A simple cloak pin from the ninth century was was instrumental in identifying what has become one of the world's major archaelogical sites. This film is the story of the search for, and the discovery and authentication of the only known Norse settlement in North America. In 1926, a Norwegian attorney by the name of Helge Ingstad abandoned his practice in order to explore the Arctic. Years later, he became fascinated by the search for Vinland. For over two centuries, scholars had speculated about the existence and location of the mysterious "Vinland the Good," described by Adam of Bremen in 1070 as an island where "wild grapes grow, but beyond, everything is filled with intolerable ice and terrible fog." Dr. Ingstad was sure of Vinland's existence, but he had few clues to follow: an ancient map from 1590 and the Icelandic sagas written in the 12th and 13th centuries. In 1960, the Ingstads went to L'Anse aux Meadows, an isolated community located on the northern tip of Newfoundland, where he had previously been shown strange grass-covered mounds suggesting human habitation. During seven summers, the Ingstads, with the help of other archaelogists, slowly excavated the site at L'Anse aux Meadows. They discovered turf-walled houses with ancient fireplaces, an iron furnace, boat nails, and other artifacts of Norse design. Dr. Ingstad's film footage of the digs provides visual evidence in addition to the Ingstad's explanations of how the early Norsemen lived and survived. Dr. Anne Stine Ingstad muses on the terrible solitutde that must have affected the people who occupied this tiny community.
