(National Historic Site of Canada & United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site)

L’Anse aux Meadows is the site of an 11^th century Norse settlement on the Northern tip of Newfoundland’s Great Northern Peninsula. It is the earliest known European settlement in North America. The architecture of the buildings found at the site is that of buildings in Iceland and Greenland dating from the late 10^th to the late 11^th centuries.

Archaeological and documentary evidence found at L’Anse aux Meadows reveal a rich tale of early exploration, colonization, and possibly conflict.

Facts

• Until 1960, the only evidence of Norse exploits in North America were the Sagas of Erik the Red and the Greenlanders’ Saga (oral traditions), but these accounts are incomplete and often conflicting.

• In the early 1960s, explorer Helge Ingstad and archaeologist Anne Stine Ingstad found visible Norse ruins near L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland. More recently, Parks Canada archaeologist Birgitta Wallace has continued archaeological research at the site.
• Many artifacts have been located at the site, including evidence of economic activities; however, much remains unknown.