LETTERS Thank you, NMHS My sincere th anks and appreciatio n to N MHS fo r the tremendous support affo rded to the Seventh Maritime H eritage C onference in No rfolk las t fal l. Without a do ubt, the marvelous anno un cements in the four issues of Sea H istory leading up to the co nfe rence were instrumental in the attendance to pping 500 . The reception hosted by the Society at th e rooftop Harbor C lu b fo llowing the first full day o f sessions was the perfect venue for conferees and their companio ns to mingle and swap sea sto ri es whi le loo kin g o ut over the bustling wa terfront. The N HMS calendars donated as a conference memen to were a huge hit. C opies of the latest issue of Sea H istory we re also a cho ice item in the registratio n bags. N MHS's boo th attracted large numbers of people, and I understand resulted in a goodly number of new and renew ing members. Fi nall y, I wo uld li ke to thank the NMHS staff, Board, and members for their superb part icipatio n as speakers and moderators in the more than 140 presentations give n during 54 co ncurrent sessio ns ove r the fo ur days of the conference. Bravo Z ulu, Burchie and crew! CAPTAIN CHANN I NG ZUCKER
Conference Chair Virginia Beach, V irginia
Who mapped Queen Maud Land of Antarctic 6000 years ago? I read with interes t the exchan ge of letters regardin g the review of Sea of Glory and the issue over who "discovered" Antarctica. U ntil someo ne fi gures out where Piri Reis go t his materials and created a map in 151 3, fu ll y 25 0+ years befo re the whalers and sealers might have stumbled on the co ntinent, we will never really know the answer. But we do have a real puzzle ... In 1929 , a group of historians found an amazing map drawn on a gazelle skin . Research showed that it was a genuine document drawn in 151 3 by Piri Reis, a famous admi ral of the Turkish fleet in the 16 th century. His passio n was cartography and his high rank within the Turkish navy allowed him to have privileged access to the Imperial Library of Constantinople. In a series of no tes o n the map, the Turkish admiral admits that he compil ed and co pied the da ta fro m a large number of source
SEA HISTORY 110, SPRING 2005
maps, some of which dated back to the 4 th century BC or earlier. The Controversy The Piri Re is map shows the western coas t of Africa, the eastern coast of South America, and the northern coast of Antarcti ca. The northern coastli ne of Antarctica is perfectly detailed . Even more puzzling, however, is not so much how Piri Reis m anaged to prod uce such an accu rate map o f the Antarctic region 300 years before it was "discovered ," but that the map shows the coastline under the ice. Geological evidence confirms that th e latest d ate Queen Ma ud Land could have been charred in an ice-free state is 4 000 BC. Furth er studies have proven that the las t ice-free period in the A ntarctic ended about 6000 years ago. There are still doubts about the beginning of this ice-fre e period, wh ich d ifferent researchers have put anywhere between yea r 13000 and 9000 BC. The question is: Who mapp ed Queen Maud Land ofAntarctic 6000 years ago? Which unknown civil iza tio n had the tech nology
o r the need to do that? Ir is well-known th at the first ci vilization, according to the traditional history, d eveloped in the mid-east around year 3000 BC, soo n fo llowed with in a millen ni um by the Indus valley and the C hi nese. Who was here, 4000 years BC, ab le to do thi ngs that NOW are only possible wi th
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