Bangor archaeology research on early Iceland attracts international attention

Archaeological and palaeoecological discoveries demonstrate that Iceland was inhabited around AD800 - that's 70 years before the traditional dating of its Viking settlement. These earliest people in Iceland appear related to medieval Irish monastic communities in Atlantic Scotland. Dr Kristjan Ahronson of Prifysgol Bangor University's School of History, Welsh History and Archaeology made the discoveries, which were covered by Canadian Radio's flagship evening current-affairs programme "As It Happens". This interview was broadcast across Canada on CBC Radio and in the United States on its National Public Radio service. Ahronson's team used tephrochronology, which is a technique based on airfall deposits from volcanic eruptions (or, tephra), to date the site and to explore records of human-environmental interactions and climate change in early Iceland.

LISTEN TO THE CBC RADIO INTERVIEW:

Listen to the interview online at www.cbc.ca/aih . Go to the episode for Tuesday January 11th, 2011 and click on the link to Part 3. Dr Ahronson's interview starts at 18:54.

DIRECT LINK TO TUESDAY JANUARY 11th EPISODE:
http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/episode/2011/01/11/tuesday-january-11-2011/

READ MORE:

http://www.medievalists.net/2010/12/23/did-the-scots-visit-iceland-new-research-reveals-island-inhabited-70-years-before-vikings-thought-to-have-arrived/

http://www.unreportedheritagenews.com/2010/12/did-scots-visit-iceland-new-research.html

Publication date: 20 January 2011