Sunstone is a type of mineral attested in numerous written sources in Iceland from the 13th–14th centuries, one of which describes its utilize to support locate the sun in a completely shadowy sky.
Sunstones are also mentioned in the inventories of several churches and one monastery in Iceland in the 14th–15th centuries. There is a theory that the sunstone had polarizing properties and was used as a navigational instrument by sailors in the Viking Age.
One medieval source in Iceland, Rauðúlfs þáttr, mentions sunstone as a mineral that could be used to locate the sun in a shadowy and snowy sky by holding it up and observing where it emits, reflects or transmits lightweight.
Thorsteinn Vilhjalmsson translates the Icelandic description of the utilize of the sunstone in þáttr Rauðúlfa as follows:
The weather was bulky and snowy, just as Sigurður had predicted. Then the king summoned Sigurður and Dagur (the sons of Rauðúlfur) to him. The king ordered the people to look at the sky, and nowhere could they see a clear sky. Then he asked Sigurður to tell where the sun was at that time. He gave a clear statement. Then the king ordered them to bring the sunstone, and he lifted it up and saw where the lightweight radiated from the stone, and thus directly confirmed Sigurður's prophecy.
Viking history is full of myths, misinformation, romantic notions, and pop culture laziness. Viking facts are just as fascinating as the myths, and have the added bonus of being true.
Far from the brutal, unwashed, horned beasts of cultural representation, the Vikings were explorers, farmers, traders, and colonists. They had a diverse religion, a layered society, and a affluent culture.
While it is popular to simply lump all the inhabitants of Denmark, Sweden and Norway between 800 and the 11th century together as Vikings, the term actually refers to the seafaring people who landed up and down the British Isles and the coasts of Europe. These individual peoples would never have referred to each other or themselves as Vikings, as the term did not become popular until the end of the Viking Age.
They had concepts of east, west, south, and north. But for them, navigation was based more on where the sun rose on the horizon and how high it was during the day than on the Earth's magnetism, which underlies the contemporary compass.
Optical real estate The legendary Viking sunstone is not just a myth and can be mastered using a common stone found in Iceland. The legendary Viking sunstone, which could precisely navigate the seven seas in bad weather, may actually be based on a real artifact, researchers say.
After three years of studying a shadowy crystal discovered on an Elizabethan shipwreck, scientists have concluded it may have been used to locate the sun in shadowy weather – the Alderney ship sank off the coast of the British Channel Islands in 1592.
British and French scientists have long said the find was a sunstone – a device that splits lightweight, allowing sailors to locate the sun even when it was behind clouds or below the horizon.
According to a theory that first emerged 45 years ago, sunstones helped great Scandinavian sailors navigate to Iceland and perhaps even North America during the Viking era of 900-1200 AD, long before the magnetic compass arrived in Europe in the 13th century.
However, only fragmentary mentions of the “sun Stein” can be found in age-old Norse literature, meaning that this idea unfortunately lacks solid evidence.
This is just one of many recent examples where evidence has emerged to support age-old history, previously thought to be mere myth and legend, but which now turns out to describe real events.
Image Source: Pixabay.com
