A new chemical analysis of an apparent pre-Columbian map of North American islands supports its authenticity, researchers say. The Vinland Map was discovered in the 1950s and charts the layout of Helluland, Markland and Vinland (now Newfoundland, Labrador and Baffin Island), three countries that Icelandic Vikings are thought to have discovered around the year 1000. If it's authentic and its radiocarbon dating to the year 1434 holds up, the map suggests that Norse explorers charted North America – and Europeans were aware of it – long before Columbus arrived. If it's a fake, it's a sophisticated forgery. "Its date is important in establishing the history of European knowledge of the lands bordering the western North Atlantic, and the deeper question of Columbus's own possible awareness," said Jacqueline Olin, of the Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education, in a statement. In the summer of 2002, two papers about the Vinland Map came to different conclusions. A carbon dating of the map's parchment, published in the journal Radiocarbon, set a date of about 1434, which supports its authenticity. Another study on the map's ink done by chemists in the U.K. claimed that it was a clever 20th-century forgery done on 15th-century parchment. Manuscripts of the time were done with either carbon-based inks or iron gallotannate inks. The iron-based inks leave a yellowish stain when they age, stains that can be seen on the Vinland Map. The British researchers analysed the map's ink and found that the black portion of the ink contained carbon. They said the yellow stain would have to have been added by a forger who knew it was a common feature of 15th century manuscripts. They analysed the yellow stain and found it contained anatase, a chemical not synthesized until 1917. Based on that information, they declared it a forgery.
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