Posted on 07/23/2009 4:35:39 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
A Danish art conservator claims that the controversial Vinland Map of America, published prior to Christopher Columbus's landfall, may not be a forgery after all.
"We have so far found no reason to believe that the Vinland Map is the result of a modern forgery," says Renè Larsen of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Reuters first publicized his results last week but provided none of the skepticism being voiced by veterans in the field.
The map mysteriously emerged in a Geneva bookshop in 1957 depicting a "new" and "fertile" land to the west that Viking explorer Leif Eriksson had christened Vinland. Eriksson's 11th-century voyages to Newfoundland are well-known today, but they were thought to be unknown to 15th-century Europeans. The Vinland map could represent the earliest cartographic record of North America and prove that Europeans were aware of the continent prior to Columbus's voyage.
But scientific experts have bickered over the map's authenticity since the 1970s, as described in a 2004 Scientific American article. The map's parchment dates to circa 1434, but scientists say that the underlying yellow-brown ink has a chemical component, anatase, that indicates a 20th-century origin.
(Excerpt) Read more at scientificamerican.com ...
Yeah, knocked it right out of the park that time. :’)
Study Says Medieval New World Map Is Real [Thank Leif Eriksson]
AP | November 27, 2003 | DIANE SCARPONI
Posted on 11/26/2003 6:19:59 PM PST by nwrep
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1029683/posts
Vindication For Vinland Map: New Study Supports Authenticity
Eureka Alert | 11-24-2003 | Michael Bernstein
Posted on 11/25/2003 10:05:18 AM PST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1028717/posts
There has been speculation that the Portuguese (for one) were fishing the "Grand Banks" off Newfoundland for years (1400s) before Columbus. How frequently these fishermen set foot upon land is unknown and most likely only for water and repairs.
As for the map, I am reminded of the classic Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck cartoon about what hunting season it is. In this case, I am not even Elmer because it does not affect me one way or another.
Lief Eriksson I do believe, this map - shrug.
But the real problem with the map a failure to have a hysterical label for Greenland warning the glaciers are melting and we're all gonna die if we don't raise taxes. :-))
:’) Thanks!
In his book Cod, Kurlansky says the Grand Banks were known to Portugese fishermen for several centuries. Keeping those productive waters a secret from the rest of Europe meant they dominated the salted dried fish trade which was HUGE in late medieval Europe.
I remember not that I ordered a book by Bourque ("I've just ordered a new book due out in June, 2006 titled: Red Paint People - A Lost American Culture, by Bruce Bourque.") and the order was cancelled. I think I'll try again.
Letter From Newfoundland: Homing In On The Red Paint People
Highly unlikely. To his dying day Columbus believed he had discovered a new route to the Orient, not a New World. He denied claims from others that it was indeed a New World.
If the map is authentic, why is Greenland shown as an island? [A fact not known until hundreds of years after Columbus.]
The Arctic was seasonally navigable during the Medieval warming.
By way of analogy, the reason the Nile floods when it does during the year was known to the Egyptians, who gave the information to Herodotus, who didn’t believe it, but reported it anyway. :’) In his account of the Phoenician circumnavigation of Africa, he also records what sounds like seas lousy with icebergs south of the Cape of Good Hope.
One of my web buddies reportedly had Scandinavian ancestors who traded by sea with the Far East via the Arctic waters (they left accounts).
Thanks!
As far as I can tell, the book was never written. I wonder if they advanced $$$ to Bourque?
Oh, you mean *this* message 23 [rib, rib]:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2299630/posts?page=29#29
Must be that’s why there are no customer reviews yet. :’)
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