Originally posted by Shuckins
The time frame is all wrong. Eric the Red began his voyage about the year 1000 a.d. Leif Ericson discovered Greenland some years after that. The Viking settlers that followed him to Greenland eventually embarked in their longship on a voyage that would discover America.
That places all of these voyages within the eleventh century. Even allowing for the fact that some of these Viking settlers may have begun a voyage of exploration down the eastern coast of North America immediately upon settling in Newfoundland, they would not have contacted the Incas themselves. The Inca Empire wasn't born until the year 1438 a.d.
It is possible that the skeletons may have been those of Indian tribes that were the precursors of the Incas. Pre-Columbian trade routes traversed the Andes Mountains and wandered north through Central America. IF Viking explorers did indeed sail into the Gulf of Mexico they might have come into contact with these early Indians and transported some of them back to Scandinavia.
Maybe.
I think it highly unlikely that any Viking longship could have made the long journey down the coast of South America and safely navigated around the Horn, made its way to Peru, picked up some Indians, and returned all the long way to Scandinavia following the same path by whichy they had come.
Little correction. Leifur Eiríksson was in America in 1000, Greenland had been discovered before and was being settled. Discovered by his father, Eric the red, a troublemaking Norseman that had left Norway well before and lived for some time on a farm in the W of Iceland that he settled (original) himself and named "Eiríksstaðir". (Guess what that means)
Anyway, the skeletons share a unique genetic failiure to the Incas and thereby their ancestors. So, if this gets manifested my money is on the Incas being well away from home when meeting those straying Vikings, maybe somewhere near..Texas or Mexico?
BTW, Incas, Mayas, Aztecs, they are related if gone back long enough. But how far?
Then another Speculation. If Vikings would have been on the Pacific side, wouldn't they rather have been over the Northern route? The year 1000 was in a warm period you see.
The Horn would have been much tougher, and actually, many ships were originally lost between Iceland and Greenland. Those are open boats rather than ships, but very fast and nimble. But the sea between Iceland and Greenland has two passing currents, and the sea is mostly rough, even when the weather is good. I was there fishing in January and was amazed how rough it was, yeaccchhh!!!
And the Celts, - they had already settled in Iceland before the Vikings came. Seem to have been sailing an incredible lot!
