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Is This The Oldest Map of North America? 33
An anonymous reader writes: "Scientists from the University of Arizona, the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the Smithsonian Institution have used carbon-dating technology to determine the age of a controversial parchment that might be the first-ever map of North America."
Update: 07/30 03:04 GMT by T : Bill Reardon writes: "Thought you might like to know there's another story running via the AP on
the map. New study says Yale University's Vinland map is a forgery. Poor Yale. First hacked by Princeton, now their map is a forgery."
"might be the first-ever map of North America" (Score:1)
Prehistory isn't prehistory because there wasn't history, but because no documents survived the battle with time. We already know the people traveled to NA before Columbus. This map means almost nothing, it has just because another collectible to the uber-riche. Also arguing about which dead man in the recent past was the first to get here is of absolutely no use, except to some grad student/professor.
Re:"might be the first-ever map of North America" (Score:2)
columbus day still has significance. (Score:1, Funny)
Old trick (Score:2, Interesting)
Fools some of the people some of the time...
Re:Old trick (Score:2, Informative)
Walter McCrone and the Vinland map (Score:3, Informative)
Now this article suggests that McCrone's analysis was faulty (or at least limited). It is very interesting to see these types debates evolve with the science. Maybe someday DNA analysis even will be able to prove that OJ did it ... or maybe not.
More info on McCrone's analysis from his site. [mcri.org]
Re:Walter McCrone and the Vinland map (Score:1)
now I know why people use <sarcasm>
Map dated one year after end of pelt trade records (Score:4, Informative)
The article says that the map dates to around 1434AD. That date is entirely probable because the Basques had been trading in Norh America since at least the fourteenth century. Actually, the date is precisely one year after the end of records showing the landing of North American beaver pelts by Basque traders at English ports. The folloqing recycled quote is from Europe's Mystery People: Did the Basques Beat Columbus? by Evan Hadingham, in World Monitor, September 1992, p34-42 (p37):
Now, the proximity of the map's date (as reported by the linked article) to the unexplained end of the beaver pelt trade, and the connection between the Catholic Church and this allegedly long-lost map (a connection to which the linked article refers only in passing) would go together quite well in the mind of your average conspiracy theory buff. Surely, this suggests that today's governments are not the first in history to protect their citizens from news of an alien civilization. ;) In any case, I just thought I'd toss that in FYI.
Native Maps (Score:1)
Re:Native Maps (Score:2, Funny)
Yup; possums, deer, and grizzly bears are particularly poor at cartography. (Eagles are quite good at it, but refuse to give away their secrets by drawing maps.)
Re:Native Maps (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Native Maps (Score:2)
What the hell does a crappy football team residing in the nation's capitol need maps for?
Re:Native Maps (Score:2)
Re:Native Maps (Score:1)
I've never disted crops. Never dusted crops either, but that's neither here nor there.
Is the difficulty of navigating D.C. the reason all our government officials seem to have a permanent look of confusion on their faces?
Re:Native Maps (Score:2)
This map has been show to have been a fake before (Score:1)
The map has the same handwriting as other maps found by the same guy.
Here is some more information about it and other things that may never be proven real or not.
http://www.mcri.org/vm_shroud_update.html
is it just me... (Score:1)
No, it's not just you. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:No, it's not just you. (Score:1)
No, wait -- on second thought, it is the size.
The EurekAlert from American Chemical Society (Score:2)
Where do those spaces come from? [The one between 'acs' and '-tvm'. I didn't put it there]
Obvious Fake (Score:1)
Just look at the writing, it is precisely in line and spaced absolutely perfectly, on a standard European A4 lined notebook sheet.
Compare that with authentic maps from that period, even with authentic written works.
That alone makes it a fake. Also, examine the geography of the map overall and compare that with the geography of the North american part.
And that completely ignores the ink data. Dating the paper doesn't prove that the map is old, only the paper.
Re:Obvious Fake (Score:1)
However, I might try looking on Google and asking for museum suppliers and then looking in museum "market" places for museum items for sale.
Article suggests map is a fake (Score:1)