The sunstone is a type of mineral attested in several 13th–14th century written sources in Iceland, one of which describes its use to locate the sun in a completely overcast sky. A theory exists that the sunstone had polarizing attributes and was used as a navigation instrument by seafarers in the Viking Age.
Though none of these sunstones have ever been found at Viking archaeological sites, a crystal uncovered in a British shipwreck could help prove they did indeed exist. The crystal was found amongst the wreckage of the Alderney, an Elizabethan warship that sank near the Channel Islands in 1592.
(thanks Miss Rare)
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