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Hundreds of years before Christopher Columbus, the Norse became the first Europeans to cross the Atlantic and settle in North America. This long-posited theory was finally proven in the 1960s, following an archeological expedition to the site of L’Anse aux Meadows on the northernmost tip of the island of Newfoundland. Until recently, the exact timing of the Viking settlement was only speculation, based on architectural remains, a few surviving artefacts and interpretations of Icelandic sagas written in the 1200s. But, as this video from Nature explains, using new carbon dating techniques, scientists at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands have found the exact year that a tree was felled by a Viking axe – 1021 CE. Further, this research also marks the earliest known point in history by which human migration had encircled the globe.
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History of technology
Replicating Shakespearean-era printing brings its own dramas and comedy
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Animals and humans
The wild tale of a young animal keeper, an angry tiger and a torn circle net
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Technology and the self
Why single Chinese women are freezing their eggs in California
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The ancient world
Petty squabbles and bloody battles – the life of an ancient Roman soldier
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Astronomy
The remarkable innovations inspired by our need to know the night sky
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War and peace
‘She is living on in many hearts’ – Otto Frank on the legacy of his daughter’s diary
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Art
Why Diego Velázquez needed a lifetime to paint his enigmatic masterpiece
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Earth science and climate
There’s a ‘climate bomb’ ticking beneath the Arctic ice. How can we prepare?
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Political philosophy
The radical activist couple who fought for social change in the courtroom
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