Well, dang

The Vineyard Map is a total fraud

Acquired by Yale in the mid-1960s, the purported 15th-century map depicts a pre-Columbian "Vinlanda Insula," a section of North America's coastline southwest of Greenland. While earlier studies had detected evidence of modern inks at various points on the map, the new Yale analysis examined the entire document's elemental composition using state-of-the-art tools and techniques that were previously unavailable.

The analysis revealed that a titanium compound used in inks first produced in the 1920s pervades the map's lines and text.

"The Vinland Map is a fake," said Raymond Clemens, curator of early books and manuscripts at Yale's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, which houses the map. "There is no reasonable doubt here. This new analysis should put the matter to rest."

I believe there is other evidence showing that the Vikings reached Vespucci Land before the Knights of Columbus did, but the discovery of this map was exciting news back when I was a wee lad. A fake? Next we’ll learn that Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon was staged in Queen Elizabeth’s wardroom, attended by Michael Moore and the rest of the Trilateral Commission.

Bummer.

Of course, they’ll be happy in the heartland