Researchers have found evidence to support the hypothesis that Vikings settled the Azores many hundred years before the Portuguese arrived at 1427.
Pedro Raposeiro, an ecologist from the University of the Azores and his team have evidence that the Vikings were present first.
In a paper published in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Mr Raposeiro stated that the findings were unambiguous.
Viking sailors are now suggested to have made their way to the Azores in Portugal, a claim which is astonishing since the Norse seafarers have always been linked to the frozen north
This claim is quite remarkable considering Vikings are often associated with the frozen north.
Researchers recently analysed lakebed sediments from Azores, and found that they were rich in organic compounds similar to those found in sheep and cow feces.
The samples contained low levels pollen from native trees but high levels charcoal.
This suggests that early settlers burned trees to clear land for their livestock to graze.
The surprise of the century was the dating.
The University of the Azores research team found that the samples had been deposited sometime between AD700 & 850.
Pictured: Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel Island, Azores. The University of the Azores dated the samples and found that they were deposited between AD700 & 850.
This is several centuries before the date of arrival of the Portuguese to the islands.
The winds and weather conditions in northern hemisphere between AD700-800 would have helped settlers from higher altitudes.
According to the research paper, the conditions would have made it difficult for people from southern Europe to reach the Azores.
Researchers add that these results suggest that the Norse were the most likely early settlers on the islands.
New research refutes the long-held belief, that 15th-century Portuguese sailors were the first to arrive in the Azores. They are located 900 miles off the coast of Portugal.
Viking sailors made the long journey across the Atlantic to America in order bring back timber, 1350. Researchers recently analysed lakebed sediments from Azores and discovered that Vikings were there before the Portuguese.
Santiago Giralt, a geoclimatologist at Geosciences Barcelona, stated in a statement that even though we have lots of historical information, it is important to encourage interdisciplinary research among the natural sciences and humanities to fully understand our past.
The first archaeological evidence of humans living on the islands dates back to 1427, when a Portuguese sailor Diogo de Silves arrived on Santa Maria Island to search for new routes to Asia. He was ordered by Prince Henry the Navigator.
25 years later, the Flores Corvo Islands were reached. Later, more Portuguese arrived and colonized this archipelago.
The natural record has a different story. However, sediment samples are useful tools in peeling back layers. Because material that sinks into a lake’s bottom is often preserved as new strata or sediment is layered on top, the sediment samples can be used to reconstruct this story.
A timeline that shows evidence for human presence on the Azores in early middle age
The conclusions of Mr Raposeiro were supported by Dr Jeremy Searle, Cornell University evolutionary biologist.
He also claimed that Vikings made it to Azores, but his work is based upon the mouse as his biological source.
Dr Searle told the Observer that mice sneaked on board ships and are carried round the world by humans, and you can work out where the mice came from if you understand where the humans had their original homes.
His research has shown that different populations of house mice have different genetic signatures.
This depends on their locality, and Dr Searle said: ‘By analysing the mitochondrial DNA – which is inherited through the female line – we can tell the difference between mice from different parts of Europe.’
One distinct house mouse lineage can be found in Orkney and the Isle of Man, Caithness, the Hebrides, Caithness, and other parts of Ireland. These areas are all areas of Viking influence.
They discovered the same genetic signature in Norway when they looked at the mice.
The biologist and his team believe they have identified the Viking Mouse and found it in ancient mouse remains from Iceland and Greenland where the Vikings settled more than 1,000 years ago.
The team of researchers at the University of the Azores, led by, ecologist Pedro Raposeiro, said: ‘Our reconstructions offer unambiguous evidence for the pre-Portuguese settlement of the Azores.’
He also examined the Azores, Madeira, and found that the mice had the same genetic profile as the Viking mouse.
They found very few mice with the same genetics found in Portugal’s mouse populations.
He stated that the mice were unintentional travellers and were spread by Vikings across the Atlantic to Iceland, Greenland, the Azores and Madeira.
“It shows how far the Vikings have spread.”