Scientist hope to uncover hidden text on 500 year old martellus map that guided Christopher Columbus

n August, a group of researchers gathered at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library to scan the only remaining copy of the map in hopes that new technology can reveal text that is faded and illegible after five centuries years of wear and tear, NPR reports. 

PHOTO: CHET VAN DUZER

The Martellus map during preparations for multispectral imaging.

“If you look at the map under natural light, you can see some hints that there is a lot of text on the map, but you can't read it,” lead researcher and independent map scholar Chet Van Duzer told NPR. “If you look at the map with, for example, ultraviolet light, you start to perceive that yes, there is a lot of text on this map.”

So what is so fascinating about an old map?

Henricus Martellus, a German cartographer based in Florence, created the 4 x 6.5-foot tableau around 1491, according to Wired.com. The map, which shows the Earth from the Atlantic to Japan, represents how Europeans during the age would have understood geography just before Columbus discovered the New World. According to NPR, it is almost certain that Columbus used this very map to plot his voyage across the Atlantic.

http://www.weather.com/news/uncovering-hidden-text-martellus-map-20140922