Vikings in Madeira and Azores islands? Bronze Age Irish in Azores?

jose luis

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Radiocarbon evidence for the presence of mice on Madeira Island (North Atlantic) one millennium ago
Proceedings of the Royal Society
2014

"mtDNA haplotypes from current mouse populations of Madeira show similarities with those of Scandinavia and northern Germany, and it has been reported that Vikings transported house mice to the places they reached. All these data suggest, but do not prove, a relationship between the Viking voyages and the presence of Mus on Madeira."

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2013.3126

Climate change facilitated the early colonization of the Azores Archipelago during medieval times
PNAS
October, 2021

- Unambiguous evidence for widespread human disturbance of this archipelago starting between 700 and 850 CE, when temperatures were higher than average, and the westerly winds were weaker, facilitating arrivals to the archipelago from northeastern Europe and inhibiting exploration from southern Europe.
- archaeological and genetic research suggesting the Norse were the first to colonize the Azores Archipelago.
- Presence of the archipelago on maps, before the Portuguese discovery.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2108236118

Irish-style megalithic monuments in the Azores

https://novoscriptorium.com/2019/05/01/megalithic-monuments-of-the-azores/

I don't know why they didn't look for artifacts buried in these places, it is known that the Irish explored the North Atlantic with leather boats and seem to have been to Iceland.
 
Interesting observation on wind patterns:

B576323B-47E3-46CE-857F-90FD80940A80.jpg

The authors are having doubts, though:

[FONT=&quot]Another question raised by the data are the persistence of fecal biomarkers in the lake records up to the time of Portuguese arrival, when there are no reports of human occupation or introduced ruminants ([/FONT]2[FONT=&quot], [/FONT]3[FONT=&quot]). Such long-lasting occupations should be evident in the archaeological record.[/FONT]
 
It seems quite possible seeing how the Vikings went to many areas including Newfoundland. But wouldn't they have permanently settled? They settled in Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Russia, GB, Ireland, and Normandy for long periods of time and while also experiencing foreign conflict. They wouldn't have had conflicts on especially the Azores given it was inhabited prior to Portuguese settlement.
 
During the medieval Little Ice Age the Vikings abandoned America and Greenland, the presence of fecal biomarkers in the lake records of Azores, near the time of Portuguese arrival, may be a false human signal in the biomarker data, possibly due to taphonomic factors like microbially-mediated degradation of sterol precursors or/and other processes that still remain poorly understood.
 

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