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The Hammer of Thor is a tall, t-shaped, man-made rock formation, located along the
Vachon River 2010
/ref>
The Hammer of Thor is a tall, t-shaped, man-made rock formation, located along the Arnaud River
The Arnaud River (formerly known as the Payne River) is a river in Nunavik, Quebec, Canada, flowing from the low plateaux of the Ungava Peninsula through a series of glacial lakes to Ungava Bay. Its mean discharge is approximately 15 km³ pe ...
in the Ungava Peninsula
The Ungava Peninsula of Nunavik, Quebec, Canada, is bounded by Hudson Bay to the west, Hudson Strait to the north, and Ungava Bay to the east. This peninsula is part of the Labrador Peninsula, and covers about . Its northernmost point is Cape W ...
, Quebec, Canada. It was discovered in 1964 by an archaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
who thought it was erected by Vikings
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
. He named it "The Hammer of Thor", in reference to the hammer-wielding Thor
Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...
of Norse culture.
Description
The Hammer of Thor consists of three rocks stacked on top of each other—a vertical shaft, a cross piece, and a capstone. The vertical column, or shaft, measures about tall; the cross piece is about long; and the capstone is in height. The entire monument stands about high; de Figueiredo 2005: p. 136. and has been estimated to weigh about . Colombo 1988: pp. 117–118. It is located on the northern bank of theArnaud River
The Arnaud River (formerly known as the Payne River) is a river in Nunavik, Quebec, Canada, flowing from the low plateaux of the Ungava Peninsula through a series of glacial lakes to Ungava Bay. Its mean discharge is approximately 15 km³ pe ...
(formerly known as Payne River), about above Payne Bay
Payne may refer to:
People
*Payne (surname)
Organisations
* Payne (company)
Places
;United States
*Payne, Georgia
*Payne, Ohio
*Payne County, Oklahoma
*Payne's Prairie, Florida
*Fort Payne, Alabama
;Elsewhere
* Payne Creek (disambiguation)
*Pay ...
, near the western coast of Ungava Bay
Ungava Bay (french: baie d'Ungava, ; iu, ᐅᖓᕙ ᑲᖏᖅᓗᒃ/) is a bay in northeastern Canada separating Nunavik (far northern Quebec) from Baffin Island. Although not geographically apparent, it is considered to be a marginal sea of the ...
, in the Ungava Peninsula
The Ungava Peninsula of Nunavik, Quebec, Canada, is bounded by Hudson Bay to the west, Hudson Strait to the north, and Ungava Bay to the east. This peninsula is part of the Labrador Peninsula, and covers about . Its northernmost point is Cape W ...
, Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, Canada.Lester Kovac/Lynette ChubbVachon River 2010
/ref>
Discovery
The monument was discovered in 1964 byarchaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
Thomas E. Lee, during an anthropological
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
expedition to Ungava. It had been standing for many years, and no one in the area knew who had erected it. Inuit tradition held that it predated their arrival in the area. Lee considered it to be European in appearance, and considered it to be proof that the Norse inhabited the Ungava region about a thousand years before. Lee thought it looked like a hammer and named the monument "The Hammer of Thor".
See also
*Inuksuk
An inuksuk (plural inuksuit) or inukshuk (from the iu, ᐃᓄᒃᓱᒃ, plural ; alternatively in Inuinnaqtun, in Iñupiaq, in Greenlandic) is a type of stone landmark or cairn built by, and for the use of, Inuit, Iñupiat, Kalaallit, Yupi ...
- a man-made stone landmark or cairn, used by the Inuit, Inupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America, from Alaska to Greenland.
References
{{reflist Archaeology of Canada Buildings and structures in Nord-du-Québec Norse colonization of North America Viking Age in Canada Nunavik Megalithic monuments