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To the untrained eye, the L’Anse aux Meadows archeological site on the island of Newfoundland—since 1978, a UNESCO World Heritage Site—doesn’t look like much.

Though the L’Anse aux Meadows site had been studied since the 1960s, only rough estimates of its age had been possible until now.

Reconstruction of a timber-and-sod Viking house at L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site in Newfoundland.

The objects Dee and his colleagues studied, recovered from L’Anse aux Meadows decades ago and carefully preserved in a freezer in a Parks Canada storage facility in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, fit the bill perfectly.

Remains of a Viking structure at L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site in Newfoundland.

The first encounter between the Vikings and indigenous locals may not have happened at L’Anse aux Meadows, but it surely happened somewhere in the area, says Wallace.

Moreover, the archeological evidence, including fire pits and arrowheads, points to the presence of indigenous peoples at the L’Anse aux Meadows site, even if the two groups were not there at exactly the same time.

“The Norse would have known there were other people in L’Anse aux Meadows before them,” says Wallace.

Reconstruction of a Viking church at Norstead, located near L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site.

The sagas mention conflict with local indigenous people, but we can’t know that for sure.”.

While the grass-covered ruins at L’Anse aux Meadows seem frozen in time, the stories we tell about the Vikings have evolved.

But inside the visitor center, the newer exhibits give a more nuanced view, with more balance between the European and indigenous perspectives.

indigenous people might wonder why we’re celebrating the beginning of a thousand-year disaster.”