The Scientific Examination of the Vinland Map at the Research Laboratory of the British Museum

Abstract

of the islands in the west, the compiler has employed a modern outline of Green? land ; he has done the same in the east, for two of the islands bear a plausible resemblance to Australia and New Guinea?a resemblance pointed out by Mr. Painter, who, however, considers it to be a meaningless coincidence. Having obtained the outline in this fashion the compiler has fabricated two simple names, 'Northern Islands' and 'Furthest Islands', names which do not occur in the Tartar Relation, and which display no knowledge of local nomenclature. The outline of Africa he derived from the Bianco world map. As I pointed out, the southern coastline simply follows the conspicuous fold in the original in the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice. The whole con? figuration he then transferred from its circular frame to an ellipse. If this line of argument is accepted, it follows that the Vin? land Map was fabricated at a relatively recent date, as evidenced by the use of Bjornbo's diagram and the modern outline of Green? land; that is, after 1912, a date which fits in with the technological evidence. The compiler's aim may have been to produce a world map of interest to collectors of Americana, purporting to be authenticated by its association with the Tartar Relation. Contrary to what has been claimed, he would not have had to possess an extraordinary knowledge of medieval cosmography and cartography. To produce the fabricated map all that was required was a reproduction of the Bianco world map, Bjornbo's diagram and a modern atlas. As Dr. Wallis has mentioned, Professor Eva Taylor pointed out as long ago as 1965 that the ellipse within which the Vinland Map falls corresponds to a diagram in a work on projections published in 1921. Putting aside the technological evidence for the moment, all these resemblances cannot be mere coincidences. I conclude therefore that the Vinland Map was fabricated some years after 1912. Fig. 2