Maine Penny
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The Maine penny is a Norwegian silver penny that dates to the reign of Olaf Kyrre. It was found in 1957 in an old Native American settlement at the Goddard site, a large archeological site at Naskeag Point, Penobscot Bay, Maine. The coin is the only pre-Columbian Norse artifact found in the United States that is generally, though not universally, regarded to be genuine (the Kensington Runestone found in Minnesota, for example, is generally regarded to be a hoax). More artifacts have been found in Canada, in particular at the site of L'Anse aux Meadows.
It was minted between 1065 and 1080 CE, more than 50 years after the last of the Vinland voyages as described by the Norse saga accounts. This indicates a later contact between the Norse and North America took place. The Goddard site is dated to 1180-1235, and the people living there at this time are generally considered to be ancestral to the Penobscot.
In some accounts it is described that when the penny was found it had a perforation that might indicate it was used as a pendant. Later this portion of the coin is said to have crumbled to dust due to the effects of corrosion.
Since it was found at a coastal site, the penny could be explained as evidence that Vikings did indeed travel further south and that the coin might have been lost or traded locally. Most researchers believe differently, however. The penny was the only Norse artifact found at the Goddard site. There is evidence that this site was a hub in a large native trade network. For instance, an artifact identified as most likely a Dorset Eskimo burin was also recovered from the same site. The penny probably arrived in Maine through native trade channels from Labrador or Newfoundland. The coin may originally have been traded there with the Vikings, or alternatively stolen or discovered at a Viking settlement.
External links
- A critical examination of the Maine penny provenance by anthropologist Edmund Carpenter (http://faculty.virginia.edu/phantom/norsepenny.pdf)