Were there ancient inhabitants of Iceland before the viking exploration times?
When Vikings first landed on Iceland they found a small group of Celtic monks living there. The Íslendingabók of Ari Thorgilsson claims that the Norse settlers encountered Gael monks from a Hiberno-Scottish mission when they first arrived in Iceland. The oldest known source which mentions the name “Iceland” is an 11th century Gothic rune carving, while the oldest archeological finds indicating settlement date back to the 9th century. The first written source to mention the existence of Iceland is a book by the Irish monk Dicuil, De mensura orbis terrae, which dates back to 825. Dicuilus claimed to have met some Irish monks who had lived on the island of Thule. They said that darkness reigned during winter but that the summers were bright enough to pick lice from one’s clothing. Iceland is only about 450 kilometers from the Faroes which had been visited by Irish monks in the 500s, and settled by the Norse around 650. There was no record of prior inhabitants before the Celtic monks that
