Naskeag Hancock Maine United States

Norse artifacts have been found in Canada, in particular at the site of L'Anse aux Meadows, occupied briefly at the beginning of the eleventh century.

It is possible that Icelandic or Norwegian explorers reach Maine as early as between 1065 and 1080, based on the so-called Maine penny, 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 archaeological site at Naskeag Point, Penobscot Bay, Maine.

The coin is one of the few pre-Columbian Norse artifacts found in the United States that is generally, but not universally, regarded as genuine.

This indicates that 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.

Since it was found at a coastal site, the penny, the only Norse artifact found at the Goddard site, could be explained as evidence that Vikings did indeed travel further south and that the coin might have been lost or traded locally.