Two studies battle over authenticity of Viking map

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Two new studies add fresh fuel to a decades-old debate about whether a 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.

Using carbon dating, scholars from the Smithsonian Institution, the University of Arizona and Brookhaven National Laboratory concluded the map predates Christopher Columbus' voyage by about 50 years, adding to evidence that Vikings reached the New World before he did.

But researchers at University College in London, who analyzed the map's ink under a special microscope, concluded that the map was produced after 1923.

Both studies were published independently in scholarly journals, the researchers announced last week.

"The results demonstrate the great importance of modern analytical techniques in the study of items in our cultural heritage," said Robin J.H. Clark, a University College professor.

The research by Clark and a colleague, Katherine Brown, is included in the July 31 issue of Analytical Chemistry, the journal of the American Chemical Society.

The Smithsonian Institution study, published in the July issue of the journal Radiocarbon, concludes that the map's parchment was produced around 1434 -- exactly the right time for the map to be authentic.

"It's not a trivial thing for a forger to get a parchment" from that time period, said Jacqueline Olin, a research chemist who recently retired from the Smithsonian.

The authenticity of the map has been debated since the 1960s, when benefactor Paul Mellon donated it to Yale. If authentic, it has been valued at more than $20 million.

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 a Norseman, Leif Eriksson (spelled Eiriksson on the document), found the new land called Vinland around the year 1000 A.D.

Other evidence of such a voyage exists, most notably traces of a Viking settlement excavated in Newfoundland in the 1960s.

'Research in progress'

Yale has not taken a position on whether the map is authentic.

"The truth is there been a good deal of controversy about the Vinland Map. There is a lot of research in progress," said Yale's head librarian, Alice Prochaska. "I think probably research will reveal one day what the truth is, but it is certainly very much under discussion and debate."