The Discovery of an Early Bearing-Dial – Further Investigations

• Published in: Journal of Navigation
• Main Author: Thirslund, S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1993
• Subjects: Ocean Engineering; Oceanography; Greenland; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0373463300011292; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0373463300011292

The first part of the above title was used in the Journal in 1953 for a paper by Captain Carl V. Solver. His special interest was to discover how the Norse navigators of the Viking age found their way across the North Atlantic. He was the first person to interpret the small wooden disc shown in Fig. i as a fragment of an early bearing-dial and investigations since his paper was published provide considerable supportive evidence. At the time, there was some strong opposition to his views, but he persisted with his theory and wrote a book, Vestervejen. This formed a basis for other researchers to carry his work further and, as a result, there have been many international contributions over some 40 years. The archaeological find from southern Greenland seems to show that the Norse navigator used the path of the Sun's shadow during the day as the basis of a compass.