November 8, 1898

The Kensington runestone is a rectangular rock slab covered in runes on its face and side, found in 1898 near Kensington, Minnesota. If it is authentic, it suggests Viking explorers were there in the 14th century, but most historians dismiss it as a hoax.

NOVA Online: The Vikings
The NOVA Vikings television program and this companion Web site examine “a new, less barbarian image of the Norsemen based on recent archeological investigations.” Highlights are the articles about the Viking long ships, the rune alphabet (”See your name spelled in runes”), and the science of tree rings used by archeologists to date the remains of wooden Norse ships. Build a Tree-Ring Timeline is an exercise in matching the unique patterns that form a tree’s fingerprint to create a chronology of trees from specific forests.

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Tags: hoax, kensington runestone, viking, norsemen, exploration, vinland