At their peak, the Vikings conquered the seas and sailed vast voyages in their boats. But how did they know exactly where they were going? A recent study focusing on a medieval stone disk discovered in Ukraine suggests that Viking sailors used solar compasses for their voyages. This supports the idea that they may have used this knowledge and passed on this knowledge to other inhabitants of Europe.
An evaluation of eight stone discs was featured in the December 2024 magazine. paper Published in Spravozdanian ArcheologyPolish archaeological journal. The study’s authors claim that some of the disks show important features that would indicate they used the sun as a compass, and that they bear similarities to other Viking artifacts of Greenlandic and Polish origin. .
Identification of medieval discs
This disc has been found in several medieval ruins in Ukraine and was originally made from: pyrophyllitea soft and easily processed mineral that was used for many industrial purposes at the time.
The researchers focused on three of the disks that had already been described in detail. Two of them were from the northern Chernihiv region (called Listven and Lyubech) and the other from near Kiev. The disc dates from the 12th to 13th century and is probably a local product made in a workshop near the city of Obruci.
Previous interpretations of these objects have ranged from calendars to needle-sharpening devices, but new research suggests they were used as navigation tools instead.
One reason for this is the design of the discs: Kiev and Listven discs have a hole in the center; gnomon — A pointed part of a sundial that casts a shadow when exposed to sunlight. This helps determine latitude in case of a compass. In addition, concentric rings and radial lines are engraved on the three discs, further indicating the appearance of a compass.
read more: How Viking and Germanic DNA spread through Iron Age migrations
Viking Solar Compass Similarities
The researchers compared the pyrophyllite disks to other artifacts that have been identified as navigational tools used by humans. vikings. Of particular importance are wooden discs, such as one from Greenland discovered in 1948 and one from Poland’s Volyn Island discovered in 2000. These wooden discs contained elements characteristic of sundial compasses, such as holes for gnomons and peripheral notches.
Wooden discs and pyrophyllite discs share several characteristics, including certain patterns. Wolin’s disk is dated to the end of the first half of the 11th century and has concentric rings similar to pyrophyllite disks. However, the Greenland disk, which is dated to around the beginning of the 11th century, does not have concentric circles. The researchers suggest that this may mean that the concentric rings were not present in early Viking sun compass magnets, but were developed in later versions.
The disks were also all similar in size, with the Greenland and Wallin disks having diameters of 7 cm and 8.6 cm, respectively. The Kiev and Listven disks both had a diameter of 6.5 cm, while the Lubech disk had a diameter of 7.5 cm.
Although additional research is needed to confirm the role of pyrophyllite discs, the researchers believe that Vikings (known as Varyans) who traveled through what is now Russia and Ukraine in the Middle Ages, believed that local people had pyrophyllite discs. They say they may have passed on technical knowledge that enabled them to create phyllite disks. solar compass.
The Viking-inspired solar compass was used in the region, as Varangian travelers would have passed through Kiev, Listven, and Ryubek on their journeys along the main trade routes connecting Scandinavia and the Byzantine Empire. There is now a real possibility that the technology will become widespread.
The legendary power of sunstone
Previous research has theorized that the Vikings relied heavily on: solar When we sailed, we sailed and used the solar compass to reach our destination. These compasses require clear skies to work reliably, but the Vikings may have had a workaround for when clouds rolled in.
An old Norse saga that sounds like something out of a fantasy novel tells of a “sunstone” that, when held up against a cloudy sky, can reveal the hidden sun. The sunstone (probably calcite or cordierite) could theoretically have acted as a type of filter, determining the direction of polarized light from the sun that was scattered into the air as it passed through the atmosphere.
Although no concrete evidence of stones has been found, scientists have indicated that it may have been a viable method of navigation. one 2018 survey A study using sunstone to computer simulate a Viking voyage from Norway to Greenland showed that even on cloudy days, the polarization of the sky allowed for successful voyage rates.
Viking navigation methods are not fully understood, but most signs point to the use of the sun. They used the Sun’s Compass, and even the Sun Stone, to get all the way to places like Greenland and Newfoundland, leaving mysterious remnants of their culture behind.
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Jack Knudson is an associate editor at Discover and has a strong interest in environmental science and history. Before joining Discover in 2023, she studied journalism at Ohio University’s Scripps College of Communication and previously interned at Recycling Today magazine.
