L'Anse aux Meadows — L'Anse aux Meadows
L'Anse aux Meadows Dylan Kereluk from White Rock, Canada, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Site · Canada

L'Anse aux Meadows

Viking, 990–1050 CE

L'Anse aux Meadows is the only confirmed Norse settlement in North America, a short-lived base camp at the northern tip of Newfoundland around 1000 CE, matching the Vinland sagas. It was identified in 1960 and is a World Heritage property.

CountryCanada
State / provinceNewfoundland and Labrador
Dates990–1050 CE
StatusNational Historic Site and UNESCO World Heritage Site
Managed byParks Canada
AccessOpen seasonally with a visitor centre and reconstructed sod buildings
Coordinates51.596, -55.532 (public site)

What was found

The Ingstads' excavations recovered a bronze ring-headed pin, a soapstone spindle whorl, a bone needle, iron rivets and slag from a smithy, butternuts from further south and the foundations of eight turf buildings. Earlier and later Indigenous components are present.

Rules

Nothing may be collected, dug, moved or removed at L'Anse aux Meadows; it is a protected archaeological site managed by Parks Canada, and taking artifacts, stones or samples is an offence. Newfoundland and Labrador's Historic Resources Act vests archaeological objects in the Crown. This article is for study and context only and is not a collecting locality.

Elsewhere

Cite this article

Stratum Study. "L'Anse aux Meadows" (Site). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21. https://stratum.black/study/sites/l-anse-aux-meadows. Accessed 2026-09-21.

@misc{stratum-l-anse-aux-meadows,
  title        = {L'Anse aux Meadows},
  author       = {{Stratum Study}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/sites/l-anse-aux-meadows}},
  year         = {2026},
  note         = {Site article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21; sources: stratum, wikidata, commons. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
}

Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.

Sources for this article: Stratum editorial (Stratum editorial);Wikidata (CC0);Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-4.0). As of 2026-09-21; Study pack 2026.09. Data reproduced under the licences shown; text in Stratum's own words unless a section names its source.

Found an error? Write to drew@tyr.ac with the article id site:l-anse-aux-meadows.

Stratum is the inventory, provenance and certificate system for fossil, mineral and shell collections. Study is its open reference: every fact cites its source, and the credits page lists each one with its licence.