SCIENCE has been unable to resolve a long-running dispute over the authenticity of a medieval map showing Greenland and North America. Two new studies have produced contrasting results – one dating the map’s parchment to the early 15th century, the other dating the ink as modern.
The Vinland Map appears to be a German 15th-century copy of a 13th-century original. It claims to show “the Island of Vinland, discovered by Bjarni and Leif in company”. If genuine, central Europeans must have known of visits to the New World made by Norse explorers half a century before Columbus set sail, raising questions…
