Difference between revisions of "Sunstone (medieval)"
From Wiki @ Karl Jones dot com
Karl Jones (Talk | contribs) |
Karl Jones (Talk | contribs) |
||
| Line 19: | Line 19: | ||
* [http://www.atoptics.co.uk/fz767.htm Viking Sun Stone] @ Atmospheric Optics | * [http://www.atoptics.co.uk/fz767.htm Viking Sun Stone] @ Atmospheric Optics | ||
| + | [[Category:Light]] | ||
[[Category:Minerals]] | [[Category:Minerals]] | ||
[[Category:Navigation]] | [[Category:Navigation]] | ||
[[Category:Vikings]] | [[Category:Vikings]] | ||
Latest revision as of 03:36, 1 April 2016
The sunstone (Icelandic: sólarsteinn) is a type of mineral attested in several 13th–14th century written sources in Iceland, one of which describes its use to locate the sun in a completely overcast sky.
Description
Sunstones are also mentioned in the inventories of several churches and one monastery in 14th–15th century Iceland.
A theory exists that the sunstone had polarizing attributes and was used as a navigation instrument by seafarers in the Viking Age.
A stone found in 2013 off Alderney, in the wreck of a 16th-century warship, may lend evidence of the existence of sunstones as navigational devices.
See also
External links
- Sunstone (medieval) @ Wikipedia
- Viking Sun Stone @ Atmospheric Optics
