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00:00wish me luck did the vikings ever reach the midwest of the united states it's one of the most
00:08fascinating artifacts in the entire country a controversial ancient rune stuff could it be a
00:15sign the vikings were here first we have to find some compelling evidence we investigate its
00:20authenticity the amount of detail you got with that thing is incredible and test if a viking
00:26expedition to the midwest was even possible do not follow the boat my friend what better place
00:31to live like a viking than right here in minnesota the vikings we're on the trail of where they went
00:40in america this could change american history as we know it i'm archaeologist and military vet blue
00:46nelson and i'm archaeologist and ocean explorer mike arbuthnot i'm having trouble standing up we'll go
00:54to any length to uncover the real history of america we've worked together for almost 10 years
01:02and we've never tackled a mystery as big as this holy cow and my viking blood means that this
01:09investigation is personal these are my cousins we'll be using cutting-edge technology and hands-on
01:16archaeology to reveal how the vikings survived this is like something from a horror movie and how far
01:23into america they really went together we're on the hunt for america's lost vikings
01:31we're deep in the american midwest in an area rich with claims of viking evidence
01:44this region allegedly has tons of viking artifacts and viking archaeology true a lot of minnesotans think
01:55the vikings came right here but is any of it true
01:58we're on our way to investigate the most contentious artifact of all it's been controversial since it
02:07was discovered in 1898 the kensington runestone
02:11120 years ago local farmer olaf omen discovered a 200 pound runestone on his farm near the city of
02:23kensington
02:23carved on the runestone were a combination of roman numerals
02:31an ancient scandinavian script known as runes it's one of the most fascinating artifacts in the
02:38entire country while some people think the kensington runestone is genuine others believe it's a 19th
02:47century fraud we've spent our careers authenticating mysterious artifacts around the world
02:53so we're excited to see this runestone up close
02:58could you imagine the vikings actually making it here
03:02i think there's two questions asked
03:04first question is is the kensington runestone the real deal is that actually a genuine artifact
03:11and secondly if it is how on god's green earth do they get to minnesota
03:16that is a good question i personally would like to see if it's even possible
03:20to make an expedition into the american midwest
03:23during the course of 300 years the viking settled in parts of europe
03:30as well as exploring the middle east north africa and russia
03:35we know the vikings were in north america after archaeologists discovered lonsa meadows in newfoundland
03:43an apparent viking waypoint
03:45but whether they traveled another 1800 miles further southwest of minnesota remains a mystery
03:54if the kensington runestone is real that would be awesome but first we would need to find compelling
04:01evidence i want to get as close to the truth as i can by bringing new information to the table
04:06and keeping an open mind
04:08today the runestone is kept in alexandria
04:13and we've been given special permission to see it
04:18wow look at that guy
04:23this is impressive
04:26this is where we can actually do legitimate scientific research
04:33and utilize some of the technology we brought
04:35this could be the game changer that we're looking for
04:38you want me to take the heavy side
04:46yes please
04:47on three
04:49one two three
04:51first we want to inspect the writing on the stone
05:02it's carved with runic letters derived from an alphabet
05:07first used around the third century in scandinavia
05:10there are around 6 000 examples of viking ruins in sweden
05:17norway and denmark others have been found in greenland
05:22and britain and scandinavian runic graffiti exists as far away as turkey and greece
05:29but what these runes say is even more fascinating
05:34i've got a translation by a dr nielsen and this was done in 2009
05:40they described the murder of 10 men during a fishing expedition in the year 1362
05:47we were fishing one day after we came home we found 10 men red from blood and death
05:54ave maria saved from evil
05:56the ave maria part almost makes it sound like it's a prayer or a commemoration of an event
06:03if it's a fraud someone has gone to a lot of effort to make it look like the real deal
06:10i'll take a look at this with my loop
06:13i've examined historic graffiti around the world
06:18so next i want to assess the rune stone's authenticity
06:21by looking at the stone's carvings and how they've weathered over time
06:25since the rune stone was first discovered in 1898
06:31scientists have been divided over whether the carvings are actually 650 years old
06:36the rune stone is made of a hard-wearing gray wacky rock
06:42and a softer white mineral known as calcite
06:46my first impressions um i mean this thing is really cool
06:50it is like a piece of artwork the gray wacky is definitely harder
06:55this is a very dense material on the other side of that the calcite is not as hardy
07:01this would be a softer material i feel like it would weather faster
07:05my first thought is that if this rune stone was in the ground for over 600 years
07:11i'd expect the carvings in the calcite to have weathered much more over time
07:17but we can't make a definitive assessment just with the naked eye
07:22let's do uh some 3d scanning and see if we can answer a question or two let's do it
07:29my scanner sweeps across the stone
07:34emitting a super fast light pulse which reflects off the surface and reveals every undulation
07:39it's got wonderful resolution this will give us a fabulous 3d model that we can then rotate
07:47measure analyze it can create an image accurate to one thousand two hundred and fiftieth of an inch
07:55this is incredible and it's i mean look how far you got it i mean this is totally not invasive
08:00this is real deal this will be the highest resolution 3d model of the kensington rune stone
08:06ever produced i'm hoping it will tell us how much the calcite has weathered and get us closer to
08:13assessing if this rune stone is viking or not i think you got it man all right just going to generate
08:21a preview here we'll need to process the result but we can already see a preview dude that's incredible
08:30look at that oh my god holy cow wow the amount of detail you got with that thing is incredible
08:39you can punch right into it look at that look how clean that is that is incredible
08:46while we wait for a high-res image to be produced we head off to investigate where this rune stone was
08:53found i think that we really need to get out there and uh and evaluate this clues at the rune stone's
08:58burial site could help us solve this american mystery
09:16in an attempt to discover if the vikings could have made it to the midwest
09:20we're investigating the authenticity of the controversial kensington rune stone
09:24while we wait for the results of our 3d scanning to come through
09:32we're looking for clues at the site where it was found in kensington minnesota this stone monument
09:38right here represents the exact location where the kensington rune stone was found
09:45according to olaf omen's testimony in the fall of 1898 he was clearing trees on his farm when he found a 200
09:53pound stone in the roots of an aspen tree he later sketched out what he saw
10:05so what clues can we find in the soil to help us predict how the rune stone would have weathered over
10:11time i'd like to test the soil and see how acidic it is i mean this is going to tell us a lot about
10:17how well the stone would have been able to hold up in these soil conditions
10:21both of us always carry an array of tools to help us conduct experiments
10:26right now i'm going to use a probe to test the soil's ph profile for acidity
10:33if the soil is acidic the calcite layer on the rune stone should have weathered a lot more than it has
10:40what's the ph reading on that let's see here
10:45it's actually almost neutral if this soil is basically neutral then it wouldn't necessarily
10:53have the acidity in it that would dissolve the calcite one could say that the calcite could have
10:59in this soil type persisted for 600 700 years maybe so the soil's neutral ph
11:06might explain why the carvings in the calcite mineral on the rune stone aren't as weathered as
11:11we expected but there's another potential factor we need to examine how the rune stone might have
11:20reacted to rain according to farmer oman the stone was found face down six inches below the surface
11:30where the ground is moist with rain water
11:35and that could change everything
11:40the bottom of this rock is completely wet rocks wick rain water and so underneath the rocks is always
11:47going to be wet and rain water is always slightly acidic so regardless of the soil ph you've got acidic
11:54rain water sitting on the bottom of those runes that are face down so the idea is the rune stones face
12:01down in that calcite area because it would have been exposed to the acidic rain water would have dissolved
12:08absolutely
12:11after exploring the site our tests have revealed conflicting evidence
12:15it's another mystery isn't it but the results of our 3d scanning are in and they might give us the
12:24answers we're looking for
12:28they reveal minute details in the rune stone difficult to spot with the naked eye
12:34there is a difference between say this room and this room it's immediately clear the rune carvings on
12:41the gray wacky have a more pointed v-groove meaning they are less weathered but the calcite mineral has
12:49eroded more quickly making the grooves on the runes shallower and creating a weathered u-shape
12:57our initial findings are that the calcite ruins are 25 percent shallower than the gray wacky
13:04comparing this difference in weathering could help us to age the carvings
13:08if only we could agree i'm still not convinced that the weathering on this stone is 600 years
13:16worth of weathering we already know how friable calcite is 25 percent i think is is exactly what
13:23you'd expect over about 130 years of wear but how do you know exactly what the level of weathering would
13:30be over 125 years let's assume that the story is real sat in the ground for 600 years how much more
13:37weathering would we expect to see that's where i'm uncomfortable drawing a firm conclusion one way or
13:44another the truth is you and i can agree to disagree on this uh and we're gonna have to you know go down
13:49another avenue and we're gonna have to find a new line of evidence because i don't think that this is
13:53going to be conclusive for either one of us to answer if the vikings made it this far west
13:59we're opening another line of inquiry in our investigation when thinking about how they
14:07would have made it into a midwestern united states we have to think about the river route
14:13theoretically there are two routes the vikings could have taken
14:18the first starting from greenland traveling down west into hudson bay
14:24and taking the red river south into minnesota we know the vikings were definitely in newfoundland
14:33from there they could have headed south into the gulf of st lawrence through the great lake system
14:40onto duluth and into the st louis river it's a 1 600 mile journey upstream against powerful currents
14:50it sounds formidable but there's evidence the vikings traveled from scandinavia through river routes
14:57in europe that were thousands of miles long and reached as far east as russia this route has them
15:05avoiding niagara and that drops them right into the heart of minnesota i think what we got to do
15:11is we got to show that we can go down the river because we can do it they can do it
15:16i think we should go a part of the st louis river but for our experiment to work we need to navigate
15:25exactly like the vikings did so i found the perfect viking vessel for our expedition
15:32this is the godstad fern this was pulled intact out of a grave in norway it's pretty much a miniature
15:40long ship this thing is perfect for shallow water operations we know vikings explored smaller rivers
15:47fairings literally means four oaring a viking fairing is a small two to three man wooden boat
15:55equipped with two sets of oars
15:59because of its shallow draft the vikings used fairing boats to navigate around shallow rivers
16:04and to get closer to shore these vessels were also light and versatile enough to be carried over land
16:14it just so happens i've got a buddy that owes me a favor he may be 1200 miles away in massachusetts
16:21but he is the best man for this job hey bob this is blue how you doing bud good mr blue how are you
16:28i'm pretty good partner listen i've got a huge favor to call in i need you to build me a viking
16:35fairing boat well you're lucky you called it right back well i knew i did i can check on this uh right
16:42away but i think it can pull something awesome awesome but getting a viking boat built is only half of our
16:49mission the journey from their waypoint in lonsaw meadows in newfoundland all the way to minnesota by
16:56boat and on foot is so long the vikings could have spent a winter in the midwest
17:04it's only mid-november but there's already snow on the ground
17:09so to pull off our expedition viking style we're gonna need some serious survival skills
17:26so mike and i want to test that the vikings could have reached the midwest by rowing up the st louis river
17:39but first we need to learn their tricks for enduring harsh winters
17:43and i know just the guy to help us survivalist doug swanson hey doug how are you mike perfect i'm doug
17:56it's already early winter and temperatures are below freezing
17:59so while mike builds a viking shelter i'm making one of my ancestors most important tools
18:09an iron fire striker
18:13it was almost 800 years before matches were invented
18:18so vikings used a fire striker to create a flame and build a fire
18:22fire a fire striker is a steel tool with a sharp edge which they used to strike against flint jasper
18:31and chert to make a spark vikings typically carried both the fire striker and the rock with them
18:37wherever they went and these have been found in burials across scandinavia this is your goal this is your
18:46finished product uh even in very cold damp conditions this was still very oh wow effective
18:53that is very effective so we're we're starting with a bar we're going to draw out and thin both ends
19:00and what we'll do here i will probably start drawing the first one and then i'll let you
19:06continue with the second one doug hammers the steel bar into a pointed edge
19:12and he's making it look easy i'll let you take over here on the fire and i'll blow the bellows for
19:19you well i'm gonna see what i can do that's it that's right there you go i think you've done this
19:28before i just i had a good teacher i was watching you i'm learning to build a tent like the vikings
19:38would have done with some tree branches and a spare canvas sail vikings took inspiration from their
19:46tents to create similar structures on their ships this one was recovered from a viking burial site in
19:52norway i think i can do this to make the tense frame i need to cross both saplings before putting a
20:01heavier tree trunk on the top while mike works on our viking tent i'm putting the final touches to the
20:10fire strikers handle wow very good very good you're almost there our last step is to drop the fire
20:20striker into cold water the cooling process hardens the metal drop it in and makes it tough enough to
20:27strike on flint you did a very nice job of forging this is great thanks so much though
20:36finally doug helps me secure the tense canvas down with wooden stakes so uh when the vikings are doing
20:44this uh and it's frosty cold they're not wearing gloves like you and they're far from the campfire
20:50do they have any uh techniques to keep themselves warm i think just keep working and keep working fast
20:56yeah that's the best best bet all right we are all staked down okay it's going to be the real deal
21:05in a couple of weeks when it's really cold we're chopping down our own wood we're doing this basically
21:09to scratch that's right yep so this is good this went well i'm pleased thank you putting up our shelter
21:17is making our expedition much more of a reality despite all of our experience we've never attempted
21:24anything like this winter is closing in fast and we need to get our viking boat finished
21:32before the st louis river freezes over so i've come to plymouth massachusetts to see how the build is
21:39progressing good morning fellas my buddy historic boat builder bob wallace is on the case with our
21:49vessel nice to see you guys and we've been working feverishly for a solid three weeks
21:55to speed up the build our team has used modern power tools
22:01but there's still work for me to do
22:03i'm ready to uh roll up my sleeves and get my hands okay head designer paul gets me on the job
22:10have you ever done any riveting i have not i have not but i did construction for many years
22:16so i know my way around tools small nail-like rivets help connect the light thin planks of viking boats
22:23enabling them to bend and flex against powerful currents if sections of the river were impassable
22:29the boats were light enough to be carried on land for up to several miles the amount of rivets used
22:36is a critical part of the build how many nails we need to put in a boat like this well this one
22:42we figure about 150 of them total 150 all the laps get uh the vikings would have put them close to a
22:48foot apart which is further apart than modern day riveting would be again probably because they were so
22:55scarce they tried to use as few as possible the vikings were at the cutting edge of boat design
23:03they were built to sit high in the water enabling them to easily navigate up rivers that were too
23:08shallow for other seagoing vessels this allowed them to raid deep into europe in the ninth century
23:17hundreds of long ships traveled over a hundred miles inland to lay siege to paris
23:22well what's next we're gonna try to do a float test today uh and uh try rowing it and see what
23:32kind of weight it can carry uh while we have good weather this morning i gotta say from my point of
23:37view the most important aspect is that it doesn't sink as long as this floats and you guys have enough
23:43experience i'm putting all my faith in you guys okay so you're gonna make us get in it first yeah
23:52to make the fairing boat more stable in the water the vikings added extra weight known as ballast
24:03i mean basically the thought is is that you have you know each man and uh you know the equipment
24:07could be used as ballast but if if the equipment wasn't heavy enough you could pick up some river
24:11rocks from the stream and put them in so i think i'm getting told i need to get back to work
24:15this water test is going to either make or break our experiment i sure hope i don't get wet this is
24:26uh sea trials yeah everything here is experimental right more or less it's a thousand year old you know
24:32boat design but still we're experimenting right i think you can do it i hope so
24:37it's time to summon my viking spirit wish me luck
24:57our fairing boat appears to be really steady and floats well
25:01the oars take some getting used to you know especially for somebody who doesn't row very often
25:08they're a little heavy but i gotta tell you the stability is incredible the boat's symmetrical bow
25:15and stern allows the vessel to reverse easily without having to turn around which is especially useful in
25:22icy conditions
25:23i just hope mike and i can give it the manpower it needs when we go upstream i can't wait to see
25:31how mike copes with this boat congratulations i tell you what even with the waves rocking this thing
25:45maintained its balance great how's this thing going to handle on an icy river how am i going to handle on
25:52the icy river this remains to be seen while our viking boat is being transported 1200 miles from
26:13massachusetts blue and i are returning to the controversial kensington rune style we've examined
26:21historic graffiti all over the world and i think this artifact might have more to tell us
26:28critics believe that olaf allman the farmer who found it created the carvings himself
26:34so we want to find out if ordinary folk like blue and i can carve runes into stone
26:42helping us with our experiment is janie weston hi how are you
26:47yeah janie is an expert stone carver who's analyzed the kensington rune stone let's see just how
26:55difficult this is well let's try to destroy wacky okay okay janie has sourced the same material the
27:04majority of the kensington rune stone is made of gray wacky stone all right so how should we do this
27:10should we select a letter and uh draw it i would suggest let's see how you do with an i
27:18the letter i is the simplest letter in the runic alphabet to inscribe
27:23if it turns out we can carve it then perhaps anyone including a minnesotan farmer could have made
27:29these runes it's like a little tiny thor's hammer
27:32okay let's do this time to see if one of us could have carved out a career making viking rune stones
27:41watch those flying chips i need thor's hammer
27:47one of us is trying to put a dent on this rock and mike's over there scratching around
27:51this is what failure feels like this is going to be the uh the kensington ruin stone here pretty soon
27:59it's not easy to get a straight line with this at all is it you're doing better than i am
28:07blue's cutting it i'm not you've done so much damage to that chisel do you know how long it's
28:12going to take me to fix that like you get invited over here you mess up all your tools you can't even
28:18cut a room let's see what kind of magic i can make on this end it's taken us an hour to get the basic
28:25shape of an eye yet there are 222 letters on the kensington ruin stone i'm starting to think the
28:32carver must have had a lot of time on their hands the amount of you know effort that goes into just
28:37getting the one letter is absolutely incredible time to get janie to grade us well what do you think
28:43i know you didn't carve the kensington rune stone or any of your ancestors for that matter
28:49but maybe some of blues did i should give you a gold star hey look he was doing better wow look
28:58at that mike i think amateurs like us could have carved these runes but a story about 10 dead men
29:04would be a huge task look at how long it's taken just to do an eye well the kensington rune stone
29:10letters were about an inch high they would have had to resharpen their chisels constantly a lot
29:18did it take a day two days a week what what's your sense a few days at least that's a red flag for
29:25me i mean if you've just lost 10 men and you're kind of fleeing i don't think you have time to sit
29:30around and smack on a rock what i've learned here is yet to convince me the kensington rune stone was
29:39created by vikings you know we can speculate many things and romantically uh how awesome would
29:45it be if the vikings came and did this but again we can't speculate this thing has more red flags than
29:51a socialist revolution you know the stone the conversation with janie is all making me think
30:00about the kensington rune stone a little differently the kensington rune stone is an incredible monument
30:07it's one hell of a hoax if it's a hoax but could viking descendants have made it to the midwest by boat
30:18we're about to find out
30:21mike and i are on a quest to find out if vikings could have reached minnesota
30:38our plan is to row upstream along a portion of the st louis river to see if a journey from newfoundland
30:46was possible first we're waiting for our viking boat to arrive after its long journey from massachusetts
30:55so we're supposed to meet your guy here yeah yeah he's coming it's a bit cold isn't it damn cold
31:04this looks promising this looks like our vehicle
31:11gentlemen howdy i have a boat for you
31:15joining us on our expedition is minnesota native chris lafleur chris has a lifetime of rafting and
31:22canoeing experience and knows this river route like the back of his hand so you help build this
31:28thing yeah man don't worry this thing's gonna float it is actually beautiful you did a good job on this
31:34i mean this is straight up viking fairing yeah buddy this is the definitely the kind of boat that they'd
31:39be using in the uh inland waterways i mean you'd be able to take this into shallow rivers
31:44while we've been examining the boat chris has been inspecting the launch site
31:52how are the conditions looking chris
31:56brutal in the last 24 hours the temperature has plummeted to 19 degrees transforming river water
32:05into sheets of ice six inches thick
32:11the remaining water is flowing fast turning the river into a death trap
32:18i mean this is ugly if we get stuck under the ice and trapped between a rock
32:23and the ice and we're stuck there um it's a bad day it's all over
32:28not a bad day it's end of day if something bad should happen yeah the consequences would be disasters
32:37this is bad despite all our efforts chris has no option but to pull the plug on our mission
32:44looks like mother nature beat us out by like 24 hours it's frustrating i mean look at this stuff man i
32:51mean this is this is thick ice man oh yes but if vikings didn't give up this easily my viking blood
32:59means we ain't either chris agrees to scout the river for a new launch location
33:07so we've decided to test out our newly learned survival skills and try the river again tomorrow
33:13now we have to set up camp and uh i tell you what it's a little cold out um but i am looking forward
33:21to getting a fire started and uh warming up my hands because my fingers are killing me we're actually
33:27going to try out my viking fire striker that i made nice non-symmetrically of course
33:35as well as my fire striker i've got a roll of birch bark which will help me catch the spark
33:39with temperatures below freezing and falling i'm praying my fire striker is gonna work
33:50bingo wow no kidding
34:03do you see how fast that caught i can't believe it that was amazing i can't believe it either
34:07and i did it
34:16nice well done my friend with the fire burning we begin to set up camp check this out
34:26blue builds a tripod for a cauldron i'm on water duty
34:37actually i'd say we have about uh at least a gallon of water here
34:48and i think that will do for uh cod stew
34:56we haven't got long before dark and it's time to see if mike can put his viking tent building skills to
35:02good use without expert help we may want to quickly clear this area out a little bit so we
35:10don't sleep on anything that's completely uncomfortable
35:16we get get the chunk of the ice out now what would the vikings have slept on
35:21they would have had furs they probably would have had hides
35:24uh they would have brought some big wool blankets in with our sleeping area cleared of debris we're
35:32ready to put the canvas cover on
35:37that looks great man
35:41our experience in the wilderness has got me thinking about how hard it is to try and prove the
35:47vikings were here
35:49say you set up a viking camp a thousand years ago
35:53you know what's your archaeological footprint
35:55got a campfire we've got some stakes in the ground
35:58you think we're going to see this a thousand years from now
36:01well here's the problem if we do find it a thousand years later
36:05how do we tell the difference between that and a native american site
36:08unless we leave the cauldron or the knife or an axe head or some nails
36:14that's it you wouldn't know the difference
36:16i hope they would look the exact same so this is the challenge we deal with in in archaeology
36:20particularly with you know the vikings in america doesn't mean that we haven't found the sites it
36:24just means that we've not identified the sites
36:30but at the forefront of my mind is a more worrying thought about tomorrow
36:35with freezing winter weather all around when we find a way onto the st louis river
36:46blue and i are on a mission to roll up the st louis river to discover if the vikings could have
36:59reached minnesota but yesterday temperatures were so cold parts of the river froze over turning it into a
37:08death trap
37:11our river guide chris is going to accompany us on our expedition i want to be in the open water up
37:17towards there slide it in right here he's found us another route onto the water
37:22but with temperatures at a bone chilling 21 degrees if our boat capsizes and we fall in the river our lives
37:32will be at serious risk don't swim towards shore don't put your feet down what you see over piled
37:41up on the shoreline is also piled up on the bottom we can't see it feet up on your back rescue swim
37:48against the current or crosswise to the current in the direction you want to go and our goal is to
37:53not go in the water at all and not require any saving whatsoever what i have learned from the
37:59experience is that if we don't cover these things you need them
38:07we've got an entry point onto the river but the ice is two inches thick
38:11yeah and we've got a battle on our hands to get our viking fairing boat onto flowing water
38:20vikings were adept at doing anything and i don't think they would let something like this stop them
38:25and if you're going to live like a viking i mean what better place to live like a viking than right
38:29here in minnesota
38:34open through this boys we're in open water all right
38:37all right now we need to see if this light shallow draft boat can take the weight of three men
38:45moment of truth bud yeah
38:50all right gentlemen should we begin our voyage yeah the boat is taking our weight and it isn't as
38:57unstable as i feared but within moments we're stopped in our tracks by more ice making icebergs here
39:07oh
39:14oh i got some big ones there
39:20tell you what i'm not cold anymore yeah i bet you're not this is a
39:26this is a serious anaerobic workout viking style
39:30do not follow the boat my friend
39:37oh there we go
39:37let's get out
39:41all right
39:46oh look at that
39:51at last we're free of the ice
39:54and can start rowing upstream
39:56but this current is faster than i thought
40:04we're testing the performance of our fairing boat on a three mile stretch of water
40:08it's the last section of river the vikings would have had to navigate
40:18a fraction of the 1 600 mile journey from newfoundland to minnesota
40:22i mean think about this i mean this this is old technology and look how it's handled i mean going
40:30upstream going upstream we're just ripping you know you know we think of the vikings i think a lot
40:36of people think of them as being the open sea voyagers you know crossing the north atlantic and the
40:42the north sea and but so much of their their travel was on inland waterways and shallow draft vessels
40:50like this right carving through this like a pro yeah man
41:01chris wants to avoid being trapped on the water by sheets of ice so we return to dry land
41:06watch that drop off right here mike yeah
41:15here
41:16home
41:18this is the perfect boat for these conditions i wasn't expecting the ice to be quite as thick as
41:22it was i mean it was four inches in some spots but uh the boat performed exactly the way i thought
41:27it would just the way it did massachusetts you know this is this is a serious vessel i'm very impressed
41:33our trip to minnesota and investigation of the kensington runestone has shown us why this artifact
41:40is so controversial
41:44i want to believe in the kensington runestone it's a work of art but you know i'm not convinced
41:49and i think there's still some more science to do
41:53our expedition has suggested that the vikings had the technology
41:57to make the journey in the coldest of winters but did they
42:03they had the endurance they certainly had the skills i don't know if they had the desire
42:12if the vikings did make it to minnesota they were a hearty bunch because uh trying to bash through
42:19that ice and that cold was one of the most challenging things i've ever done in the name of
42:23experimental archaeology
42:32you