heyer Dahl s name with All its prestige seems partly aimed at disarming the Demic sniping at or. Ingstad by the Columbus lobby and by denigrate is of Eriksen. The snipers Are mostly italians and spaniards who see the. Claims for the Viking As an insult to their nations and As a blow a the War of ethnic prestige often read into relations beb Veen the nordic and the Lathi worlds. Although or. Ingstad has not been openly attacked by responsible academics he has met considerable Reserve. Some columbian protagonists have accused him of going to a great Deal of trouble simply to insult their hero his descendants and compatriots. Since Columbus was italian the italians appear most annoyed. Spain merely employed the great Sailor so the spaniards can afford to take the whole question some what More dispassionately. Their due nothing could be further from or. Ingstad s intentions than to discredit other countries rather he is trying to give his forebears their due. He believes that for their times the Vikings were astonishingly advanced. They lived in the Dari Ages when it was thought the world was Flat and that vile monsters threatened mariners in far oceans. Yet the Vikings dared to put to sea to find out what Lay on the other Side. They were the first men of the age of discovery five centuries before it properly arrived. Or. Ingstad is also inter ested in rehabilitating the Vikings in the eyes of posterity. We tend to think of them Only As Bloodthirsty pirates As murderers and he says. But we. Do not consider their skill at navigation and their genuine thirst for exploration. It is As unfair to judge them by their raids alone As it is to stigmatize our age As that of the atom bomb and concentration Camp without considering its Good nobody doubts although or. Ingstad says that this last expedition of his is not primarily concerned with new finds there is no doubt that any Arti facts turned up would be he has had to Bear some criticism both from american archaeologists and Osier Over fee Lack of such finds nobody doubts that the Sites Are those of Viking dwellings but some authorities ques Tion whether it is indeed Vinland the Good the col ony established by Leif Eriksen and his successors and which is supposed to have existed for about a Century from the Middle of the 10th Century until the Middle of the Lith. Or. Ingstad has excavated what Are undoubtedly farmhouses and other dwell Ings of a Type associated with loth Century Norway and the Norse settlements in Greenland. But his critics say that these Are the remains of a temporary base or a Hall Way House and that the real Vinland the Good lies far further probably to connect Cut or even Florida. Agates this or. Logs Tad has marshalled a formidable argument based on interpretations of the agas of collateral historical Evi Dence and on the astronomical observations of the Vikings. In their own crude Way the Savage nordic sailors knew a great Deal about a te11 a r navigation. But from an archaeologist s Point of View they had the d r a Back of expressing their readings in poetic language that bears a num Ber of different interpretations. H the site at Aux. Meadows really were that of Vinland the Good runs the criticism one would expect to find tools and Domestic utensils. Since these were All but absent at least so far this suggests thai it is Little More than a Camp ing site and that the Vikings took All their equip ment when continuing their voyage southwards against this or. Ingstad says that the eskimos and the indians who then popu lated Newfoundland and the Canadian coast were incur r i g i b 1 e scavengers and nothing would be left after the Vikings had departed. The sole artefact discovered at l Anse Aux Meadows was a soapstone spinning crude form of spinning wheel used by the Vikings and commonly found in old Norse Sites in Norway and Greenland. The so called a a r b o n 12" method of dating placed its origin at around the end of the 10th Century which exactly fits the historical evidence. This method of dating is based on radioactive decay and has been accepted As the most Reli Able known to Modem archaeology. But or. Ingstad feels certain that he has found Vinland the Good and he and Heyerdahl Sre going to put the Seal on All the work that has gone before. This does not preclude further Viking finds elsewhere on the american continent. Or. Ingstad believes that the Vikings May have reached Florida on reconnaissance and even Penet rated far Inland perhaps As far As the great lakes he is to address an Ameri can a r c a blog its con Ference in Buenos Aires and perhaps others will inspired to continue his work. Even the supporters of Columbus Cali scarcely grudge the North american continent an extra five centuries of history. Protestants new Deal in Spain Madrid a a special commission has completed the draft of a new Law on religious Freedom which will permit Aon catholics to worship publicly and privately in Spain. The proposed Law probably will go before the National cab inet of gee. Francisco Franco next week Tor approval. Informants said the Law pro Vides Radical changes in the control of religion in Spain largely in line with recommendations made by the ecumenical Council in Rome. It will provide official sources said the right of non catholics to worship according to their own religious to aia both publicly and privately right of minority religions to establish schools in Spain and to Dis tribute school books of their own selection and the easing of mixed marriages Between Cath Olics and non catholics. Spain is a predominantly roman Catholic country. Spain is estimated to have More than protestants half dozen denominations and minor Ity religious groups. Denmark s income tax takes at least 60 per cent earnings of each Pergola fee makes More than a year. 10 divorces become absolute ten absolute decrees of divorce have been declared in court of Queen s Bench Here. They Are John Pender from Anna Penner married a Winnipeg july 11, 1953 Donalda Mae tyndale from Peter Alex Ander tyndale married in Charleswood March 22, 1958 Alice Beryl Chodak from Peter Paul Chodak married in Edmonton dec. 11, 1954 Gerald Gordon Bender from Yvonne Doreen Bender married in Pilot Mound man., oct. 14, 1961. Gwendoline Isabel Holt from Thomas John Robert Holt married in july 14, 1960 Catherine Helen Bickell from Frederick Ronald Bickell married in Winnipeg dec. 31, 1964 Walter Mai skew French from Mary Joy French married in Toronto sept. 24, 1960. Patricia Beryl Warren from Thomas Bryan Warren married in Selkirk man., sept. 28, 1963 i Walter lome Johnson from 1 Eleanor Jean Johnson married i in Carman maa., dec. John Forbes Carter from Shelagh Anne Carter married in 18, i the Point on the Globe which is at Zero degrees latitude and j Zero Longitude is in the Gulf of Guinea off the african coast. Daily hours to 6 . Monday thursday and Friday . To . 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