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The Helluland Archaeology Project gives this helpful overview map of Norse-style archaeological finds on Baffin Island:
SOURCE: "Helluland Archaeology Project,"
The Greenlanders' Saga and Saga of Eric the Red narrate a total of three voyages by the Vikings to Helluland within maybe a dozen years. However, the Vikings must have been traveling in the region for a longer period, because in one European record, the Vikings had a ship on an expedition for gathering timber in Markland/Labrador get blown eastward to Iceland in the 14th century.
There is alittle curious issue in the Sagas' narrative about Helluland, because in the Greenlanders' Saga, it says that when the Vikings visited the land on their way to Greenland from Markland, they "saw" that Helluland was an island. In reality, it seems that the Vikings might only have guessed/estimated that Baffin Island was an island, because it's a huge landmass and they didn't circumnavigate it on that particular first trip to it. One alternative is that Helluland is not actually Baffin Island, but some much smaller island. Yet on a map, there isn't an easy obvious alternative for Helluland besides Baffin Island.
The issue of where south of Labrador the Vikings camped and visited is pretty interesting for me, in part because the Vikings are a fun theme. The interaction between the Vikings and the Amerindian cultures like the Dorset people, the Thule, the Micmacs, Beothuks, and maybe Algonquins make the topic more interesting.
Where I first get stuck trying to locate territories south of Markland/Labrador is when it comes to identifying the island of Bjarney southeast of Markland/Labrador. It seems like it most likely would be Belle Isle or Newfoundland, and that Anticosti Island and the small islands on the south shore of Labrador/Quebec are much weaker candidates for Bjarney.
The Island of Bjarney is in Eric the Red's Saga. Here is the text line by line in both versions of the story:
Here is a map of the eastern Labrador Peninsula to show you what I'm talking about. Belle Isle is the small island south of the word "Fox" on the middle east half of the map:
(click to enlarge the map)
Newfoundland seems like a good candidate for Bjarney because in the Greenlanders' Saga, the explorer Bjarni sailed from Iceland to a new land, apparently Newfoundland, and then sailed two days west to a Second land, Markland (Labrador). So the island of Bjarney in Eric the Red's Saga might be named indirectly with the explorer Bjarni in mind.
But Belle Isle also seems like a good candidate for Bjarney. This is because whereas Belle Isle and Newfoundland have bears, Newfoundland also had Beothuk Indians, yet the short story about the naming of Bjarney doesn't mention finding Indians, just bears. The Vikings would have ended up meeting the Vikings of Newfoundland, since the Vikings' L'anse aux Meadows colony was in Newfoundland, and they also got jasper from Fortune Harbor where the Beothuks lived in eastern Newfoundland, based on the discovery of Fortune Harbor jasper at the L'anse aux Meadows site.
H. Hermannsson writes in "The Wineland Voyages": "An island lay southeast from it , and upon that they found a bear; hence they called it Bear Island. This could well be the northern point of Newfoundland, which they almost inevitably would have taken for an island if they went through the strait."
As an editor, G. Siggurdsson writes in The Vinland Sagas (2019, Footnote 22 for Eric the Red's Saga): Bjarney (Bear Island)....: The island now called Belle Isle is a well-known landmark for seafarers, south-east from the coast of the forested Labrador. It is reasonable to assume that the story is now passing Labrador and pointing out the main landmark off the shore, Bjarney.
Hans Steenby writes in the book "Norsemen's Route from Greenland to Wineland" about the description of Bjarney being on the southeast side of Markland:
"All this agrees with the conditions near the Strait of Belle Isle, where one has the turn of the coast, and where Newfoundland lies as an island to the south-east."
Mrs. Ingstad in a book about Vinland noted that in her time at L'anse aux Meadows, a polar bear was hunted on Belle Isle, and her suggestion was that Bjarney referred to Belle Isle.
I have trouble finding much more on the topic in academic writings.
SOURCE: "Helluland Archaeology Project,"
The Greenlanders' Saga and Saga of Eric the Red narrate a total of three voyages by the Vikings to Helluland within maybe a dozen years. However, the Vikings must have been traveling in the region for a longer period, because in one European record, the Vikings had a ship on an expedition for gathering timber in Markland/Labrador get blown eastward to Iceland in the 14th century.
There is alittle curious issue in the Sagas' narrative about Helluland, because in the Greenlanders' Saga, it says that when the Vikings visited the land on their way to Greenland from Markland, they "saw" that Helluland was an island. In reality, it seems that the Vikings might only have guessed/estimated that Baffin Island was an island, because it's a huge landmass and they didn't circumnavigate it on that particular first trip to it. One alternative is that Helluland is not actually Baffin Island, but some much smaller island. Yet on a map, there isn't an easy obvious alternative for Helluland besides Baffin Island.
The issue of where south of Labrador the Vikings camped and visited is pretty interesting for me, in part because the Vikings are a fun theme. The interaction between the Vikings and the Amerindian cultures like the Dorset people, the Thule, the Micmacs, Beothuks, and maybe Algonquins make the topic more interesting.
Where I first get stuck trying to locate territories south of Markland/Labrador is when it comes to identifying the island of Bjarney southeast of Markland/Labrador. It seems like it most likely would be Belle Isle or Newfoundland, and that Anticosti Island and the small islands on the south shore of Labrador/Quebec are much weaker candidates for Bjarney.
The Island of Bjarney is in Eric the Red's Saga. Here is the text line by line in both versions of the story:
| Skalhotsbok version Then they sailed on a northerly {ie. Southward} wind for two days and then there was a land [ie. Markland / Labrador?] before them on which there was a great forest and many animals. |
Hauksbok version From there they sailed for two days and the wind shifted from south to southeast and they found a wooded land with many animals on it. |
| An island lay off the land to the southeast and there they found a bear and called [the place] Bjarney (‘Bear Island’). But the land they called Markland (‘Forest Land’) where the forest is. | An island lay offshore to the southeast. There they killed a bear and from this called the place Bjarney and the land Markland. |
| When two days had passed they sighted land and they sailed along the coast. There was a promontory [They later named this promontory "Kjalarnes"]. When they got there they tacked along the coast, keeping the land to starboard. | From there they sailed south along the coast for a long time and came to a promontory. The land lay to starboard. |
Here is a map of the eastern Labrador Peninsula to show you what I'm talking about. Belle Isle is the small island south of the word "Fox" on the middle east half of the map:
(click to enlarge the map)
Newfoundland seems like a good candidate for Bjarney because in the Greenlanders' Saga, the explorer Bjarni sailed from Iceland to a new land, apparently Newfoundland, and then sailed two days west to a Second land, Markland (Labrador). So the island of Bjarney in Eric the Red's Saga might be named indirectly with the explorer Bjarni in mind.
But Belle Isle also seems like a good candidate for Bjarney. This is because whereas Belle Isle and Newfoundland have bears, Newfoundland also had Beothuk Indians, yet the short story about the naming of Bjarney doesn't mention finding Indians, just bears. The Vikings would have ended up meeting the Vikings of Newfoundland, since the Vikings' L'anse aux Meadows colony was in Newfoundland, and they also got jasper from Fortune Harbor where the Beothuks lived in eastern Newfoundland, based on the discovery of Fortune Harbor jasper at the L'anse aux Meadows site.
H. Hermannsson writes in "The Wineland Voyages": "An island lay southeast from it , and upon that they found a bear; hence they called it Bear Island. This could well be the northern point of Newfoundland, which they almost inevitably would have taken for an island if they went through the strait."
As an editor, G. Siggurdsson writes in The Vinland Sagas (2019, Footnote 22 for Eric the Red's Saga): Bjarney (Bear Island)....: The island now called Belle Isle is a well-known landmark for seafarers, south-east from the coast of the forested Labrador. It is reasonable to assume that the story is now passing Labrador and pointing out the main landmark off the shore, Bjarney.
Hans Steenby writes in the book "Norsemen's Route from Greenland to Wineland" about the description of Bjarney being on the southeast side of Markland:
"All this agrees with the conditions near the Strait of Belle Isle, where one has the turn of the coast, and where Newfoundland lies as an island to the south-east."
Mrs. Ingstad in a book about Vinland noted that in her time at L'anse aux Meadows, a polar bear was hunted on Belle Isle, and her suggestion was that Bjarney referred to Belle Isle.
I have trouble finding much more on the topic in academic writings.
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