Mystery Settlers Reached 'Step to Americas' Before Vikings

One of the first stepping stones for Europeans as they explored across the Atlantic to ultimately land in the Americas was colonized much earlier than previously thought — and not by the Vikings, who were once thought to be the pioneers of those isles, researchers say.

The Faroe Islands are located about halfway between Norway and Iceland. They were the first stepping stones beyond the Scottish archipelago of the Shetlands for the Viking diaspora that culminated in the European discovery of continental North America in the 11th century, about 400 or 500 years before Christopher Columbus made his famous voyage.

Until now, scientists thought the Vikings undertook the first major settlement of the Faroes in the ninth century. Still, there were hints there might have been earlier arrivals there — for instance, in about 825, the Irish monk Dicuil in the court of Charlemagne wrote of Irish hermits settling islands beforehand that may have been the Faroes, researcher Mike Church, an environmental archaeologist at the Durham University in England, told LiveScience in an interview.
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