Sunstone satnav: How Vikings used mysterious crystal to guide them to America
Norse warriors located sun through clouds with Iceland spar crystal
By SIMON TOMLINSON
Last updated at 12:44 PM on 2nd November 2011
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Ancient legends of Viking mariners using mysterious sunstones to reveal the position of the sun on a cloudy day may well be true, according to a new study.
Before the invention of the compass, Norse adventurers travelled thousands of kilometres across the oceans toward Greenland and most likely as far as North America centuries ahead of Christopher Columbus.
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Fascinating stuff. And, that the knowledge and wisdom was lost for centuries.
Why?
That’s even the better story.
And, what else have we lost?
Also, could this “trick” be useful today? It’s not like no gets lost.
How else can we use it? How did these “primitives” explain it to themselves and what does that tell us?
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