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Samples of wood collected in Medieval ruins on Greenland suggests that the inhabitants travelled to America for centuries to collect wood.
An Icelandic archaeologist has studied wood samples from Greenland and seen that the wood came from North America, Northern Europe and some from Greenland itself. Some of the foreign wood was driftwood but some seems to be imported.
Vikings built a small colony in America in the early 11th century. Many have believed that after the initial colonization the Vikings abandoned America. But the new analyses instead suggests that they continued to travel to the Americas to get resources for a longer time than earlier presumed.
It is interesting to think about that at the time of Columbus first voyage to the Americas, the knowledge about America had existed on Iceland and Greenland more than 400 years. Among other things had stories about the first voyages been written down in Icelandic books as "The Saga of Eric the Red" and "Greenlander saga" .
The Scandinavian colony on Greenland was abandoned c 1450, just little more than 40 years before Columbus voyage.
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