Discussion of “The ‘lost’ islands of Cardigan Bay, Wales, UK: insights into the post-glacial evolution of some Celtic coasts of northwest Europe” by Simon K. Haslett and David Willis

[摘要] In their article ‘The ‘lost’ islands of Cardigan Bay, Wales,UK: insights into the post-glacial evolution of some Celticcoasts of northwest Europe’, Simon K. Haslett and DavidWillis argue that two islands off the coast of Cardigan Baywere lost to erosion by the mid-sixteenth century. Taking astheir starting point medieval Welsh folklore about theseislands, the authors use the medieval map of Britain knownas the Gough Map as evidence that these islands still existedabove sea level in the later Middle Ages. They then turn to acopy of the Gough map made in the sixteenth century byThomas Butler as proof that the islands had disappeared bythe middle of the sixteenth century. Moreover, they claimthat Ptolemy’s Geographia shows that ‘the mouth of theAfon Ystwyth in the 2nd century CE [was] 10–15 km to thewest of its present position’ (p. 141). Unfortunately, thesearguments are based upon a fundamental misunderstandingof early maps and, as the present note shows, not one of thearguments presented stands up to scrutiny.

[学科分类] 地质学