Barbie Eriksdottir

Barbie Eriksdottir

Spindle whorls

Sagas tell of  Erik the Red and his son, Leif Ericson, who a thousand years ago traveled to Vinland in northern Newfoundland.   In 1960, an archaeologist, Anne Stine Ingstad, went with her husband to northern Newfoundland and asked the people living in the area if they knew of any possible sites.   George Decker showed them a place the local people called the 'old Indian village'.  It proved to be a Norse settlement and proof that the Norse had come to North America.

The excavation of the site must have been big news in the Maritimes. At about the same time, my class was studying from a textbook called  A History of Nova Scotia.  It began with the travels of Eric the Red and his son Leif Ericson to Vinland and Markland.  Markland has not been found but I really wanted to see the site in Newfoundland.  This summer, I did.  L'Anse aux Meadows, the National Park site and Norstead Village, (a reconstruction) were everything I had imagined and more.

Interestingly, the sagas mention Eric the Red's children Leif, Freydis, Thorvald and Thorstein but not Barbie.  Barbie is dressed in a homespun white wool shift with an earth-coloured apron.   The blue trim is typical as are the metal medallions. Barbie is spinning wool using a spindle whorl just like the one found at L'Anse aux Meadows.