About this site

Welcome to Vinlanda: The Vinland Map on the Web.

This page explores the controversy surrounding the so called "Vinland Map," assembling some 100 pages on the topic from every corner of the web. Here you will find serious scholars pro and con as well as a bevy of quacks—all categorized and described. I've added a certain amount of material on the other, less dubious, sources for Viking activity in North America—the sagas and archaeological excavations at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland—and some general links on Scandinavian history.

A lot has happened in the last few months, including new analyses of the parchment and ink. The debate resembles a tennis match more every day. Check out the Recent Developments section. Your help finding new material, and your comments, are most welcome.

A Brief Introduction to The Vinland Map

The Vinland Map purports to be a 15th century map depicting Viking exploration of North America centuries before Columbus. If genuine, the Vinland map is one of the great documents of Western civilization; if fake, it's an astonishingly clever forgery.

Since its announcement and publication in 1965 the Vinland Map has been in and out of favor. The initial publication, Skelton et al. The Vinland Map and Tartar Relation, trumpeted its authenticity. Then, in 1972, a scientific team headed by Dr. Walter McCrone reported that its ink contained anatase, a form of titanium which first appeared in ink during the 1920s. Twenty years later, in 1992, Dr. Thomas Cahill of UC Davis found anatase in a variety of medieval manuscripts and the question was reopened. In 1995 Yale released a second edition of the book, together with further articles in support of the map, even as scholarly opinion outside of Yale increasingly turned against it. Most recently, two studies, one on the parchment and another on the ink, seemed to many to point in different directions. The last word? Don't bet on it.

Questions, site suggestions and comments can be sent to [email protected].

I hope you enjoy the site,

Tim Spalding
Brookline, MA (USA)

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