Shipwreck may contain near-mythical Viking navigation aid

Shipwreck may contain near-mythical Viking navigation aid
rawstory.com

An oblong crystal found in the wreck of a 16th-century English warship is a sunstone, a near-mythical navigational aid said to have been used by Viking mariners, researchers said on Wednesday.

The stone is made of Iceland spar, a transparent, naturally-occurring calcite crystal that polarises light and can get a bearing on the Sun, they said.

So the History Channel has been broadcasting their "Viking" miniseries which gave a brief nod to the legendary 'sunstone', then today I see this little news release about a shipwreck that may turn up the first actual artifact of an Icelandic Spar used as a navigational aid. The sunstone was found in conjunction with a magnetic compass as well, and appears to have been a backup tool. The stone is being referred to as the 'Alderney stone', and the wreck was first explored in 2011.

According to the authors of the study cited in the link above, the theory behind the use of sunstones has never had any solid proof, until now.

A good read on how 'sunstones' worked;

The Optics of Calcite

Additional links:

Not just the stuff of legend: Famed Viking 'sunstone' did exist, believe scientists
independent.co.uk

Scientists Think They Have Found The Mythical 'Sunstone' Vikings Used To Navigate Warships
businessinsider.com

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


This sounds fascinating. May be my old eyes...but, couldn't find a pic of the stone/crystal on any of your posted links.

Plus, all the stories look like they all come from the same source. I wish they had a pic of the actual artifact.

I did like the link on Calcite. I can see how ancient peoples could attribute magical properties to it.....

Calcite has three directions of perfect cleavage which reflect its three-fold symmetry. Each cleavage direction is inclined at the same angle to the c-axis; none are perpendicular or parallel to the c-axis (in calcite this is also the optic axis direction). When a crystal is broken, it tends to break on these directions forming a rhombohedron or "rhomb" - this is what was employed by Karlsen in his theory of the Viking Sunstone. These could be found in Iceland on the surface scree.

Des

Hang on bright spark.....

A navigation aid....!!!!!!

In a shipwreck?????????

Originally posted by pacifier2012
Hang on bright spark.....

A navigation aid....!!!!!!

In a shipwreck?????????

Plenty of navigational aids at the bottom of the world's oceans from WWII and even from the 1990s!

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


I saw somthing about them also on the historh channel, good find op star and flag, I will be back to read more in a bit, thanks for sharing.

Originally posted by HattoriHanzou

Originally posted by pacifier2012
Hang on bright spark.....

A navigation aid....!!!!!!

In a shipwreck?????????

Plenty of navigational aids at the bottom of the world's oceans from WWII and even from the 1990s!

WW2...are you serious. Since when did a torpedo not over rule a navigation aid?

reply to post by pacifier2012


Navigational aid guides you to your destination. It doesn't predict storms or underwater threads like rocks

I also saw vikings and noticed that sunstone bit. Very interesting timing that they may locate one.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Interesting article... Thanks for posting..


To throw this out there it sounds like the near mythical explanation for the power source of Atlantis and the missing capstones for the Pyramids.

Extremely interesting. I was so far completely unaware of using crystals as navigation devices.

Makes using a magnetic compass look backwards. I've checked out the Nordskip website and the diagrams, and tried to figure out how exactly it works. I can#t seem to figure it out, so maybe someone has a brief understanding and could enlighten us ?

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Are there any pictures of the Rhombohedral Sunstone that the article talks about? That would be neat to see.
Anything Viking gets a S & F from me!

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Really good post, sir. I love reading about ancient culture stuff, and it truly amazes me what they managed to find out with such primitive techniques.

Originally posted by pacifier2012
Hang on bright spark.....

A navigation aid....!!!!!!

In a shipwreck?????????

?

How about a recent cruise ship that sank or any ship in the last 100 years , how about jetliners crashing ....cars!?? Or do navigational aid's come with some sort of perfect safety protocol

reply to post by H1ght3chHippie


It's as simple as a tool to see the sun. If there is lots of clouds you cannot locate sun. If you look through a sunstone thought it polarises the sunlight and negates the glowing effect of the clouds. Therefore you can easily spot precisely where the sun is.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Good find and F&S for the OP. I too saw them talking about using this navigational aide in the new "Vikings" series and I thought it was pretty cool stuff.

reply to post by PsykoOps


Ah I see. Simple yet effective.

I thought of a more complex method, something revolutionary, such as .. I don't know .. making field lines visible or something lol

Good catch! SnF for bringing it my attention. I've long felt they would find one at some point. They were the most advanced sea-faring people of the age, it's no surprise that they had good navigational aids.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer

Hers some links that might help people understand a little more about the subject.

neveryetmelted.com...

www.paddling.net...

www.redicecreations.com...

Awesome thread ive heard about these over the years the Myths anyway I find this facinating that they actually find one.

What a great thread! I've been fascinated by the Vikings for years, and not only because my family claims to be descended from Leif Ericson. There was a comment involving Egyptian capstones... while I doubt they were made from Icelandic Spar, it is an interesting thought nonetheless. I had been under the impression that the Pyramids were free energy towers (or something similar), but I wonder what something like this sunstone would do for either focusing or dispersing the energy emanating from the pyramids... if, in fact, they were energy sources. Sorry to go a bit off topic, just a thought.

reply to post by pacifier2012


'A navigational tool found in a shipwreck'!!!!!
that is funny as hell!!!
i'm pretty quick with sarcasm,but you beat me to the punch!
seriously,i've heard of this crystal,and it was a good find. BUT......
that was funny!!!