The Vinland Map, Revisited: New Compositional Evidence on Its Inks and Parchment

Abstract

The Vinland Map, once considered the first cartographic evidence of the North American continent, purportedly dates from the mid-15th century. In 1974 compositional evidence derived from microparticles removed from Its surface led McCrone Associates to conclude that Ink In the Map was made up of 20th century titanium-based pigments containing up to 50% anatase (Ti02) and that the Map was therefore a forgery. Recently at Davis, 159 multielemental PIXE (particle induced X-ray emission) analyses of the Vinland Map were performed, including spatial analyses of the parchment, 33 closely matched ink-parchment pairs, and transects across Inked lines with 0.5 mm resolution. The results show that titanium and other medium and heavy elements are present in only trace amounts In the inks, with titanium reaching a maximum value of 10 ng/cm2, or about 0.0062% by weight. In the light of these results the prior interpretation that the Map has been shown to be a 20th-century forgery must be reevaluated. © 1987, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.