News

Solar storm confirms Vikings settled in North America exactly 1,000 years ago

Long before Columbus crossed the Atlantic, eight timber-framed buildings covered in sod stood on a terrace above a peat bog and stream at the northern tip of Canada’s island of Newfoundland, evidence that the Vikings had reached the New World first.

But precisely when the Vikings journeyed to establish the L’Anse aux Meadows settlement had remained unclear – until now.

A new type of dating technique using a long-ago solar storm as a reference point has revealed that the settlement was occupied in AD1021, exactly a millennium ago and 471 years before the first voyage of Columbus. The technique was used on three pieces of wood cut for the settlement, all pointing to the same year.

The Viking voyage represents multiple milestones for humankind. The settlement offers the earliest-known evidence of a transatlantic crossing. It also marks the place where the globe was finally encircled by humans, who thousands of years earlier had trekked into North America over a land bridge that once connected Siberia to Alaska.

“Much kudos should go to these northern Europeans for being the first human society to traverse the Atlantic,” said geoscientist Michael Dee of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, who led the study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature.

The Vikings ventured through Europe, sometimes colonizing and other times trading or raiding. They possessed extraordinary boat-building and navigation skills and established settlements on Iceland and Greenland.

“I think it is fair to describe the trip as both a voyage of discovery and a search for new sources of raw materials,” Dee said. “Many archaeologists believe the principal motivation for them seeking out these new territories was to uncover new sources of timber, in particular. It is generally believed they left from Greenland, where wood suitable for construction is extremely rare.“

The Viking Age is traditionally defined as AD 793 to 1066, presenting a wide range for the timing of the transatlantic crossing. Ordinary radiocarbon dating – determining the age of organic materials by measuring their content of a particular radioactive isotope of carbon – proved too imprecise to date L’Anse aux Meadows, which was discovered in 1960, although there was a general belief it was the 11th century.

The new dating method relies on the fact that solar storms produce a distinctive radiocarbon signal in a tree’s annual growth rings. It was known there was a significant solar storm – a burst of high-energy cosmic rays from the sun – in AD992.

In all three pieces of wood examined, from three different trees, 29 growth rings were formed after the one that bore evidence of the solar storm, meaning the wood was cut in 1021, said the University of Groningen archaeologist Margot Kuitems, the study’s first author.

It was not local indigenous people who cut the wood because there is evidence of metal blades, which they did not possess, Dee said.

The length of the occupation remains unclear, though it may have been a decade or less, and perhaps 100 Norse people were present at any given time, Dee said. Their structures resembled Norse buildings on Greenland and Iceland.

Oral histories called the Icelandic sagas depict a Viking presence in the Americas. Written down centuries later, they describe a leader named Leif Erikson and a settlement called Vinland, as well as violent and peaceful interactions with the local peoples, including capturing enslaved people.

The 1021 date roughly corresponds to the saga accounts, Dee said, adding: “Thus it begs the question, how much of the rest of the saga adventures are true?”

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Gov Nwifuru congratulates Mbata on emergence as Ohanaeze president General

Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru has congratulated the newly elected President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Senator Mbata.

Nwifuru said with the experiences Senator Mbata has garnered in various theatres, taking the organisation to yet another level of growth is indubitable.

This is contained in a statement issued on Sunday, by his Chief Press Secretary, Dr Monday Uzor and made available to journalists in Abakaliki.

The Governor says, “Sen Mbata your emergence is a testament to your outstanding leadership qualities, dedication, and the confidence reposed in you by our people.

“This pivotal role offers an opportunity to unite and advance the interests of our ethnic group, promoting our rich cultural heritage, values, and aspirations.

“I am confident that under your able leadership, you will continue to serve as a beacon of progress, fostering unity, development, and a stronger sense of identity among the Igbo people”.

While assuring greater collaboration with the apex Igbo socio-cultural body, Governor Nwifuru asserted “Please be assured of my administration’s support as we work collaboratively to uplift our communities and address the challenges facing our people”

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Tinubu approves ban on homosexuality in Nigeria’s military

Nigeria’s military personnel have been banned from engaging in homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality, cross-dressing, and other acts deemed contrary to the ethics of the country’s armed forces.

The nation’s military personnel were also barred from body piercing, tattooing, disorderly behaviour and drunkenness on or off duty.

The fresh directive is contained in Section 26 of the revised Harmonised Armed Forces Terms and Conditions of Service signed by President Bola Tinubu on December 16, 2024, a copy sighted by DAILY POST’S correspondent at the weekend.

Also, the condition of service prohibited military personnel from joining secret cults and owning private businesses.

“An officer must not engage in homosexuality, lesbianism, or bestiality.

“He/she is not to belong to or engage in activities of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, or Trans, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual or Agender, Two-Spirit, LGBTQIA2S+, group and cross-dressing, amongst others.
“An officer must not engage in body piercing and tattooing of any part of his body. An officer shall not engage in any form of disorderly behaviour, brawl, or any action of public disgrace. An officer must not at any time be drunk, whether on or off duty.”

The condition of service also forbids the involvement of officers in amorous relationships with subordinates or their spouses.

The military personnel are obligated to pay financial dues, including vehicle licenses and insurance, on time, while they are prohibited from joining secret societies or political parties.

“An officer shall pay all just financial obligations in a proper and timely manner, especially those imposed by law and mutual contract. It is a very serious offence for an officer to be apprehended for failure to license or insure his vehicle and other legal financial obligations. In the same vein, the issuance of a dud cheque constitutes an offence.

“An officer shall not hold membership in any secret society or political party. He shall not participate, in any way, in activities concerned with such societies or parties, even in observatory capacities.

“For the avoidance of doubt, since cultural or purely traditional religious societies are not normally secret by membership or in the conduct of their affairs, they are ipso facto expelled from belonging to secret societies.”

“An officer shall not engage in private business. He shall not use or be allowed to use government property, his name, position, and connection in any way with commercial enterprises outside employment or activity with or without compensation, which interfere or has the tendency of interfering with his official duty or which may be reasonably expected to bring discredit to the Service,” the document stated.
Meanwhile, the document did not spell out punishments or disciplinary measures against any personnel who violates the rules.

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Kano Emirship tussle: Bayero rejects Appeal Court judgement, heads for Supreme Court

Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero has rejected the judgement of the Appeal Court which nullified a Federal High Court order that removed Muhammadu Sanusi II as the 16th Emir of Kano.

Bayero on Sunday said he is heading to Supreme Court to challenge the appeal court verdict.

Speaking to newsmen at the Nasarawa Palace of the 15th Emir Of Kano, the Sarkin Dawaki Babba, Aminu Babba DanAgundi, who filed the suit that was struck out by the Appeal Court, said, “Sanusi did not even understand that he has completely lost out in the whole of the cases at hand.

“That is why I expressed regrets over remarks by the 16th Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II, using the Mosque pillar to propagate something that was not true and did not happen at the Appeal Court.

“We initially went to Federal High Court seeking the nullification of the repeal law by the State Assembly, which we felt was done haphazardly.”

DanAgundi further warned Sanusi to stop parading himself as the Emir of Kano.

“The position of Muhammadu Sanusi II that he emerged victorious was wrong, the court said that the Federal High Court has no legal right to hear issues with regards to chieftaincy affairs. But what we went to court for was different.

“We were not arguing on the powers of State Assembly to enact of repeal laws, what we were asking was lack of fair hearing on the 15th Emir Aminu Ado Bayero, that he was removed without given him chance to protect himself.

“The State Assembly didn’t follow the right procedures in repealing the laws,” he added.

He asked the Police and the DSS to stop Sanusi from allegedly moving around with thugs, accusing the Emir of plotting to disrupt peace in Kano.

According to him, Sanusi will not claim victory until the Supreme Court judgement has been given.

“The Attorney General and Speaker of the Kano State Assembly went to court seeking to stop Bayero from parading himself as Emir, but the Appeal Court rejected that position and said that Bayero was not given fair hearing.

“By this it clearly shows that Bayero is still the Emir of Kano.”