MYSTIC SEAPORT TO HOST SYMPOSIUM ON CONTROVERSIAL VINLAND MAP

Mystic — Mystic Seaport Museum will host a symposium on the latest research and scholarship concerning the controversial Vinland Map on Sept. 21 in the Thompson Building.

Meanwhile, the museum has announced that it has extended the run of its exhibit on the map through Oct. 31. It’s the first time the map has been exhibited outside of New Haven in 50 years.

When Yale University announced the existence of the 2-foot-long parchment map the day before Columbus Day in 1965, it generated controversy because it could have changed the story about when Europeans first arrived in North America. That was despite the fact that five years earlier, Norse artifacts were recovered from a settlement in L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, that date back to 1000, indicating Vikings were in North America long before Christopher Columbus. A 20th century synthetic component of the ink on the 15th century parchment later proved it was a fake. Who made the map or why is unclear.

Entitled “The Vinland Map Rediscovered: New Research on the Forgery and its Historical Context,” the symposium will present an international group of scholars who are expected to discuss various aspects of the map’s story, including results of new scientific testing, its role in history and scholarship, medieval Norse sagas and the archaeology of the only confirmed Viking settlement in North America.

The symposium is slated to begin at 9:45 a.m. with remarks by Nicholas Bell, the museum’s senior vice president for curatorial affairs and Raymond Clemens, curator of early books and manuscripts at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library of Yale University.

There will be morning and afternoon sessions and the program will be live-streamed on YouTube Live. The symposium is free for museum members and free with museum admission for nonmembers. Preregistration is recommended by calling (860) 5725331, as space is limited.

Earlier this year the Seaport opened another exhibit featuring early Viking artifacts and held a popular Viking Days celebration.