Topic: Mythology/Norse mythology

You are looking at all articles with the topic "Mythology/Norse mythology". We found 1 matches.

Hint: To view all topics, click here. Too see the most popular topics, click here instead.

Sunstone (Medieval)

Physics Astronomy Geology Mythology Iceland Norse history and culture Mythology/Norse mythology

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. Sunstones are also mentioned in the inventories of several churches and one monastery in 14th–15th-century Iceland and Germany.

A theory exists that the sunstone had polarizing attributes and was used as a navigational instrument by seafarers in the Viking Age. A stone found in 2002 off Alderney, in the wreck of a 16th-century warship, may lend evidence of the existence of sunstones as navigational devices.

Discussed on