Danish Expert Declares Vinland Map Genuine 210
MBCook writes "A Danish conservation expert named Rene Larsen has finished a 5-year study of the infamous Vinland Map and declared it genuine. 'All the tests that we have done over the past five years — on the materials and other aspects — do not show any signs of forgery,' he said at the press conference. He and his team studied the ink, the paper, and even insect damage. They believe that the ink, which was discovered in 1972 to contain titanium dioxide and thus supposedly was too new for the map to be genuine, was contaminated when sand was used to dry the ink."
I'm not so sure. (Score:5, Funny)
The edges arent slightly burnt and you dont roll it out to read it and c'mon, where's the X?
If only history was right (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Larsen != Larson (Score:5, Funny)
The normal Swedish spelling is Larsson.
Larsen is a danish or norwegian guy. Larson is a scandinavian immigrant to the US, or a swede who wants to insinuate he has more money than some random Larsson. Larzon is a swede who's in the sleazier part of the entertainment industry.
Important viking discoveries (Score:5, Funny)
I remember some years ago learning about a Viking who were one of the first to visit Greenland (I do not recall who). It was written "en passant" in one of the sagas that he had reported back in Island that curiously enough if you stab an Inuit with a sword he just keeps on bleeding (due to the extreme cold Inuits are genetically adapted to have blood that does not coagulate easily).
And who says that these Vikings were brutal warriors and not peaceful traders?
Re:Larsen != Larson (Score:5, Funny)
Don't think you're the only one. Everybody thinks I'm a food. I even had the nickname MC in university. There has been maybe two times I didn't have to spell my name for somebody.
Re:Larsen != Larson (Score:5, Funny)
Yet they both mean exactly the same, son of Lars.
Obviously Lars was leading a double life with a family in Sweden and a family in Denmark.
"Magnae Insulae Beati Brandani Branziliae Dictae"? (Score:5, Funny)
Look at those large islands to the west of the Canaries. They're labelled Magnae Insulae Beati Brandani Branziliae Dictae: St Brandon's Large Islands, Called The Branzillas. Branzillas? Nobody used -zilla to mean "large" before Godzilla, and it didn't become really popular until Mozilla. The whole thing is clearly a forgery by some 21st-century geek, probably a Terry Gilliam fan, trying to mock up a folk etymology of the name "Brazil". ;)
Peter
Shopped (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Larsen != Larson (Score:3, Funny)
Larzon is a swede who's in the sleazier part of the entertainment industry.
From the same people who gave us Zed from Zardoz?
Re:Important viking discoveries (Score:3, Funny)
It sounds to me that my ancestors were very keen on performing scientific experiments, with rigorous field testing to back up the scientific data!
Re:If only history was right (Score:2, Funny)