WASHINGTON — Vikings had a settlement in North America exactly one thousand years ago, centuries before Christopher Columbus arrived on the continent, BBC reported quoting a new study.

Scientists say a new dating technique analysing tree rings has provided evidence that Vikings occupied a site in Newfoundland, Canada, in 1021 AD.

It has long been known that Europeans reached the Americas before Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492.

But this is the first time researchers have suggested an exact date.

Writing in the journal Nature, scientists said they had analysed the tree rings of three pieces of wood cut for the Norse settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows.

They said that using an atmospheric radiocarbon signal produced by a dated solar storm as a reference, they were able to pin the "exact felling year of the tree" to 1021.

Such a solar storm - a huge blast of radiation from the Sun that hits Earth - was known to have taken place in the year 992AD, the scientists said. This enabled them to determine a more accurate date than previous estimates for the camp of about 1000AD.