Posted on 11/25/2003 6:25:37 PM PST by 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.
Thanks, I don't get into the Cayce stuff. Although I find the comment about the structures off the coast of Cuba being dismantled Soviet missiles structures interesting.
That was most likely the Map of Piri Riis.
There are writings by vikings that pretty much describe travelling down the east coast from Canada to Cape Cod. There are very early Portughese writings on Dighton Rock in MA. Some even believe there are evidences of Celtic settlements as far inland as Ohio.
Then there are the legends of the tall blonde indians who greeted the Pilgrims.
Cool, huh?
In 1929 a group of historians found half of the map in the Palace of Topkapu (Istanbul where it remains, facsimile available at the Library of Congress Washington DC) on a dusty shelf, still rolled up and drawn on a gazelle skin. The content of the map was amazing: it focused on the western coast of Africa, the eastern coast of South America (!) and the northern coast of Antarctica (!!!). The most flabbergasting point is that Antarctic had remained undiscovered until 1818, but its northern coastline, perfectly detailed, was shown on this map drawn in 1513.
What this doesn't tell you is that the coastline of Antartica is the coastline of the continent WITHOUT the ice... which was only determined by radar and echo location soundings in 1949!
The Map of Piri Reis
Another map that is anacrhonistic is the Ornotius Finaeus Delphinus Map created in 1531 which shows the entire continent of Antarctica along with mountain ranges, rivers, bays... that have only recently been found to exist where Finaeus' map shows them.
A: The Map of Orontius Finaeus Delphinus
B; Finaeus Map redrawn on modern polar projections
C: Antartica on polar projection
Here is the text of a letter written to Professor Charles Hapgood analysing the Piri Reis Map:
" It is not very often that we have the opportunity to evaluate maps of ancient origin. The Piri Reis ( AD 1513 ) and the Oronteus Fineaus [sic] ( AD 1531 ) maps sent to us by you, presented a delightful challenge for it was not readily conceivable that they could be so accurate without being forged. With added enthusiasm we accepted this challenge and have expended many off duty hours evaluating your manuscript and the above maps. I am sure you will be pleased to know that we have concluded that both of these maps were compiled from accurate original source maps, irrespective of dates. The following is a brief summary of our findings:
A. The solution of the portolano projection used by Admiral Piri Reis, developed by your class in Anthropology must be very nearly correct; for when known geographical locations are checked in relationship to the grid computed by Mr. Richard W. Strachan ( MIT ), there, is remarkably close agreement. Piri Reis' use of the Portolano projection ( centred on Syene, Egypt ) is an excellent choice, for it is a developable surface that would permit the relative size and shape of the earth at that ( lattitude ) to be retained. It is our opinion that those who compiled the original map had an excellent knowledge of the continents covered by this map.
B. As stated by Colonel Harold Z. Ohlmeyer in his letter ( July 6, 1960 ) to you, the Princess Martha Coast of Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, appears to be truly represented on the southern sector of the Piri Reis Map. The agreement of the Piri Reis map with the seismic profile of this area made by the Norwegian-British -Swedish Expedition of 1949, suported by your solution of the grid, places beyond a reasonable doubt the conclusion that the original source maps must have been made before the present Antarctic ice cap covered Queen Maud Land coasts.
C. It is our opinion that the accuracy of the cartographic features shown in the Oronteus Fineaus [sic] Map ( AD 1530 ) suggests, beyond a doubt, that it also was compiled from accurate source maps of Antarctica, but in this case of the entire continent. Close examination has proved the original source maps must have been compiled at a time when the land mass and inland waterways of the continent were relatively free of ice. This conclusion is further supported by a comparison of the Oronteus Finneaus [sic] Map with the results obtained by International Geophysical Year teams in their measurements of the subglacial topography. The comparison also suggests that the original source maps ( compiled in remote antiquity ) were prepared when Antarctica was presumably free of ice. The Cordiform projection used by Oronteus Fineaus [sic] suggests the use of advanced mathematics. Further, the shape given to the Antarctic continent suggests the possibility, if not the probability, that the original source maps were compiled on a stereographic or gnomonic type of projection ( involving the use of spherical trigonometry ).
D. We are convinced that the findings made by you and your associates are valid, and that they raise extremely important questions affecting geology and ancient history, questions which certainly require further investigation.
We thank you for extending us the opportunity to have participated in the study of these maps. The following officers and airmen vollunteered their time to assist Captain Lorenzo W.Burroughs in this evaluation: Captain Richard E. Covault, CWO Howard D.Minor, MSgt Clifton M.Dover, MSgt DAvid C.Carter, TSgt James H.Hood, SSgt James L.Carroll, and AIC Don R.Vance."
Lorenzo W.Burroughs
Captain, USAF
Chief, Cartographic Section
8th Reconnaissance Technical Sqdn ( SAC ) Westover, Mass.
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This map shows Greenland to be an island. A fact that wasn't known until hundrds of years after the supposed creation of the map.
Ha! An oldie but goodie...resurrected. How appropriate for Easter weekend.
...which is a forgery.
BTW, it seems to be the nature of anomolous artifacts that they get tied online to so many theories (and myths) that it's difficult to separate out the known facts.
Indeed, the crackpots are out on the Piri Reis (the extraterrestrial crowd for one), so it's understandable if you would walk away with the impression that it's junk science. But, it seems real.
Of course the really intriguing aspect of the Map is the representation of the Antarctic landmass -- without the icepack. Not sure what to make of that. It could just be that the map does not claim to represent an accurate gridline representation of a coastline, but is a "portulano" map that gives bearings & distances from port-to-port.
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