Study Says Medieval New World Map Is Real

Associated Press ^ | Nov 25, 2003 | DIANE SCARPONI

[Pharmboy]

This is a copy of the 'Vinland Map' as seen at
Yale University in New Haven, Conn., in this Feb. 13, 1996 file
photo. Experts dispute its authenticity. Two new studies
add fresh fuel to a decades-old debate about whether the parchment
map of the Vikings' travels to the New World, purportedly drawn by
a 15th century scribe, is authentic or a clever 20th century forgery.
Both studies were published independently in scholarly journals,
the researchers announced Monday, Nov. 24, 2003.
(AP Photo/Ho)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The latest scientific analysis of a disputed map of the medieval New World supports the theory that it was made 50 years before Christopher Columbus set sail.

The study examined the ink used to draw the Vinland Map, which belongs to Yale University. The map is valued at $20 million — if it is real and not a clever, modern-day forgery.

A study last summer said the ink on the parchment map was made in the 20th century.

But chemist Jacqueline Olin, a retired researcher with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, said Tuesday her analysis shows the ink was made in medieval times.

"There is no evidence this is a forged titanium dioxide ink," said Olin, whose paper appears in the December issue of the journal Analytical Chemistry.

The authenticity of the map has been debated since the 1960s, when philanthropist Paul Mellon gave it to Yale. The university has not taken a position on its authenticity.

The map depicts the world, including the north Atlantic coast of North America. It includes text in medieval Latin and a legend that describes how "Leif Eiriksson," a Norseman, found the new land called Vinland around the year 1000.

Scholars have dated the map to around 1440. Some scholars have speculated that Columbus could have used the map to find the New World in 1492.

Last summer, Olin and other researchers announced that carbon-14 dating of the parchment showed it was made around 1434 — exactly the right time for the map to be genuine.

However, researchers from University College in London examined the ink on the map and announced last summer that it cannot be more than 500 years old.

Tests in the 1970s by Walter McCrone — who also had disputed the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin — found the ink contained anatase, a form of titanium dioxide that is common in inks made after 1920. Anatase is found in nature, but the crystals of anatase were too regular-shaped to have been natural, McCrone said.

Olin's study looked at various minerals found in the ink, including aluminum, copper and zinc. All these minerals, she said, would have been byproducts of the medieval ink manufacturing process.

Also, she said anatase also could have ended up in the ink because of the manufacturing process, and its crystal size and shape could have changed over time.

Research is continuing into the Latin writing on the map.

[Verginius Rufus]

On his third voyage Columbus explored part of the coast of South America; on August 5, 1498, he became the first European known to have set foot on the continent of South America.

On his fourth voyage (1502-1504) he explored part of the coast of Central America, from Honduras to Panama before being shipwrecked on Jamaica and being stranded there for a year (the governor in Hispaniola knew that he was there but took his time sending a ship to rescue him).

[blam]

"We now know the Vikings established settlements in Canada centuries before Columbus."

Someone got here waaay before Columbus or the Vikings

European DNA Found In 7-8,000 Year Old Skeleton In Florida (Windover)

[Gumption]

Yeah but they came over on a land bridge. Not nearly as impressive.

[blam]

"Yeah but they came over on a land bridge. Not nearly as impressive."

Nah, they took the Atlantic route from Iberia by boat.

[Gumption]

That sounds a little impossible to me. Unless of course they had alien help.

[WackyKat]

I agree with blam that it is possible they came directly from Europe.
After all, the Polynesians traveled huge distances across the Pacific in large canoes.
I believe there was a lot more trade and travel in the Neolithic world than is generally acknowledged.

[chudogg]

Which way is North?

[bc2]

I have a friend from an island in the Baltic Sea, called Gotland. It's a Swedish island. One city in particular, Visby, was home to many great sailors and traders, merchants and explorers.

At different times this island belonged to different nations, the Danes and Norwegions among them, I believe. At any rate, one thing is certain: the Gotlanders were THE vikings. Master sailors and traders.

I had the pleasure of traveling there to visit my friend in 2000. One of the highlights was visiting the history museum in Visby, a 1000 year old city on Gotland. Here I saw maps, a thousand years old, detailing sailing and trading routes across the world. I saw with my own eyes, ancient Arabian coins dug up from the back yards of people in Visby. There were many ancient artifacts from cultures around the world; proof of the levels of exploration and trade achieved by the vikings.

I would not doubt the validity of such a map as this one bit after having seen some proof with my own eyes just a few years ago in the city of Visby.

[blam]

"That sounds a little impossible to me. Unless of course they had alien help."

Read the article below, good maps too!

Who Were The First Americans

[Swordmaker]

McCrone takes another one on the nose... posthumously.

[little jeremiah]

Have you ever read "Mysteries of the Sacred Universe" by Richard Thompson? I bet you would like it - I think that's where I saw a copy of a map from (IIRC) medieval times, which apparently was copied from earlier maps, showing the LAND MASS under Antarctica. IOW, the land minus the ice.

[PoorMuttly]

...I'm kind-of getting used to that...

[blam]

Thanks, I've not read that....but, I have read about the map of the land mass under the antarctic. A big mystery.

[little jeremiah]

The book in question has more scientific type language and concepts than my poor brain is capable of grasping - but still I have read the book a couple of times, gleaning a bit more with each reading. The evidence presented points to an ancient world-wide culture or civilization, very ancient in origin. In fact, now that I have reminded myself, I think I'll read it again!
The premise of the author is that ancient cultures' "mystical" descriptions of the world or universe aren't necessarily opposed to scientific understanding, and may another way of describing the same truths, and may actually open understanding.

[blam]

"- but still I have read the book a couple of times, gleaning a bit more with each reading. "

I know about that. I'm presently re-reading Voyages Of The Pyramid Builders by Dr Robert Schoch. The book is about refugees from Sundaland (the area around Indonesia that went underwater at the end of the Ice Age) who fled to areas all over the world at the end of the Ice Age and took their custom of pyramid building with them, Egypt, South America, India and etc.

BTW, Schoch is the geologist/geophysist who has dated the Sphinx to 9-10,000 years old.

[MHGinTN]

Go take a look at what Noory (Coast-to-Coast AM) has up on the Monday guest regarding 'Atlantis'. Interesting links, blam.

[Consort]

More

[MHGinTN]

ping to #36

[blam]

"Go take a look at what Noory (Coast-to-Coast AM) has up on the Monday guest regarding 'Atlantis'"

LOL, I don't know anything about Noory, can you give me a link?

[MHGinTN]

coasttocoastam.com HERE