Leif Erikson, famed son Erik the Red, Viking explorer, grew infamous for many things but most importantly for playing a vital role in 10th century Norse geopolitics. As a deeply religious man, Leif wanted to bring his beliefs in many of his explorations and new lands, especially bringing Christianity to Greenland. However, he ended up as the first-ever European to set foot on what is now American soil.
For generations, Leif Erikson's travels and explorations on American lands were only regarded as famed Viking legend. But, in recent studies, a high-energy cosmic ray phenomenon confirms and dates the first Viking settlements.
What are Cosmic Rays?
Cosmic rays are materials found in space that are made from clusters of atoms. Cosmic rays are present throughout the solar system and as well as the spaces beyond its boundaries. The materials travel through any region of the universe at a speed that is comparable to light.
Although cosmic rays are natural, they relay some familiar problems that are not beneficial to many of the modern-day technologies in space, such as crafts and stations. Electronic devices and signal-based utilities on our planet are also affected by disruptions when cosmic rays interfere. But one function from cosmic rays was found useful, and it was through dating isotopes from trees or dendrochronology.
Cosmic rays, according to a report by Space, were discovered back in 1912. Even though experts confirmed its presence, there had been a lot of studies conducted in the following century to prove its properties and the effects and capacity that it could relay to the space and its corresponding members. Among the main interests of cosmic rays, studies are the origin and source of the materials.
Although uniform in their appearance, cosmic rays were distinct trajectories when they hovered across galaxies. In a study published in the journal Science, titled "Observation of a large-scale anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays above 8 × 1018 eV," experts from the Pierre Auger Observatory detected various directions and time intervals of cosmic ray arrivals. According to the scientific community, identifying the displacements of cosmic rays is the first step to defining their true nature and origin.
How Cosmic Rays Back Up the Presence of Vikings in Ancient America
In the latest study, Vikings were proven to have visited America in 1021 AD, which was first thought to be a mere myth crafted from Erikson's travels. Based on the report by Inverse, there have been several Viking settlements as well that was discovered in nearer locations to the new world continent.
The study was made possible through the help of a technology called high-precision accelerator mass spectrometry. The system was used to date old woods and tree parts, and surprisingly, it revealed an anomaly that took place back in 993 AD. The wooden materials that the Vikings utilized showed that the cosmic rays inflicted markers on the tree following a solar storm in 992 AD.
The event left markers on the tree-based devices and structures developed at that time - evidence that exactly falls to the timeline of when the Vikings were present in the L'Anse aux Meadows and the early Americas. The study was published in the journal Nature, titled "Evidence for European presence in the Americas in AD 1021."
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