Newport Tower

Newport Tower (tidligere fejlagtigt Newport Viking Tower - dog kendt som: Round Tower, Touro Tower, Newport Stone Tower, Old Stone Mill, OSM og Mystery Tower) er et rundt stentårn i Touro Park i Newport, Rhode Island. Tårnet har længe været omgærdet med mange kontroversielle spekulationer om dets oprindelse. Den mest accepterede forklaring (2005) er, at det var en vindmølle bygget i midten af det 17. århundrede – muligvis af guvernør Benedict Arnold. Nogle historikere og mange amatørforskere har hævdet at det er adskillige hundreder år ældre.

Mølleteorien støttes af ligheder i udseendet med en mølle fra det 17. århundrede designet af Inigo Jones ved Leamington i England (se Chesterton Windmill). Dog er der andre som ikke kan finde ligheder med tårnets design andre steder. Det nærmeste er rundkirker; f.eks. Holy Sepulcher kirken i England og St. Olaf kirken i Tunsberg i Norge.

I 1940'erne fremkom der artefakter under arkæologiske udgravninger i området omkring tårnet, som stammede fra kolonitiden.

Undersøgelser

Newport by gav til sidst sin tilladelse til at lave en videnskabelig undersøgelse af stedet til Society for American Archaeology i 1948. Undersøgelsen blev ledet af Hugh Henken fra Harvard University, med feltarbejdet ledet af William S. Godfrey. Som en del af undersøgelsen blev der gravet en 1 meter bred grøft fra ydersiden til indersiden af tårnet. Resultatet blev offentliggjort i Godfreys 1951 Ph.D. afhandling som konkluderede at alle de opdagede artefakter var fra det 17. århundrede.

Der blev givet tilladelse til at undersøge området med georadar oktober 2003.

Til dato (2004) er der ikke fundet noget bevis for nordisk oprindelse.

Alternative forklaringer

Grundet følgende ankepunkter, er ovenstående teori ikke accepteret af alle:

De arkæologiske udgravninger er inkonklusive og beviser kun, at det blev anvendt i det 17. århundrede.
Kulstof 14-dateringen er inkonklusiv da mørtelen kunne være tilføjet senere.
Tårnet er sandsynligvis på et kort af Giovanni da Verrazano lavet under hans rejse til Nordamerika i 1524.
New England området omkring tårnet huser mange kontroversielle arkæologiske fund, som kunne støtte teorien om præ-columbiansk transatlantisk kontakt.

Tidlig nordisk teori

Den populæreste alternative forklaring på tårnets oprindelse og som har haft professionelle arkæologers bevågenhed er at den blev bygget af Vikinger i det 10. århundrede til 11. århundrede.

Den nordiske oprindelse blev foreslået af den danske arkæolog Carl Christian Rafn i 1837 i hans bog Antiquitates Americanæ, hvilket var delvis baseret på hans forskning i Dighton Rocks helleristningerne nær ved Taunton River. Rafn's teoripopularisering ledte til interesse og "bevis" af nordisk beboelse i området.

Den nordiske teori blev også advokeret af Phillip Answorth Means, en arkæolog med speciale i Latinamerika, i hans omfattende bog fra 1942 The Newport Tower. Means forsøgte af samle al kendt viden vedrørende tårnet og forkastede at Arnold byggede det "fra grunden."

Andre teorier

Edmund Delebarres undersøgelser af Dighton Rock ledte ham til at foreslå, at tårnet var et signaleringsfyr konstrueret af den portugisiske navigator Miguel Corte-Real, som Delebarre hævder strandede i 1501 eller 1502, mens han søgte efter sin savnede bror Gaspar i Narragansett Bay.
En anden teori er, at tårnet blev lavet af den skotske jarl Henry Sinclair, som nogle mener har besøgt Nova Scotia og New England i 1398 med en flåde under kommando af Antonio Zeno.
Gavin Menzies argumenterer for, at tårnet blev bygget af den kinesiske navigator Zheng He i 1421.

Se også

Kilder/referencer

↑ Newport Viking tower largest photo
↑ Archive.org backup: The Vikings: They Got Here First, But Why Didn't They Stay? Citat: "...A stone windmill built by a 17th-Century governor of Rhode Island has long been misinterpreted as a "Viking tower"...Fake runic inscriptions, and similar pieces of phony or misjudged clues, have been reported from Maine to Oklahoma and Paraguay...The last 30 years, however, have produced a new wave of archeological discovery which has validated the literary documentation and brought new respect to the search for Vikings..."
↑ Archive.org backup: the Old Stone Mill in Newport, Rhode Island (e-mail) Citat: "...From what I gather, most are in favor that the mill was modeled after a Chesterton, England windmill, not far from Bedfordshire, where George¹ Lawton (brother of Thomas) could easily have been a builder, or an apprentice..."
↑ Archive.org backup: Newport Stone Tower Also called: "Old Stone Mill" One of a kind?
↑ Archive.org backup: New England Antiquities Research Association (NEARA): Loose Threads in a Tapestry of Stone: The Architecture of the Newport Tower by Suzanne Carlson (omfattende og med billeder) Citat: "...I have studied castle keeps, the battlements of walled cities and city gates, displaying the forms of all the elements of Newport tower, but all on solid bases. The most interesting of the military structures are the dual purpose, Scandinavian round churches. They meet the criteria of form, several stories, and randomly placed windows... One searches in vain for a plausible prototype for the Newport Tower. Everything about its design is inconsistent with 17th century sensibilities..."
↑ September 17, 2004, UnexplainedEarth: Newport's Mystery Tower Arkiveret 4. februar 2005 hos Wayback Machine Citat: "...the columns do not sit flush against the upper walls...Building a fireplace into a windmill seems utterly inconceivable...the structural similarities of the tower to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Cambridge, England and the Church of St. Olaf in Tunsberg, Norway...In 1946 Professor P. Luvfold and M. Bjorndal discovered a Swedish-Norwegian runic inscription on the west side of the tower, 14 feet above the ground. The inscription was translated as the date 1010...One of the most unique design elements in the Newport Tower is the inclusion of two chimneys built into the fireplace..."
↑ Archive.org backup: Council hears plea for archaeological dig Citat: "...Janet Barstad...She showed images from the radar survey, which showed a wall system and slab system as pockets of bright red against a purple and white background. The wall system measures about 20 by 25 feet and the slab measures about 18 by 20 feet...The features are located within 50 feet of the Old Stone Mill..."
↑ Archive.org backup: May 21, 2004, East Bay Newspapers: The Old Stone Mill mystery takes another turn Citat: "...In October of 2003, Barstad conducted a ground penetrating laser [radar?] study of the ground beneath the tower...appears to be a wall system with a door or a gate and a rectangular slab...the structure could be more than a simple windmill..."
↑ Newport Tower Arkiveret 23. februar 2005 hos Wayback Machine Citat: "...In Rhode Island the Newport Tower is constructed in a similar style to the Norse/Scottish buildings of the Western and Northern Isles. More important, every single measurement within Newport Tower is based on the Scottish ell, which equals three Norse feet...When the Narragansett Indians were asked who built the Newport Tower, they replied, They were fire-haired men with green eyes who sailed up river in a ship like a gull with a broken wing...."
↑ Archive.org backup: Loose Threads in a Tapestry of Stone: The Architecture of the Newport Tower
↑ Archive.org backup: The Portuguese Tower of Newport By Dr. Manuel Luciano da Silva

Eksterne henvisninger

Wikimedia Commons har flere filer relateret til Newport Tower
youtube.com: Tour of the Newport Tower Jim Egan, curator of the Newport Tower Museum, takes you on a tour of the Newport Tower.
Old Stone Mill Photos and Stereoscopic Views Arkiveret 16. marts 2005 hos Wayback Machine (gamle billeder)
Archive.org backup: Redwood Library site on Newport Tower
Old Stone Mill: Built by ancient astronauts? Arkiveret 24. januar 2005 hos Wayback Machine (med placering på gadekort)

41°29′08″N 71°18′35″V / 41.48556°N 71.30972°V / 41.48556; -71.30972

[1] Newport Viking tower largest photo

[2] Archive.org backup: The Vikings: They Got Here First, But Why Didn't They Stay? Citat: "...A stone windmill built by a 17th-Century governor of Rhode Island has long been misinterpreted as a "Viking tower"...Fake runic inscriptions, and similar pieces of phony or misjudged clues, have been reported from Maine to Oklahoma and Paraguay...The last 30 years, however, have produced a new wave of archeological discovery which has validated the literary documentation and brought new respect to the search for Vikings..."

[3] Archive.org backup: the Old Stone Mill in Newport, Rhode Island (e-mail) Citat: "...From what I gather, most are in favor that the mill was modeled after a Chesterton, England windmill, not far from Bedfordshire, where George¹ Lawton (brother of Thomas) could easily have been a builder, or an apprentice..."

[4] Archive.org backup: Newport Stone Tower Also called: "Old Stone Mill" One of a kind?

[5] Archive.org backup: New England Antiquities Research Association (NEARA): Loose Threads in a Tapestry of Stone: The Architecture of the Newport Tower by Suzanne Carlson (omfattende og med billeder) Citat: "...I have studied castle keeps, the battlements of walled cities and city gates, displaying the forms of all the elements of Newport tower, but all on solid bases. The most interesting of the military structures are the dual purpose, Scandinavian round churches. They meet the criteria of form, several stories, and randomly placed windows... One searches in vain for a plausible prototype for the Newport Tower. Everything about its design is inconsistent with 17th century sensibilities..."

[6] September 17, 2004, UnexplainedEarth: Newport's Mystery Tower Arkiveret 4. februar 2005 hos Wayback Machine Citat: "...the columns do not sit flush against the upper walls...Building a fireplace into a windmill seems utterly inconceivable...the structural similarities of the tower to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Cambridge, England and the Church of St. Olaf in Tunsberg, Norway...In 1946 Professor P. Luvfold and M. Bjorndal discovered a Swedish-Norwegian runic inscription on the west side of the tower, 14 feet above the ground. The inscription was translated as the date 1010...One of the most unique design elements in the Newport Tower is the inclusion of two chimneys built into the fireplace..."

[7] Archive.org backup: Council hears plea for archaeological dig Citat: "...Janet Barstad...She showed images from the radar survey, which showed a wall system and slab system as pockets of bright red against a purple and white background. The wall system measures about 20 by 25 feet and the slab measures about 18 by 20 feet...The features are located within 50 feet of the Old Stone Mill..."

[8] Archive.org backup: May 21, 2004, East Bay Newspapers: The Old Stone Mill mystery takes another turn Citat: "...In October of 2003, Barstad conducted a ground penetrating laser [radar?] study of the ground beneath the tower...appears to be a wall system with a door or a gate and a rectangular slab...the structure could be more than a simple windmill..."

[9] Newport Tower Arkiveret 23. februar 2005 hos Wayback Machine Citat: "...In Rhode Island the Newport Tower is constructed in a similar style to the Norse/Scottish buildings of the Western and Northern Isles. More important, every single measurement within Newport Tower is based on the Scottish ell, which equals three Norse feet...When the Narragansett Indians were asked who built the Newport Tower, they replied, They were fire-haired men with green eyes who sailed up river in a ship like a gull with a broken wing...."

[10] Archive.org backup: Loose Threads in a Tapestry of Stone: The Architecture of the Newport Tower

[11] Archive.org backup: The Portuguese Tower of Newport By Dr. Manuel Luciano da Silva