Editing Atlantic Ocean (section)

=== New World ===

{{See also|Brendan the Navigator#Tale of reaching North America|l1=Brendan of Clonfert}}
During the LGM the [[Laurentide Ice Sheet]] covered most of northern North America while [[Beringia]] connected Siberia to Alaska. In 1973, late American geoscientist [[Paul Schultz Martin|Paul S. Martin]] proposed a "blitzkrieg" colonization of the Americas by which [[Clovis culture|Clovis hunters]] migrated into North America around 13,000 years ago in a single wave through an ice-free corridor in the ice sheet and "spread southward explosively, briefly attaining a density sufficiently large to overkill much of their prey."<ref>{{Harvnb|Martin|1973|loc=Abstract}}</ref> Others later proposed a "three-wave" migration over the [[Bering Land Bridge]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Greenberg|Turner|Zegura|1986}}</ref> These hypotheses remained the long-held view regarding the [[Prehistoric migration and settlement of the Americas from Asia|settlement of the Americas]], a view challenged by more recent archaeological discoveries: the oldest archaeological sites in the Americas have been found in South America; sites in northeast Siberia report virtually no human presence there during the LGM; and most Clovis artefacts have been found in eastern North America along the Atlantic coast.<ref>{{Harvnb|O'Rourke|Raff|2010|loc=Introduction, p. 202}}</ref> Furthermore, colonisation models based on mtDNA, [[yDNA]], and [[atDNA]] data respectively support neither the "blitzkrieg" nor the "three-wave" hypotheses but they also deliver mutually ambiguous results. Contradictory data from archaeology and genetics will most likely deliver future hypotheses that will, eventually, confirm each other.<ref>{{Harvnb|O'Rourke|Raff|2010|loc=Conclusions and Outlook, p. 206}}</ref> A proposed route across the Pacific to South America could explain early South American finds and another hypothesis proposes a northern path, through the Canadian Arctic and down the North American Atlantic coast.<ref>{{Harvnb|O'Rourke|Raff|2010|loc=Beringian Scenarios, pp. 205–206}}</ref>
Early settlements across the Atlantic have been suggested by alternative theories, ranging from purely hypothetical to mostly disputed, including the [[Solutrean hypothesis]] and some of the [[Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact theories]].

[[File:Norse-world.png|thumb|Based on the medieval {{Lang|is|[[Sagas of Icelanders|Íslendingasögur]]}} sagas, including the ''[[Greenland saga|Grœnlendinga saga]]'', this interpretative map of the "Norse World" shows that Norse knowledge of the Americas and the Atlantic remained limited.]]
The [[Norse colonization of North America|Norse settlement]] of the [[Faroe Islands]] and [[Iceland]] began during the 9th and 10th centuries. A settlement on [[Greenland]] was established before 1000&nbsp;CE, but contact with it was lost in 1409 and it was finally abandoned during the early [[Little Ice Age]]. This setback was caused by a range of factors: an unsustainable economy resulted in erosion and denudation, while conflicts with the local [[Inuit]] resulted in the failure to adapt their Arctic technologies; a colder climate resulted in starvation, and the colony got economically marginalized as the [[Great Plague]] harvested its victims on Iceland in the 15th century.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dugmore|Keller|McGovern|2007|loc=Introduction, pp. 12–13; The Norse in The North Atlantic, pp. 13–14}}</ref>
Iceland was initially settled 865–930&nbsp;CE following a warm period when winter temperatures hovered around {{Convert|2|C}} which made farming favorable at high latitudes. This did not last, however, and temperatures quickly dropped; at 1080&nbsp;CE summer temperatures had reached a maximum of {{Convert|5|C}}. The {{Lang|is|[[Landnámabók]]}} (''Book of Settlement'') records disastrous famines during the first century of settlement{{snd}}"men ate foxes and ravens" and "the old and helpless were killed and thrown over cliffs"{{snd}}and by the early 1200s hay had to be abandoned for short-season crops such as [[barley]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Patterson|Dietrich|Holmden|Andrews|2010|pp=5308–5309}}</ref>