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84 REVIEWS

The book comes out in an edition of 80,000 Eurasia on pre-Columbus maps. And still copies. We may hope that it helps to bring more untraditional is Enterline’s theory that inthe greatlyenlarged labourforce which pre-Columbus maps should “include detailed will be needed, for thisis the right way to maps of ‘s immediate western go about it. neighbour, Baffin Island, the ArcticArchi- Terence Armstrong pelago north of Canadaand the Canadian coast.” (p. 74). After that allegation Enterline writes, “While publication eco- nomics dictate that the many dozens of docu- VIKING AMERICA: THE NORSE CROSS- mentations of this claim be left for a separate INGSAND THEIR LEGACY. BY JAMES study, the illustration of the concept on page ROBERTENTERLINE. Garden City, NewYork: 89 may meanwhilesomewhat relieve the Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1972. 5% x strain of accepting it on faith” (p. 75). I must 8% inches, 217 pages, illustrated, $6.95 say that I longingly look forward to the day when Enterline publishes “the many dozens Much of the material in “Viking America” of documents”; until then I and other inter- is made up of generally well-known surveys ested readersmust be content with “the of the Norse sagas, as well as their interpre- concept on page 89”. On that page we see: tation, mainly where they relate to Vinland. “Portion of 1427 map (Plate 15)” of Scan- But in addition to these old clich6s, Enterline dinavia “by Claudius Clavus (top), compared proposes an absolutely unorthodox theory on with ’s Seward Peninsula(bottom)” the Viking migrations to Arctic and [cited from thecaption]. A comparison should Alaska. The evidence is based on “old maps” illustratethe similarity between Claudius and is set forth in chapter 5: “Traces on the Clavus’ andthe Alaskancon- maps of history”. Enterline’s greatidea is figuration. In any case there is a similarity; a that “old maps”have not been adequately similarity that makes Enterline advance the utilized assource material on America’s theory that Clavus’ Scandinavia is in reality history of explorations, especially as to the a delineation of Alaska. Thus hewrites frank- circumstances of theNorse discoveries in ly on Clavus’ map (p. 89): “Plate 15, drawn America. The reason for this, according to atRome in 1427 by one ClaudiusClavus, Enterline, is that researchershave not been depicted the area of Alaska able to interpret them fully: “Many of these with Seward Peninsula in precise detail as maps have lain under the noses of historians shown by the abovecomparison figure.” for centuries,but have escaped notice be- Clavus’ map must therefore belong to Enter- causetheir information inis seemingly line’s group of “old maps with incompre- incomprehensible, distorted form.” @. 74). hensible form”. Enterline divides these “old In Enterline’s opinion, the “incomprehensible maps” into two main groups on the basis distorted form” on a largenumber of pre- of what he calls Grand Misunderstanding Columbianmaps of the OldWorld often and Smaller Misunderstanding. represents North American territories. Grand Misunderstanding: On this kind of It is well known that American localities map, says Enterline, thesouth European appear asterritories in the eastern part of scholars place details of American localities Eurasiaon mapsdrawn after Columbus’ in Eurasia, and they are placed in their posi- discovery of America. This is thecase for tionin relation tothe of the examplein Johannes Ruysch’s map of the world. Thus Alaska becomes identical with world in Ptolemaios’ edition,Rome 1508; Scandinavia. The reason for thisdistortion here (Terra Nova) is sketched should be related tothe scant knowledge in on aplace in that amounts to thesouth European scholars of the Middle Kamchatka, south of Greenland (Grvenlant), Ages had of Scandinavia. That in south Eu- that is itself placed onChukter peninsula’s rope there was a lack of geographic knowl- place. This placing is, however, a natural edge about Scandinavia is evidenced from consequence of the general conception of that thecartographic production there. On this era,that the newly discovered landsin the therecan be no doubt andhere I am in western region of the AtlanticOcean were agreementwith Enterline. But if he means part of the Old World’s mainland.East that Scandinavia from Clavus’ map is in American localities sketched in as lying in reality a cartographic reproduction of Alaska Eurasia on maps drawn after Columbus’ dis- and will, so saying, label Clavus’ map as covery of America are thus general knowl- part of the group of Grand Misunderstand- edge in cartographic historic circles. On the ings, then our agreement stops. It must name otherhand, it is not a general view that ly be excluded from that group alone because Americanterritories should be placed in Clavus,who was Scandinavian, had an ex- REVIEWS 85

cellent knowledge of Scandinavia and North nisms living in the water column. In recent Atlantic affairs, whichamong other things years, it has become increasingly difficult to is revealed in many of his latitude provisions. isolate marine geology from the province of Smaller Misunderstanding: Maps belonging marine geophysics, or fromthe domain of to thisgroup also haveAmerican localities the water above. The present folio is a good placed in Scandinavian regions. According example of the close interrelatedness of the to Enterline, they should be placed this way physical/chemical/biological disciplines and because thecartographic information about their bearing on some of the uniquephenom- America that accrued to the south European ena of the Southern . map makers,reached them via connections The folio is divided into four sections: The fromthe . Because Sediments, by H. G. Goodell; Sediments Iso- of lack of reports on where the information pachs inthe Indian and PacificSectors camefrom and what it depicted, the map (IO5"E. to 70"W.),by R. Houtz et al.; Dis- makers believed that itmight concern car- tribution of Foraminifera in the Surface Sedi- tographicreports appertaining to Scandina- ments, by R. J. Echols and J. P. Kennett; via. Since theDane Clavus, who is also and Distribution of Plankfon'ic Diatoms in mentionedabove, possessed an excellent Surface Sediments of the Southern South Pa- knowledge of Scandinavia, his maps naturally cific, by J. G. Donahue. Each section is sep- cannot be grouped in this box either. arate with its own introduction,historical According to the above, the Dane Claudius background, discussion, references anddata Clavus' map does not fit into either of Enter- sources. line's two groups. Clavus' map is, in my Although marine sedimentological investi- opinion, the worst possible map example that gations of the surrounding Enterline couldpoint out as proof for his date back to the H. M. S. Challenger Expedi- theory about the Norse immigration to Arc- tion (1873-1876), it was not until the arrival tic Canadaand Alaska.However, even of the U.S.N.S. Eltanin on the scene a little though Enterline's theory seems somewhat more than a decade ago that research in ma- far-fetched to me, and even though the map rine geology and sediments of the examples by no means prove his theory, and regions gained considerable I nevertheless was delighted to read his ac- momentum andintensity. count. It is rather refreshing to see problems Based on the extensive material taken by illuminated in an untraditional manner. the Elranin, which is by far themost compre- hensive bottom samples ever collected by a Ib R@nneKejlbo ship in the , Goodell provides a detailed map of the bottom sediments of the circumantarctic. The sediments distribu- tion, arrangedconcentrically, is as follows: MARINE SEDIMENTS OF THE SOUTH- (a) shelf and coastal deposits; (b) clayey silts ERN OCEANS. BY H. G. GOODELLet al. and silty clay; (c) silicious ooze, mostly dia- Antarctic MapFolio Series No. 17. New toms with radiolarians; (d) calcareous sili- York: American Geogrclphical Society, 1973. cious ooze with both types of test exceeding 11 x 17 inches, 18 pages, illustrations. $11.00 30%; and (e) calcareous ooze, mostly forami- us. niferal. The map shows the significant effect of the Antarctic Convergence in delineating The publication last year of this long-awaited the silicious ooze to the south from calcare- folio on the Marine Sediments of the South- ous ooze to the north, with a zone of inter- ern Oceans is a welcome addition to the fast mixing up to 600 kilometres wide south of growing knowledge of the surrounding . Also, with regard to the conver- Antarctica. It seems logical and appropriate gence, it is stated that "the highest rates of thatthe publication of this folio followed productivity are along the Antarctic Conver- those on hydrography, chemistry, topography gence". This view is shared by other marine and biology of the SouthernOcean. These geologists, but it lacks accuracy. The exten- folios have set the stage for the material in- sive productivity data collected by this re- cluded in the presentfolio; one wishes to viewer, and by many others during the past commend the publishers of the Series for such decade, have shown that, by and large, the good planning. For, as we learn from this most productive waters are near the Antarctic folio, in order to study the oceanic sedimen- continent, and the least productive along the tary deposits around Antarctica, it is essential Antarctic Convergence. However,it is pos- to know the topography and structure of the sible that the instability of the water column floor, as well as the circulation of the wa- at the convergence, together with other fac- ter masses above andthe planktonicorga- tors militating against growth of phytoplank-