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Hopefully that subject is an eye-catcher! This is in regards to a book research question about historic cartographic map material. I am the author a mystery thriller novel called *Crown of Serpents<http://www.crownofserpents.com/> * published last year and of course I created some map illustrations and reprinted some others for that book. It's gotten excellent reviews and readers love the maps to help them visualize a scene. Reviewers have called it "National Treasure meets The Lost Symbol." With that said I am having a lot of demand for a sequel novel and I've already started research into a new novel to be based here in Georgia, USA. And because I LOVE maps I want the basis of the new novel to be about an ancient lost map that marks all of the known gold mines and buried treasure locations that the Cherokee Indians have pinpointed over the many centuries of their existence in the north Georgia mountains. This area was actually America's first gold rush once the white man had "discovered" gold. But in fact the Cherokee had been mining for centuries before and accumulated countless hoards. This hypothetical map would have been handed down over generations and continually rendered by a secret society of cartographers until the Cherokee were forced from their lands in the 1830's on the tragic Trail of Tears. It would be the mother load prize that my main character - a military historian - would be on a dangerous hunt or quest for. And of course it could only be deciphered with a legend key based on Cherokee language symbols. This map would have first been started by a Spanish cartographer so assume the materials had come from Europe. But then this Spanish cartographer trained a Cherokee in this ancient art and thus how the secret cartographic society was formed and progressed until their forced removal. So, my question is about authenticity of the map materials -- not about plot (I'll work out all of those logistics on my own). What type of material would this map be drawn on? Of course that would depend on the year it was started so let's say since the Spanish started mining gold in north GA about the 1560's and Cherokee Indians also were heavily engaged in mining at that time, then what would be the material of that day? And the type of ink used, implements, tools, and any other specific attributes about the authenticity of an ancient map. I'm probably going to have this map very large and broken into three panels - which will be hidden of course. So, how would one go about storing or sealing a map of this nature (rolled up like a scroll?) and what would it be stored in too? I'm looking for period materials. Any input would be greatly appreciated for my research. And you know I'm going to have a ball to recreate this ancient map in Photoshop! Best Regards, Michael ------ Michael Karpovage Author, Crown of Serpents www.crownofserpents.com President, Karpovage Creative, Inc. designer • map illustrator • novelist www.karpovagecreative.com 678.642.0196
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