The map of Wenlan, once hailed as the earliest depiction of the New World, is filled with 20th-century ink. A team of conservationists and conservation scientists at Yale University conducted the most thorough analysis of the infamous parchment map and found new convincing evidence for this conclusion.

This supposedly 15th-century map was acquired by Yale University in the mid-1960s and depicts the pre-Columbian "Vinlanda Island", which is part of the southwest coastline of Greenland in North America. Although early research detected evidence of modern ink at various points on the map, the new Yale analysis examined the elemental composition of the entire document using state-of-the-art tools and techniques previously unavailable.

Analysis shows that the titanium compounds used in the inks first produced in the 1920s are scattered throughout the lines and text of the map.

"The Vinland map is a fake," said Raymond Clemens, curator of early books and manuscripts at the Benecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, which houses the map. "There is no reasonable doubt. This new analysis should solve this problem."

The new research also found evidence that map deception was deliberate. The Latin inscription on the back, which may be the binder’s notes, instructs the assembly of Speculum Historiale-an authentic medieval scroll, which may be the source of map calfskin parchment-covered in modern ink and looks like it is in real Description of bound maps in the 15th century-century manuscript.

"The changed inscription seems to be to convince people that the map was created at the same time as Speculum Historiale," Clemens said. "This is strong evidence that it is a fake and not an innocent creation by a third party that was used by others, although it does not tell us who committed the deception."

Yale University announced the existence of the Vinland map in 1965, and an academic book about it was published by the librarian of Yale University and the curator of the British Museum in London, which caused a sensation. Its findings seem to indicate that the Nordics were the first Europeans to reach the New World, landing in the Americas long before Columbus's first voyage. (Archaeological discoveries in L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland in the 1960s confirmed that the Vikings had established settlements in the Americas long before Columbus sailed.)

However, from the very beginning, scholars began to question the authenticity of this map. Over time, there has been an overwhelming consensus that it is indeed a fake of the 20th century.

Over the years, the map has been analyzed many times. A 1973 study by McCrone Associates found that its ink contained anatase, a type of titanium dioxide, which was first used for commercial purposes in the 1920s. Before the new Yale University study, Danish scientists conducted a new inspection of the complete map. In 2004, they measured its color, thickness, flexibility, and transparency, and assessed the damage to its parchment.

The latest analysis provides the clearest evidence to date that the map is forged.

The exam paired Yale University librarian Marie-France Lemay and Paula Zyats (experts in the material and physical structure of early books and manuscripts) with a team of scientists from the Institute for Cultural Heritage Conservation on the West Campus of Yale University. The team includes Anikó Bezur, Director of Wallace S. Wilson of the Technical Research Laboratory; Richard Hark, a conservation scientist who handles the collections of the Benecke Library; and Pablo Long Dro, the current senior conservation scientist at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Unlike previous studies, the Yale University team has unlimited access to the map and accompanying manuscripts when required by the work. Bezur said they still have time and space to consult closely with Clemens and each other on the specific questions they want to answer.

It also enables researchers for the first time to systematically examine the map and the two medieval texts originally bound to it. One is Speculum Historiale, a popular four-volume medieval encyclopedia written by Vincent de Beauvais. Yale University owns a copy of part of the third volume of the work, which is dated to the Basel Committee, which was the General Committee of the Roman Catholic Church held in Switzerland from 1431 to 1449. Another manuscript, Hystoria Tartorum, or Tartar Relation, is a description of the journey of two Polish clergymen into the land of Genghis Khan in the mid-1200s.

"Researching these three objects together is important to understand their full story," said Zyats, the head of rare book protection at the Yale University Library.

Zyats said that the matching wormhole pattern indicated that the map was originally located in front of Speculum Historiale and was probably drawn on the last page of the volume. But when the map arrived at Yale University, it was bound in a thin copy of the Tatar relationship with modern binding. The university subsequently won the Speculum Historiale.

Radiocarbon dating of the two manuscripts in 2018 indicated that their parchment and paper were approximately 1400 to 1460, which is related to the carbon dating done on the map earlier. Zyats explained that the watermark on the Speculum Historiale page can be traced back to the paper mill operating in Basel in the 1440s, confirming the theory that the two manuscripts were produced during the Basel Conference. In addition, the text in the two manuscripts was written in a similar style, probably by the same scribe.

Zyats said that a complete 14th-century copy of the Speculum Historiale was recently discovered in Lucerne, Switzerland. The last volume of the copy was bound with a copy of "Tatar Relations", which shows that there is a historical precedent for combining the two manuscripts. (The copy of Lucerne's Tatar relationship and the copy of Yale University are the only two copies known to exist.)

The Vinland map is about the size of a placemat, without the exquisite decoration of other medieval maps, such as the Portoran chart in the Benecke Library. The repaired wormholes are dotted on its parchment. Most of its ink looks faded.

The members of the Yale team focused their attention on the ink used on the map. They used non-destructive technology X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) to determine the distribution of elements throughout the map. Bezur said that although scientists have used XRF for decades to study the elemental composition of specific points on objects, until recently they have been able to use it in a laboratory environment to scan entire two-dimensional objects.

"Using macro XRF, we can generate a one-to-one ratio element map of the map," Bezur said. "This is very important because it allows us to share the complete data set of the entire map. We are not picking individual points. We provide the big picture."

Scribes in the Middle Ages usually wrote with iron gall ink, which was composed of iron sulfate, gallic powder and a binder (the first two were the main elements of iron gall ink, and the third was usually present as an impurity). Vinland Map’s XRF analysis showed almost no iron, sulfur or copper. Conversely, the scan revealed the presence of titanium in the entire map ink.

Scans of Vinlanda Insula showed that the famous North American coastline portion of the map showed high levels of titanium and small amounts of barium-a key revelation because the earliest commercially produced titanium dioxide pigments in the 1920s contained titanium dioxide and barium sulfate.

After drawing the element distribution map, the team used a Raman microscope (a type of molecular microscope) to confirm that the titanium dioxide in the map ink was in the form of anatase. Although an earlier study used a Raman microscope to analyze nine points on the map, the new study found that anatase is widely distributed on the file.

With the help of IPCH Assistant Conservation Scientist Marcie Wiggins, the team analyzed the ink in 50 manuscript fragments from the Benecke Library collection produced in Central Europe in the 15th century, approximately when the map of Vinland was drawn. They found that the titanium content of these fragments was much lower than the map, while the iron content was much higher.

To confirm that the ink of the map is of modern origin and that the anatase is not just unique and naturally occurring, the team performed field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) on samples from the modified text of the Tatar relationship and the map. This process produces a highly magnified image of its ink composition, which shows that the anatase particles are very similar to those found in the pigments produced commercially in Norway in 1923. There is no indication that the anatase is of natural origin, Huck said.

After determining that the composition of the ink was consistent with the earlier form of commercially available titanium dioxide, the team found evidence that the map was deliberately forged.

The original Latin inscription on the back of the map was written in iron gall ink and translated as "the second part of the third part of the sight glass". This may be the binder's notes on assembling the Speculum Historiale, which is a huge work with 32 parts, usually bound into four volumes. But in this case, the inscription is covered with titanium-containing ink, roughly translated as "drawing the first part of the speculum, the second part of the third part". Hack explained that the copy of the Speculum Historiale at Yale University includes books 21 to 24, which is the second half of the third volume of the encyclopedia.

"I think this constitutes very strong evidence of the motive for deception-something that makes the map look like it isn't," Huck said.

The team members plan to describe their work and findings in academic articles. In the case of Clemens, he hopes to publish an article in a leading cartographic journal that clearly shows the authenticity of the map: fake.

"Objects like the Vinland map absorb a lot of intellectual space," Clemens said. "We don't want this to continue to be a controversy. There are too many interesting and fascinating things worth studying, and they can actually tell us something about the exploration and travel of the medieval world."

He said that the analysis proves the value of the expertise and resources provided by the Yale Library Preservation and Conservation Center and IPCH, which can conduct internal analysis of materials in university collections and materials that are being considered for acquisition.

Hark, Lemay, and Wiggins are currently working with the Morgan Library in Manhattan on a project to analyze the gorgeous hand-painted Visconti tarots made in Italy in the mid-15th century decorated with gold and silver foil. They are one of the earliest tarot cards known to exist. Both Benecke and Morgan own a deck of playing cards, and its authenticity is beyond doubt. Researchers want to learn more about how they are made.

Clemens said that as for the Vinland map, it will remain in Benecke along with the accompanying manuscript.

"The map itself has become an object of history," he said. "This is a great example of a counterfeit with international influence. It is an integral part of Speculum Historiale. It is a truly fascinating manuscript."

Beth Connolly: elizabeth.connolly@yale.edu,

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