Article content continued

“The only area on the Atlantic seaboard that accommodates all the saga criteria is northeastern New Brunswick,” she said in an email.

Scholars have theorized for years that Hóp could have been located in New England, New York or Maine. However, Wallace discredited those theories, one reason being salmon were not commonly found in New England, but were plentiful in New Brunswick.

“Salmon has always been rare in New England and has not been found at all on pre-contact sites south of New Brunswick, while they do occur throughout the Atlantic region,” Wallace said. ” The Miramichi and Restigouche river areas have been especially rich in salmon.”

Wallace said also that grapes, in particular, were important to pinpointing the location of Hóp.

Photo by Tyler Anderson / National Post

“New Brunswick is the northern limit of grapes, which are not native either to Prince Edward Island or Nova Scotia,” Wallace told Livescience.com, noting that grapes were not found in Maine, either.

Meanwhile, barrier sandbars occur along the coasts of P.E.I., Massachusetts and Long Island, but are particularly dominant along the New Brunswick east coast, she said. And hide canoes were used by the Mi’kmaq people in the Miramichi-Chaleur bay area.

If confirmed, Hóp would become the second Viking settlement in Canada, the other being L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland.

To add to her theory, Wallace also found remains of butternuts and parts of linden trees, species native only to New Brunswick, while researching in L’Anse aux Meadows. The materials had to be carried to L’Anse aux Meadows by humans, she said, proving that Vikings also stayed in New Brunswick.