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Bullfrog Films
P.O. Box 149
Oley, PA 19547
Tel: 610/779-8226
Fax: 610/370-1978
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Norse America
Vikings In North America
Evidence that the Icelandic sagas were fact not fiction.
56 minutes
DVD-R version available
Color
Grade Level: 9-12, College, Adult
US Release Date: 1996
Copyright Date: 1996
ISBN (VHS): 1-56029-670-4
ISBN (DVD): 1-59458-286-6
Produced by T.W. Timreck & W.N. Goetzmann
in association with Arctic Studies Center at the Smithsonian Institution
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"A brilliantly produced, informative, entertaining presentation."
Midwest Review of Books
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Long before Columbus, northern Europe had a tradition of mythic lands to the West. According to the medieval Icelandic sagas, Erik the Red founded a colony in 986 AD in what we now know as Greenland. His son Leif Eriksson later sailed south and discovered a fertile, temperate land he called Vinland.
This film explores the correlation between the latest archaeological discoveries in the Far North and the descriptions of Viking explorations and settlements detailed in the Icelandic sagas.
What emerges is a fascinating story of Norse settlements in Newfoundland and elsewhere along the North Atlantic coast of trading and occasional battles with Eskimo peoples migrating east in this period of global warming. Most amazing of all, it now seems likely that there were contacts between northern Europeans, native Americans, and Asians which were probably not the result of incidental voyages but of a pattern of exploration and trading that extended over the circumpolar region for thousands of years before Columbus' celebrated voyage.
The DVD version of this program is recorded on DVD-R which is not compatible with some older DVD players. See the new DVD page for more details.
Study guide available
Awards:
CINE Golden Eagle
Bronze Plaque, Columbus International Film & Video Festival
ICRONOS, Bordeaux International Archaeology Film Festival
Reviews:
"A brilliantly produced, informative, entertaining presentation. Highly recommended for school and community video libraries." Midwest Review of Books
"Persuasively argues that the long tradition of lands to the west was not based upon legend but upon actual travel...Such contact belies the notion that the new and old worlds have gone through centuries of isolation with sporadic contact beginning after the voyages of Columbus...well made" Rebecca S. Graves, University of Missouri-Columbia, MC Journal
"NORSE AMERICA provides a rare, balanced view of the Norse Vinland voyages, incorporating the most recent archaeological and historical evidence, and placing these early transatlantic settlements in a comprehensible cultural and environmental context." Thomas H. McGovern, North Atlantic Biocultural Organization, Hunter College, CUNY
Related Subjects:
American Studies
Anthropology
Archaeology
Arctic Studies
Geography
History
Indigenous Peoples
Scandinavia
Vikings
World Cultures
Related Titles:
The Mystery of the Lost Red Paint People: Advanced seafaring culture lived in New England 7000 years ago.
The Mystery of Chaco Canyon: Unveiling the ancient astronomy of southwestern Pueblo Indians.
The Sun Dagger: The astonishing discovery of an ancient celestial calendar in Chaco Canyon, NM.
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