vinlandmap.info: Clues 151-245, revelation to exposure to MacGuffinisation

  1.   We thought we could make a go of it without a subsidy, but of course the Press would want to publicize it (A. Vietor)
  2.   The case of the vanishing rare manuscripts and the (rumoured) crooked ecclesiastic and his demanding mistress (Anne Taylor, Observer)
  3.   Mr Witten believes that Signor Ferrajoli was wrongly accused and made a scapegoat to shield others (Anne Taylor, Observer)
  4.   We planned to publish the book in the spring, but there was a delay in getting the proofs read (Chester Kerr, Yale Univ. Press)
  5.   I didn’t want it to get lost in the summer, light-reading season, so we decided to wait until the fall (Chester Kerr)
  6.   October ... Leif Ericson Day as the 9th and Columbus Day on the 12th ... when the discovery of America was being discussed (A Vietor)
  7.   The stated intention of the October 11, 1965, announcement was to declare, in a very splashy way (N. Basbanes, history of Yale U Press)
  8.   since October 9 in 1965 fell on a Saturday—a very slow news cycle—the following Monday was selected (N.A. Basbanes)
  9.   ... secret before announcing its publication a day before thousands of Italian Americans would celebrate Columbus Day (N.A. Basbanes)
  10.   New Haven... was reputed to have the highest percentage of people with Italian origin of any city outside of Italy (Prof. Gaddis Smith)
  11.   ... grumblings of certain faculty scholars who felt that they should have been informed in advance ... or even consulted (Chester Kerr)
  12.   if it had been in Yale ownership from the very beginning ... I think that Yale University would have consulted everybody (A. Vietor)
  13.   A medieval map of the world ... is included in a volume published on both sides of the Atlantic today (review in The Times 11 Oct 1965)
  14.   The map is the oldest known map of any part of the American continent (review in The Guardian, 11 Oct 1965)
  15.   Paul Mellon ... donated it to Yale University, the current owner, for $1,000,000 tax valued deduction (Vincent J. Mooney Jr.)
  16.   Even scholarly reviews have been affected by the publicity and secrecy > (American Historical Review, 1966)
  17.   > with reviewers sometimes attacking the public reaction to the book rather than the book itself (Am. Hist. Review, 1966)
  18.   Painter .. and R.A. Skelton ... have been working on the book together for eight years (The Observer, 17 Oct 1965)
  19.   A number of reviews, particularly in England, denounced the map as a fraud. Personal and national prejudices > (W Washburn)
  20.   > entered the debate and venomous exchanges at both popular and scholarly levels seemed to be poisoning the air (W. Washburn)
  21.   the Department of American Studies at the Smithsonian Institution ... organized a conference ... November 1966 (W Washburn)
  22.   the former owner says that ... the map and ... Speculum volume had been in his family's library for a couple of generations (L Witten)
  23.   Is it not possible that Mr Ferrajoli knew of the relationship between the three manuscripts ... ? (John Parker, 1966)
  24.   ... collector ... ignorant of the interest the world would attach to a map of that period showing land in the western ocean (J Parker)
  25.   Let us not make the mistake of considering the potential forger any less skilled than we are (John Parker, 1966)
  26.   Mr Ferrajoli and Mr Davis. Might they have had knowledge which nobody else had ... advantageous to themselves? (John Parker, 1966)
  27.   There are in the antiquarian book business people who do work in ways that are not one hundred percent according to Hoyle (John Parker)
  28.   ... accidental ... accidental ... The cumulation of accidents brings with it a cumulation of reasonable doubts (Robert Lopez, 1966)
  29.   What paleographers have examined the manuscript? (Peter Sawyer, 1966)
  30.   I asked Curt Buhler, keeper of printed books at the Morgan Library ... not because he was a paleographer (T. Marston)
  31.   Professor Francis Wormald ... an eminent paleographer, has seen some slides- thirdhand from the original (R.A. Skelton)
  32.   We have photographed the map under ultraviolet light and by infrared light and we have examined it under ultraviolet light (A Vietor)
  33.   In 1958 I subjected the map to visual high-power ultraviolet examination (Laurence Witten, 1966)
  34.   examination of the inks on the map and on the manuscript under a low-power microscope shows the same molecular constituents (T Marston)
  35.   I authorize the Smithsonian Institution ... to take samplings of the ink from everything but the map (Alec Vietor, 1966)
  36.   Pursuant to the discussion above, a study was subsequently made by Jacqueline S. Olin > (Willcomb Washburn)
  37.   > entitled "A Commentary and References Regarding the Feasibility of Differentiating Medieval Inks" > (Willcomb Washburn)
  38.   [aka] "A Commentary on the Feasibility of Differentiating Medieval Inks by Chemical Analysis" (1967) (Smithsonian bio of J. Olin)
  39.   > Portions of this study have been incorporated into "The Vinland Map: A Case Study" [Oct 1969 lecture, published 1970] (W Washburn)
  40.   Lloyds of London have agreed to insure the Vinland Map for about £1.5 millions when it is taken to Oslo (Guardian, 14 Jan 1967)
  41.   It will be a month at the British Museum, flanked by the historical manuscripts which it illustrates (Guardian, 20 Jan 1967)
  42.   The map has ... been subjected to infra-red and ultra-violet tests and microscopes. Nothing to report so far> (Guardian, 20 Jan 1967)
  43.   > except that the ink lacks iron, which does not disturb Mr George Painter (Guardian, 20 Jan 1967)
  44.   ... further tests might show that the base of the ink was lamp black, burnt bone, or dried blood (Anne Taylor, Observer, 5 Feb 1967)
  45.   The ink on the map is different from the ink on the two written documents that go with it (Anne Taylor, The Observer, 5 Feb 1967)
  46.   Confirmación de sentencia ... Catedral de la Seo ... Enzo Ferrajoly Dery ... ocho años y un dia de presidio ... (ABC, 3 Jun 1967)
  47.   El ilustrisimo señor Don Enzo Ferrajoli Dery ... falleció cristianamente el dia 27 de agosto de 1967 ... R.I.P. (ABC, 31 Aug 1967)
  48.   ... Zaragoza ... delito de hurto ... Vengo en indultar a Leandro Aina Naval del resto de la pena ... (B.O. del E., 22 Jan 1968)
  49.   In 1968, Yale University Library personnel discussed with McCrone Associates the analysis of ... the Vinland Map (W & L McCrone, 1974)
  50.   [re 1967 scientific study] A few erroneous accounts of the examination did get into the newspapers >(Jacqueline Olin, 1970)
  51.   > but no conclusive evidence was forthcoming from that examination (Jacqueline Olin, 1970, based on 1969 talk)
  52.   Unfortunately the Proceedings of the Vinland Map Conference ... were not published until 1971 (Michael Huxley, 1973)
  53.   Only in 1972, however, were the available microanalytical tools and techniques judged adequate for the job (W & L McCrone)
  54.   ... evidence that the ink was not of the iron gall type was obtained (A.D. Baynes-Cope, 1974 official revelation of 1967 test results)
  55.   ... the ink on the map was found to have a peculiar structure unlike that of the accompanying textual documents (A.D. Baynes-Cope)
  56.   ... it was highly probable that the leaf on which the map was drawn was contemporary with the book (A.D. Baynes-Cope, 1974)
  57.   The ink from the Vinland Map is not iron gallotannate (W & L McCrone, report of microanalyses, 1974)
  58.   The inks in the Tartar Relation and Speculum Historiale are iron gallo-tannate (W & L McCrone, 1974 analyses report)
  59.   The pigments in the Vinland Map ink were identified by x-ray diffraction (XRD) principally as titanium dioxide (anatase) (W&L McCrone)
  60.   Transmission Electron Microscope ... also shows these anatase particles to be a precipitated rather than a ground material >(McCrones)
  61.   > ... they are rounded rhomb shapes identical in shape and size to the modern commercial pigment anatase (W & L McCrone, 1974)
  62.   Mrs. J.S. Olin ... test an alternative explanation for the presence of anatase in the VM pigments (Dr Kenneth Towe, 1982)
  63.   These experimental results were very encouraging and provided the impetus for an in-depth analysis of the McCrone report (K Towe, 1982)
  64.   A detailed and critical reading of the McCrone report revealed a number of inconsistencies and worrisome aspects (Dr K Towe, 1982)
  65.   The X-ray powder pattern of VM sample 9C-1 is correct ... The lines for anatase are all sharp (Kenneth Towe, 1982)
  66.   Mrs. Olin's precipitates were poorly crystalline anatase showing broad X-ray diffraction lines (Dr Kenneth Towe, 1982)
  67.   No hypothesis using... a ground mineral anatase or a precipitated but uncalcined anatase can be readily used to explain the VM (K Towe)
  68.   December 13, 1974 ... on the ... western coast of England, I found a clear lack of register between the yellow and black lines (K Towe)
  69.   in 1976, the Smithsonian's Jacqueline Olin informally mentioned ... to BNL chemists Garman Harbottle and ... (Brookhaven National Lab.)
  70.   the BNL team began developing a small scale gas proportional counter, one that could date very small C-14 samples (BNL, 1980)
  71.   ... the only unequivocal application of radiocarbon dating to documents appears to be for invalidation purposes > (Radiocarbon, 1983)
  72.   > where a document purporting to be much earlier was actually made from material incorporating artificial 14C > (Radiocarbon, 1983)
  73.   > derived from thermonuclear weapon tests (R. Burleigh & A.D. Baynes-Cope; Radiocarbon, 1983, pp669-674)
  74.   ...Jacqueline Olin (Smithsonian Institution) who helped bring this problem to our attention (PIXE analysis of Vinland Map, 1985)
  75.   ... we never use argon for any work as it is unreliable (T Cahill, 2015, describing his team's PIXE methodology)
  76.   ... values normalized to argon / amounts normalized to Ar = 100 (Vinland Map PIXE report 1985, report / appendix tables)
  77.   Divide by 7 to get ng/cm² (Vinland Map PIXE report 1985, appendix / report: e.g. run 32, Ti 25.1 / 3.6; Fe 6.6 / 0.9)
  78.   UC DAVIS EXT BEAM PIXE ... 02/06/85 ... NBS Standard 1533 ... NANOGRAMS PER CM**2 ... SI ... 13787.8 ... AR ... 7387.3
  79.   [No Standard 1533 was ever issued by NBS] 1833 ... µg/cm² ... Si ... 35 (Standard Reference Materials Catalog 1992-93)
  80.   After the main analyses had been completed, electron microprobe studies were made of loose particles found in the fold (Crocker 1985)
  81.   ... fold in the VM, enormous numbers of particles ... We did not analyze the particles compositionally at the time (Crocker 1995)
  82.   ... results of the carbon isotope measurements on parchment from the Vinland Map (Donahue et al, 2002)
  83.   Chemical process: A. Run dates: 5/95. Average fraction of modern: 1.0176 (Donahue et al, 2002)
  84.   our parchment had “post-bomb” contamination on it ... our chemical treatment A was not sufficient to remove all of this (Donahue et al)
  85.   Rejection of the Vinland Map, both general and official, has been a miscarriage of justice (George Painter, 1996)
  86.   ... if one were to apply the rigorous logic of Karl Popper or Willard Van Ornan Quine > (Wilcomb Washburn, 1996)
  87.   > one would have to concede the philosophical impossibility of either proving or disproving the authenticity of the map (W Washburn)
  88.   I find it impossible to imagine a process by which a uniform ink ... could "unmix" to give two discrete layers > (Walter McCrone, 1999)
  89.   > one yellow and the other black, all during the minute or two of drying time (Walter McCrone, 1999)
  90.   FTIR/ microscopy ... results show the medium to be gelatin ... made from: most likely ... animal skin (Walter McCrone, 1999)
  91.   ... titanium white pigment particles throughout the yellow ink film ... at all levels ... identified as anatase (Walter McCrone, 1999)
  92.   Analysis of the black ink ... gave rise in each case to a poorly defined but ... characteristic Raman spectrum of carbon (Brown/Clark)
  93.   Anatase was ... present in the yellow lines in five areas > (K. Brown / R.Clark, June 2002)
  94.   > traces also being found in places where the black ink coincides with the yellow lines (K. Brown / R.Clark, June 2002)
  95.   We have determined the precise radiocarbon age of the map’s parchment by accelerator mass spectrometry (DJ Donahue et al., Jul 2002)*
* Not many people know that Garmon Harbottle of the carbon dating team had presented a paper titled "14C Dating the Vinland Map: Problems, Procedures and Results" at the 7th Nordic Conference on the Application of Scientific Methods in Archaeology, attended by some 60 scientists and archaeologists, nearly all from Scandinavia and the Baltic region, in September 1996, nearly 6 years before the dramatic publication of the finalised results. Few beyond those 60 know what he said, because only the deliberately tantalising introduction to his paper was published in the conference proceedings (in the journal Iskos, volume 11, 1997).