There may be evidence of "long lost" islands in a faded medieval map.
The Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford houses a 650-year-old map that shows the missing islands. The map shows two islands that no longer exist in the area now known as Cardigan Bay.
When a map was created in the 14th century, it's possible that the islands were the remains of a larger land known as "Cantre'r Gwaelod". According to mythology, this land was swallowed up by the ocean over a period of hundreds of years.
Some researchers think the Gough map may be proof of the mythical islands, but not everyone agrees.
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You know the world map is wrong.
The land of Cantre'r Gwaelod had a ruler before it was washed away.
Ptolemy wrote coordinates in his "geographia" that suggests that the coastline of Cardigan Bay was written by him. Ptolemy suggests that the Welsh shoreline has eroded over time.
If it is correct, one might expect the river to have flowed across a landscape that lay to the west of the coastline.
The team noted that the shoreline of Cardigan Bay is being eroded by the ocean because the shore is soft.
The sea was noted in a sermon by a British monk in the sixth century. People were caught between an invading force and a sea in this sermon.
"The barbarians drive us to the sea and the sea throws us back on the barbarians, thus two modes of death await us, we are either slain or drowned," wrote Gildas. When a natural disaster, such as a storm surge or tsunami, causes a large amount of land to suddenly flood, it may be recorded in this writing.
More evidence may be found in the future. We are going to do geographical surveys along the present coastline of Cardigan Bay to see if there is more evidence of the post-glacial evolution of the coastline.
The experts were contacted by Live Science to give their opinions on the study. Some of the scholars were in agreement with the findings.
Catherine Delano- Smith, a senior research fellow at the University of London's Institute of Historical Research, said that the Gough map was not a good source for finding lost islands. The existence of "lost" islands can't be proved using the Gough Map, according to Delano-Smith. The map indicates that whoever created it had a poor knowledge of the geography of Wales.
The cartographer has made other mistakes. The islands shown on the map are incorrect. The rough circles and ellipses of disproportionate size were distributed all around the coast of Britain.
She wasn't sure if the two islands the researchers referred to were actually lost islands off Wales. There is no place for the Gough Map in a discussion of coastal evolution.
Some scholars thought the results were accurate. Patrick Nunn, a geography professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia, told Live Science that he thinks the study of lost islands is correct. In his book " The Edge of Memory: Ancient Stories, Oral Tradition and the Post-Glacial World (opens in new tab) ", Nunn estimated the stories about Cantre'r Gwaelod to be at least 9000 years old.
Professor Gehrels is head of the Department of Environment and Geography at the University of York in the U.K. The findings of the paper are correct according to Gehrels. He thought that a storm surge would explain the events recorded by Gildas, but he wasn't sure.
It was originally published on Live Science
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