Vikings Didn't Colonize the Faroe Islands: Archaeologists Uncover New Evidence

Archaeologists once believed that the Faroe Islands were first colonized by the seafaring Vikings. Now, they've discovered new evidence that shows this wasn't the case. Instead, the islands were colonized far earlier--at least 300 to 500 years earlier than previously thought.

The Faroe Islands are located in a type of oceanic crossroads. In the past, they acted as the first stepping stone beyond Shetland for the dispersal of European people across the North Atlantic. In fact, the islands are responsible for the eventual arrival of people on continental North America in the 11^th century AD, about 500 years before Columbus made his historic voyage.

The islands themselves possess a wealth of archaeological evidence. Yet this latest finding has revealed a little more about the history of the place. Researchers uncovered an extensive windblown sand deposit containing patches of burnt peat ash from human activity, dating human settlement to pre-Viking phases. The ash itself contained barley grains, which were accidentally burnt in domestic hearths before being spread by humans onto the windblown surface during the 4^th-6^th centuries and 6^th-8^th centuries. At the time, this was a common practice to control wind erosion.

Yet while there is some indication of human settlement, there's not a lot. Archaeologists have yet to find any other artifacts that tell them about this early habitation. However, the researchers may have an explanation for this dearth of evidence.

"The majority of archaeological evidence for this early colonization is likely to have been destroyed by the major Viking invasion, explaining the lack of proof found in the Faroes for the earlier settlement," said Mike Church from Durham University's Department of Archaeology in a news release. "This also raises questions about the timing of human activity on other islands systems where similarly evidence may have been destroyed."

Currently, the researchers are looking for more clues to find out a little bit more about who exactly might have colonized this area in the past. Although they don't know who the people were and where they came from, though, it's clear that they prepared peat for use. This means that they must have stayed in the area for quite some time.

"We now have to digest these dates of this early evidence in relation to other sources and consider whether there may be other similar sites, elsewhere in the islands, which may be able to provide us with further structural archaeological evidence," said Simun V Arge, co-author of the new paper, in a news release.

The findings are published in the journal Quanternary Science Reviews.