Viking Navigation

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Shipwreck crystal might be rare Viking navigational aid - Technology & Science - CBC News

 

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Shipwreck crystal might be rare Viking navigational aid - Technology & Science - CBC News

Many specialists are still skeptical. Donna Heddle, the director of the Center for Nordic Studies at Scotland's University of the Highlands and Islands, described the solar compass hypothesis as speculative.

"There's no solid evidence that that device was used by Norse navigators," she said Friday. "There's never been one found in a Viking boat. One cannot help but feel that if there were such things they would be found in graves."

She acknowledged that the crystal came from Iceland and was found near a navigation tool, but said it might just as easily have been used as a magnifying device as a solar compass.

These guys weren't dummies - some of them were very bright, and the bright ones would quickly become navigators.

They knew about this quality of calcite, and would certainly exploit it. They navigated by the sun and stars and knew their business well, since their lives depended on it.

When you live by your wits, you tend to value them, as opposed to living by academic peer review. I'd say most archaeologists never navigated a boat in adverse conditions; most I've worked with were challenged by higher math, mapping, and the practical world as well.

When you're stalled by a "failure to prove" you cease to make progress, but it does cover laziness well.