Shipwreck Discovery May be Fabled SunstoneA rough, whitish block recovered from an Elizabethan shipwreck may be a sunstone, the fabled crystal believed to have helped Vikings and other medieval seafarers navigate the high seas, researchers say.In a paper published this week, a Franco-British group argued that the Alderney Crystal — a chunk of Icelandic calcite found amid a 16th century wreck at the bottom of the English Channel — worked as a kind of solar compass, allowing sailors to determine the position of the sun even when it was hidden by heavy cloud, masked by fog or below the horizon.Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/03/shipwreck-discovery-may-be-fabled-sunstone

Shipwreck Discovery May be Fabled Sunstone

A rough, whitish block recovered from an Elizabethan shipwreck may be a sunstone, the fabled crystal believed to have helped Vikings and other medieval seafarers navigate the high seas, researchers say.

In a paper published this week, a Franco-British group argued that the Alderney Crystal — a chunk of Icelandic calcite found amid a 16th century wreck at the bottom of the English Channel — worked as a kind of solar compass, allowing sailors to determine the position of the sun even when it was hidden by heavy cloud, masked by fog or below the horizon.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/03/shipwreck-discovery-may-be-fabled-sunstone