Norse by Norsewest
Earlier this summer, an
out-of-town friend and I were taking in the Ballard Seafood Festival, an annual
celebration of music, troll dolls, and pickled herring in the Seattle
neighborhood that serves as Scandinavia's unofficial outpost.
Ballard, annexed by Seattle
many years ago, maintains its culture and loyalties without much consideration
for national or civic boundaries. Its residents, solid and conservative in look
and outlook, are often referred to as "square heads," which suggests a stolid
stupidity many associate with the Swedes, but all Scandinavian flags fly here.
The kindly King Harald V of Norway visits every year or so to ensure that
Ballard remains within the realm. The children grow strong by enduring the pain
and suffering of having to eat lutefisk , the kind of dish that offers a
challenge to the character, much like haggis for the Scots. Lutefisk is
cod that is treated with lye and is transformed, in the process, into a
gelatinous, fishy, white mass that, I imagine, is not unlike sperm whale ...
sperm. When I was growing up, we had to eat it every Christmas eve. "No
lutefisk --no gifts" was, no doubt, a Lutheran law.
As we
strolled the festival, I mentioned to my friend that a statue of Leif Ericson
stands guard at nearby Shilshole Bay. He gave me a sideways look. "Leif
Ericson!" he sneered. "Did he ever come here ?"
The question and the tone turned me snarky. Why the hell do
I have to justify Leif Ericson? Did Christopher Columbus ever sleep in
Columbus, Ohio? Did he ever reach the Columbia River or British Columbia?
America and the Pacific Northwest are monuments to people who never came here,
Amerigo Vespucci for one. Washington state is named for George. Mount Rainier
is named for Peter Rainier, a British admiral and enemy of the United States
who never sailed these waters. And the Strait of Juan de Fuca is named for a
Greek navigator who likely never existed at all. And my friend questions Leif
Ericson?
Seattle's
ship traffic passes under the statue's gaze. Undoubtedly, it brings good luck
to local seafarers, many of them named Thor, Einer, or Ole. But it is also a
great symbol. When this bold figure of Ericson was unveiled in the 1960s, and
later used in a U.S. postage-stamp design, it stood for the righting of one of
history's great wrongs. Only Seattle had the guts to tell the truth, and to cut
that truth in stone, by paying tribute to the real European "discoverer" of
America and the people who explored and settled Vinland half a millennium
before the Italian pretender acting for Spain.
My friend, sad to say, had revealed himself
with his inquiry as a Vinland doubter, a man who has not read The Sagas ,
a man still waiting for more proof than contemporary maps, detailed written
accounts, and carbon-dated archaeological evidence. In short, a typical
American.
I am feeling less snarky and
more cocky these days, however, because the answer to my friend's question
might actually be closer to a "yes" than I ever expected. Ericson might not
have slept here, but his Norse ancestors might have, you betcha. A recent
discovery along the banks of the Columbia River may provide key scientific
evidence that proves it.
But
before we get to the science, let me introduce a pet theory of mine: that there
was an ancient link between the Northwest Indians and the Norsemen.
Consider the parallels. The Northwest Coast Indian tribes
forayed south from their villages in the north along the Alaska and British
Columbia coast and lived off the sea and plunder. They raided in canoes not
unlike Viking ships. They were also fishermen and whalers, as many are today.
In fact, the Olympic Peninsula's Makah Indians have asked for permission to
join the Norwegians in resuming whale hunts, an ancient custom the
Scandinavians never gave up despite international pressures. Northwest Coast
tribes like the Tlingit took heads and slaves, as did the Vikings. And they
have a rich mythology with characters and themes not unlike those found in the
Norse myths: Where Raven brought daylight to the Indian world, he also
whispered words of advice into the ears of the supreme god, Odin. At the very
least, the Indians were kindred spirits with the Scandinavian warriors of
yore.
But the
links may also be genetic or, at the very least, the result of ancient
ancestral contact. Last July, a couple of locals found a skeleton along the
Columbia River in Kennewick, Wash. Carbon-dating traced the remains of
Kennewick Man to between 7265 and 7535 B.C. The bones proved to be those of a
male who was tall for his time (5 feet 9 inches). He was also a tough guy--a
spear point was found lodged in his pelvis along with evidence of other warrior
wounds. He survived these, and lived to be about 50. Oh yes, it also appears,
according to experts who have carefully examined the skeleton, that he was
Caucasian.
No horned helmet was found, but the discovery
is complicating--perhaps overturning--theories about the settlement of North
America. Did the ancestors of the Indians really come from Asia over the
Aleutian land bridge? Or did they arrive after an earlier migration or
settlement of Indo-Europeans from Central Asia, or early Europeans? Could
Kennewick Man have come by a route similar to Ericson's, say via skin boats or
over an ice mass connecting North America, Greenland, and Norway? Oregon State
University anthropologist Rob Bonnichsen thinks the latter is a possibility,
which would explain why some ancient American tools are more similar to
European ones than to Asian ones.
Not surprisingly, an Indian
tribe, the Umatilla, has already demanded that the bones be reburied as if they
were ancient native relics, and federal law backs them up. They argue that
scientists are merely desecrating the dead. But the Smithsonian calls Kennewick
Man a "national treasure," and anthropologists want to conduct DNA tests, which
might offer clues to his origin. Some Indians already resent suggestions they
are descended from ancient Asians--such contentions fly in the face of their
creation myths. Imagine how they'd feel if tests revealed their ancient
ancestors were white men . Worse, imagine how Ken Burns would feel.
I suggest a test to resolve
the matter. Check to see if Kennewick Man's skull is slightly squared around
the edges, suggestive of a cube. Look for evidence of a crew cut and a
fish-reliant diet. If such evidence is present, return Kennewick Man to his
rightful tribal reservation. In Ballard.
