Around the year 1000, Norse sailors from Iceland and Greenland crossed the North Atlantic and reached the coasts of North America, nearly five hundred years before Columbus. This episode follows the Vinland sagas, from Bjarni Herjólfsson's lost ship and Leif Eriksson's voyage to the large expedition of Thorfinn Karlsefni and Gudrid. We then travel to L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, where Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad found the remains of a Norse base in 1960: sod buildings, a smithy for bog iron, a spindle whorl and butternuts from far to the south. We also look at the 2021 tree-ring study that dated Norse activity to the exact year 1021, at the forged Vinland Map, and at the Indigenous peoples who lived on these coasts long before and after the Norse. A calm, fact-based voyage across a cold sea.

Please note: The voice-over is AI-generated.

Close your eyes and travel to ancient Babylon, where a stepped temple tower called Etemenanki, "the foundation of heaven and earth," once rose from the Mesopotamian plain. This episode traces the biblical story of Genesis 11 back through its much older Sumerian roots in the epic of Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, and forward through the archaeology of Robert Koldewey, the inscriptions of King Nebuchadnezzar II, and Pieter Bruegel's famous paintings. Along the way: how ziggurats were actually built, why the ruin near modern Hillah, Iraq survives mainly as a waterlogged foundation pit, and what the story's real explanatory power says about the several thousand languages spoken on Earth today. A quiet, science-grounded journey through myth, bricks, and bitumen, ending with a reflection on understanding across difference and the fragile modern fate of a very old, very famous ruin.SourcesGeorge, A. R. (2011). Babylonian topographical texts and the Tower of Babel. In Finkel & Seymour (Eds.), Babylon: Myth and Reality. British Museum Press.Kramer, S. N. (1968). The "Babel of Tongues": A Sumerian version. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 88(1), 108–111.Koldewey, R. (1914). The Excavations at Babylon (A. S. Johns, Trans.). Macmillan.Van De Mieroop, M. (2003). Reading Babylon. American Journal of Archaeology, 107(2), 257–275.

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More series to help you drift off to sleep:

⁠⁠⁠Wonders of Nature⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠A dream journey through forgotten worlds⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠Sleeping with sounds⁠⁠⁠⁠

English series:

⁠⁠⁠⁠Sleep Journey through Lost Worlds⁠⁠⁠⁠

Further ‘Journey of Knowledge’ series:

⁠⁠⁠The Periodic Table of Elements⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠A journey of discovery through psychology⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠A journey of discovery through the countries of the world⁠⁠⁠⁠

Medicine and the Body

⁠⁠⁠⁠A journey of discovery through prehistory⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠A journey of discovery through history⁠⁠⁠

A day in the year X – stories from everyday life

Note: The narration is AI-assisted. The new episodes of ‘A Sleep Journey through the Universe, through Nature and through History’ are produced entirely without it.

Dive into the secrets of the Bermuda Triangle. From Flight 19 to the USS Cyclops—we unravel the mysteries with science. Methane hydrates, the Gulf Stream, and the truth behind the legends. A soothing journey to help you fall asleep. 🌊✨

More Sleep Journey Series:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Fall Asleep with Nature⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sleep Journey Through Forgotten Worlds⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sleep Journey through the Universe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

English series:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sleep Journey through Lost Worlds⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

More knowledge journey series:

⁠⁠⁠⁠Journey of Knowledge through the Periodic Table of Elements⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Journey of Knowledge through Psychology⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Journey of Knowledge through the Countries of the World⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Journey of Knowledge through Prehistory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠A Journey of Discovery Through History⁠⁠⁠⁠

Note: The narration is AI-generated. The new episodes of “Sleep Journey Through the Universe” are produced entirely without it.