Topic: Kensington Runestone

The Kensington Runestone, a controversial artifact found in Minnesota, is discussed as evidence of 12th-century Norwegian exploration in the American Midwest. While the Smithsonian Institution labeled it a forgery, the guest argues it is part of a larger pattern of out-of-place stone tablets found from Alaska to Iowa. These artifacts suggest that Phoenician, Etruscan, and Nordic cultures were active in America long before Christopher Columbus.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is identified as a promoter of the Norwegian Romantic Nationalist movement, which sought to prove Viking origins for the Newport Tower in Rhode Island. Longfellow and his associates, including violinist Ole Bull, allegedly schemed to create a narrative of Norse settlement in New England for political and cultural reasons. This movement predated the actual discovery of Viking sites in Newfoundland.