| Pre-columbian Trans-oceanic Contact |
Index for Pre-columbian |
Shopping Pre-Columbian |
Website Links For Contact |
Information AboutPre-columbian Trans-oceanic Contact |
|
Many such events have been proposed at various times, based on historical reports, archaeological finds, and cultural comparisons. Some of those claims are listed in this article. However, evidence for those claims is generally scant and circumstantial, and only a few of them are taken seriously by researchers. Overview The Diffusionist View Theories of pre-Columbian contact have been fairly popular in the Western World since the 16th century. Several reasons may account for the spread of these Diffusionist theories, including political Propaganda , justification for Colonialism , and the backing of Priority Claims . Proponents of such contacts often stated or implied the Ethnocentric premise that Native Americans — generally portrayed as savages — could not have developed the sophisticated technical and scientific knowledge of some New World civilizations without outside help. These theories were also helped by certain Religious Beliefs , and of course by the scarcity of data about the origins and history of the American native peoples, which until the 1970s did not have a coherent scientific model. The Isolationist View Popular views began to change by the . Another strong argument for the isolationist view was provided in the late 20th century, as carbon dating and molecular genetics began to shed light on the origins of native populations. It turned out that, while the human presence all over Eurasia is attested by Fossil finds spanning several hundred thousand years, no human remains could be found in the Americas that were older than about 13,000 years. This date roughly coincides with the last Ice Age , a time when the sea level was substantially lower than it is today. This coincidence, and the great genetic similarity between the Indigenous Peoples Of The Americas and certain Siberian populations, led scientists to believe that the Americas were populated by Migrations across the Bering Strait , which would have been mostly dry land at the time. Linguistic and genetic data indicated two or three distinct migration waves. On the other hand, if it was the Ice Age that made the migrations possible, the route must have been closed again when that cold spell ended and the sea level rose again to its present level, some 9,000 years ago. Between the 1950s and the 1980s, the Bering Land Bridge theory came to be viewed as proved beyond any doubt. At the time, it was also widely believed that trans-oceanic travel became possible only in the 15th century, after key advances in European shipbuilding and navigation technology. Thus, most Archeologist s came to believe that the native cultures of the Americas had been completely cut off from the Old World after the closing of the Bering routes, when they were still in the Neolithic Hunter-gatherer stage; and had developed without any outside influences for the next 9,000 years, until the time of Columbus. This belief was supported by the lack of any solid evidence of Old World influences on the American civilizations.
Pacific Intercoastal Migration A growing body of recent evidence indicates that besides the Bering land bridge, another possibly equally important migration route into the Americas existed along the Pacific shoreline. This theory doesn't have people crossing the open ocean with all its hazards, but instead, gradual movement close to shore, probably in pursuit of favorable fishing areas. From coastal areas, people could have migrated inland, bypassing the vast northern ice sheet. This theory may account for the appearance of human activity well within the Americas during the time when inland migration routes were blocked by the ice sheets. Unfortunately, many of the prime sites for study are now beneath sea level on the continental shelf since, during the ice age, sea level was substantially lower than it is today. Nonetheless, some American anthropologists are currently pursuing such evidence. The Vikings in Newfoundland The case of the Viking Trips To North America stands out as being fairly well supported by both historical and archaeological evidence. The so-called Vinland Sagas of Icelandic and Norse literature tell of travels by Leif Eriksson and other Vikings , around the year 1000 , to a land called '' Vinland '' to the west of Greenland . The speculation that Vinland may have been North America has been fairly popular since the 19th century, and was even accepted as fact in some countries. The Shipbuilding and Navigational skills of the Viking were well-known, and the trip from Greenland to Newfoundland would have been a relatively short one. Nevertheless, this claim was strongly resisted by many scholars. Nationalistic biases definitely played a role in the controversy, which was further muddled by disputes about the authenticity of the Vinland Map and of other finds attributed to the Vikings, such as the Kensington Runestone , the Newport Tower , and many " Runic " inscriptions scattered all over the continent, from Oklahoma to Paraguay . This controversy was largely settled in 1961 , when archeologists Helge and Anne Ingstad uncovered remains of a Viking settlement at the L'Anse Aux Meadows site in Newfoundland , thus proving the Vinland sagas to be true. However, they did not have much effect on the disputes about the earlier finds. American Civilization Although much scientific debate characterizes the study of early migrations into the Americas, the matter of later pre-Columbian contacts is highly speculative, except for the Vikings, whose pre-Columbian presence has been authenticated at L'Anse Aux Meadows in Newfoundland And Labrador , Canada . The claim that such pre-Columbian contacts initiated or significantly influenced the emergence of the American civilizations is unlikely, as the broad body of archaeological evidence suggests that indigenous societies evolved independently of Old World influences. Claims of trans-oceanic influences are often based on minor coincidences or exaggerated similarities between various Old and New World cultures. A lack of evidence of cultural influence, however, does not rule out the possibility of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contacts; it merely suggests that such contacts had no noticeable impact on New World societies. All major Cradles Of Civilization have emerged on the basis of the domestication and development of wild plants. In the Americas, the principal domesticated plant was Maize , a domesticate of the Mexican wild grass Teosinte . This indigenous plant and many others were domesticated thousands of years before any of the claimed external contacts, and the evidential record of the gradual development of maize and other plants demonstrates an indigenous agriculture over thousands of years as well. American civilizations arose, as other civilizations did similarly around the world, when the productivity of domesticated agriculture attained a certain level whereby larger populations could be sustained and organized into more sophisticated societies. The evidence shows that major agricultural development happened well before any verified external contacts occurred. Moreover, except for the very early appearance (c.7,000 BC) of the African Gourd (with its inherent ability to float, even across the ocean), there is no clear evidence of any other non-indigenous domesticated plant in the Americas. Finally, evidence has yet to be found of external genetic contributions to the genome of the indigenous Americans between the time of early migrations and the arrival of Columbus, i.e. during the time period of the emergence of the American civilizations. Circumstantial Evidence
Claims of Cultural and Biological Similarities Polynesians The realization that Polynesia ns had been able to spread as far as Easter Island by boat led to theories of trans-Pacific contacts with Oceania . The presence in Polynesia of the ''kumara'' ( Sweet Potato ), a plant native to the Americas, has been cited as possible evidence of contacts. It is far more probable, however, that this plant or its seed-bearing parts simply managed to float across the Pacific without human contact ever occurring. Over the last 20 years, the dates and anatomical features of human remains found in Mexico and South America have led some archaeologists to propose that those regions were first populated by Proto-Polynesians , several millennia before the Ice Age migrations. According to this theory, these Pre-Siberian American Aborigines would have been either eliminated or absorbed by the Siberian immigrants. However, current archaeological evidence for human migration to and settlement of Remote Oceania (i.e., the Pacific Ocean eastwards of the Solomon Islands ) is dated to no earlier than approximately 3,500 BP ; any trans-Pacific contact with the Americas coinciding with or pre-dating the Beringia migrations of at least 11,500 BP is highly problematic, except for the intercoastal route hypothesis. Recently, linguist Kathryn A. Klar of UC Berkeley and Archaeologist Terry L. Jones of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo have proposed contacts between Polynesians and the Chumash and Gabrielino of southern California , between 500 and 700 AD. Their chief evidence is the advanced sewn-plank canoe design, which is used throughout the Polynesian Islands, but is unknown in North America — except for those two tribes. Moreover, the Chumash word for "sewn-plank canoe," ''tomolo'o'', may have been derived from ''kumulaa'au'', the Polynesian word for the Redwood logs used in that construction. Africans Some sources claim that the facial features of the ancient Olmecs , as seen on their statues, are more similar to those of native Africans than to other native peoples of the Americas. These observations have led some authors, such as Ivan Van Sertima and James W. Loewen , to propose that the statues depict visitors from Africa; which could be either permanent (i.e. settlers), or temporary (explorers, military, traders, etc.) The origin of those hypothetical visitors has been conjectured to be the Phoenician colonies in nothern Africa, or the ancient peoples who lived in the Sahara before it became a desert. However, critics argue that the faces seen in Olmec imagery resemble those of African natives only superficially, and that they are not as different from those of American natives as the proponents assume. Meso-American scholars also point out the central role of the "were-jaguar", half man, half cat, in early Meso-American religions. In any case, this African connection has not been demonstrated by Genetic studies of people or plant life. Egyptians and Mesopotamians The similarity between the Egyptian Pyramid s and the temples of some New World civilizations; such as the Mayas , Aztecs , and Incas — has fueled many speculations that either the ancient Egyptians had traveled to the Americas, or that the civilizations on both sides of the ocean had sprung from a common source (such as the lost continent of Atlantis ). Sometimes the comparison was made with the Ziggurat s of Mesopotamia , which would imply contact with the Sumerians or other people of the region. However, the similarities between Old and New World pyramids are not very strong, and get weaker as one recedes further into the past. The typical American pyramid was only a platform for a Temple , and was periodically enlarged with new layers; the design apparently evolved from an artificial earth mound, which was later covered with plaster and stone. In contrast, the Egyptian pyramid was just a tomb for one Pharaoh and his immediate family, with no temple proper; it was never enlarged after its completion; and its design evolved from smaller stone tomb structures. Other claims of contacts with Egypt were based on reports that some chemical tests run on Egyptian Mummies had found traces of plant products native to the Americas, such as Tobacco and Coca . However, most Egyptologists would rather ascribe those results, which have not been reproduced by other scientists, to modern contamination or some other experimental error. Phoenicians, Greek and Romans Many claims of contacts with the civilizations of Classical Antiquity — chiefly the Roman Empire , but sometimes also with Greece , Carthage and other Phoenician cities, and other cultures of the age — have been based on isolated archaeological finds in American sites that were supposedly manufactured in the Old World. However, none of these finds have been sufficiently well-documented to dispel the possibility of the objects having been mis-identified, mis-dated, or placed at the site at a more recent date — either accidentally, or as a Fraud .
Chinese Peanut s, native to South America, were in the early 1970s, according to unreliable Chinese reports, found at a 4,000 years old archeological site. Likewise, there are those who claim that Maize was cultivated in China well before 1492 even though the wild grass from which maize was domesticated, Teosinte , is indigenous only to Mexico and adjacent parts of Central America, and numerous intermediate forms of the domesticated maize cobs form a continuum in the archeological record in Mexico over thousands of years. While these claims are debated and questioned, no one argues against the fact that it was only after the Columbian Exchange that these plants, in their New world versions, become widely spread and important in China's food system. Others have pointed out stylistic similarities between the decorative motifs of ancient China and of the ancient Maya, and the great value that both placed on Jade . However, the stylistic similarities are mainly subjective, and jade may have been valued simply for its intrinsic Beauty and for its qualities as a Sculptural material. Indians In southern India , there is a temple that has an image of goddesses holding what appear to be Maize , a crop native to the Americas. However, other grasses like sorghum and millet found in India bear some resemblance to maize and are probably the basis for the image. Claims Based on Legends and Documents Carthaginians According to the 16th century Spanish historian Oviedo , who relies on Brother Theophilus Of Cremona , who in turn cites Aristotle , the ancient Carthaginians had discovered an abundant land beyond the Pillars Of Hercules , and guarded their secret so that no other nation could conquer that land. Oviedo goes on to argue that the Hesperides of ancient myth were not the Canary Islands , as was the contemporary interpretation, but actually the West Indies. Saint Brendan Several Medieval documents claim that Irish Monk Saint Brendan (c. 478–578) and seventeen fellow monks crossed the Atlantic in a leather boat to a "Land of the Promise of the Saints" (which had been previously visited by another monk, Father Barinthus). This land of wonders has often been conjectured to be some part of the New World. The earliest surviving record of the tale dates from the 9th century, some 300 years after the time of St. Brendan. The document describes Brendan's boat as "a light vessel, with wicker sides and ribs ...covered it with cow-hide, tanned in oak-bark" — i.e., a Currach — with tarred joints. The trip is said to have lasted seven years. The report contains many descriptions that are obviously fantasies, and some that are hard to understand — such as an immense "crystal column" with a "silver canopy" rising from the sea (an Iceberg ?); an island covered with slag, with no trees but full of smiths' forges, inhabited by giants who threw masses of "burning slag" at the ship ( Volcano s in Iceland ?, Iceland before Viking colonization was a wooded island however), and huge fishes spouting foam, which they mistook for an island ( Whale s?). These details, as well as geographical constraints, would suggest a route across the North Atlantic; but the fantastic description of the "blessed land" hardly matches the reality of Greenland or of the American Northeast. Thus, while the feasibility of the trip was confirmed in 1977 by Tim Severin , the actual destination and even the reality of St. Brendan's trip are still uncertain. Culdee Monks It is known that Culdee Monks were persecuted by the Vikings in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. The Culdee originated in Ireland and Scotland; however, there is some evidence of a pre-Norse presence in Iceland, this has lead to speculation of a Culdee migration to Greenland, thence to Labrador and Nova Scotia to flee the Vikings. The evidence to support this theory is the existence in the Maine and New Hampshire areas of approximately 275 beehive stone huts. These stone structures are seen by some as similar to those found in Ireland and Scotland, where they were built in the Early Middle Ages or earlier. The structures are unlike pre-historic buildings found in North America, and do not fit any of the living use patterns of Native Americans. However, they are usually considered to have been built in the historic, colonial era. (Olsen, 2003). For an example of this, see America's Stonehenge . Prince Madoc of Wales Another Medieval legend says that the Welsh prince Madoc (Madawg ab Owain Gwynedd) sailed to the west in 1170 , fleeing from a succession war, and found an unknown, fertile land. He left 120 men there, and returned to Wales to get more people. In 1174 he had collected more ships and people, including women, and sailed to the unknown land again. No one ever heard of him again. The story first appeared in writing in 1583 . It has been suggested that Madoc was in fact of mixed Viking and Welsh parentage, which may add weight to the story. It has been claimed that the Mandan s and many other Native American tribes are descendants of Madoc's settlers. However, this claim has not been supported by any reliable evidence, and it is quite possible that Madoc's legend is just a myth. {Link without Title} Zichmni, aka Robert Sinclair A 1558 book published in Venice by a Nicolò Zeno claimed that his ancestors, the brothers Nicolò and Antonio Zeno , had crossed the North Atlantic in 1398 . The expedition was allegedly commanded by a certain Prince Zichmni , and went as far as the coast of North America. In the 19th century, some historians have speculated that Zichmni was the Scottish nobleman Henry Sinclair, 1st Earl Of Orkney . The identification was based on the Coat Of Arms and the inscription on the Westford Knight , an allegedly pre-Columbian rock carving in Massachusetts . However, most historians consider Zeno's book (or the letters on which it puports to be based) to be a hoax; and analysis of the Westford Knight have concluded that most of the "drawing" consists of natural scratches, while the inscription and some details were added in fairly recent times. Late Contact Claims There are many historically-based claims of trans-oceanic contacts in the 15th century — before Columbus, but too late to have had any influence on the development of the New World civilizations. Zheng He The achievements of Chinese navigation have been widely known in the West at least since the work of '', popularized the further and highly controversial thesis that the fleet of Zheng He arrived at America in 1421 . Menzies' Presentation Of This Idea has been found unconvincing by most historians, but it is intriguing enough that it has led to proposals of other Chinese-American contacts, e.g. by off-course Ming Dynasty ships. The possibility of Muslim trips from Asia (see Sung Document ) has also been discussed. Spanish Even in Columbus' time there was much speculation that other Old Worlders had made the trip in ancient or contemporary times; Gonzalo Fernández De Oviedo Y Valdés records several in his ''General y natural historia de las Indias'' of 1526 , which includes biographical information on Columbus. He discusses the then current story of a Spanish caravel that was swept off its course while on its way to England, and wound up in a foreign land populated by naked tribesmen. The crew gathered supplies and made its way back to Europe, but the trip took several months and the captain and most of the men died before reaching land. The ship's pilot, a man from somewhere in the Iberian Peninsula (Oviedo says different versions have him as Portuguese , Basque , or Andalusia n), and very few others finally made it to Portugal, but all were very ill. Columbus was a good friend of the pilot, and took him to be treated in his own house, and the pilot described the land they had seen and marked it on a map before dying. People in Oviedo's time knew this story in several versions, but Oviedo disregarded it as myth. Portuguese In 1472 , the Portuguese navigator João Vaz Corte-Real was granted the title "discoverer of The Land Of The Codfish ". It is conjectured that he visited Newfoundland . The presence of Basque Cod fishermen and Whalers in North America , just a few years after Columbus, has also been cited. Others have conjectured that Columbus was able to convince the Catholic Monarchs of Castile to support his planned voyage only because they were aware of some earlier voyage. Some suggest that Columbus himself visited Canada or Greenland before 1492 , because he wrote he had visited Thule once. In the first half of the 16th century, the Tupinambá people in the Rio De Janeiro region cut their hair in a monk-like fashion. According to Hans Staden , a 16th century German sailor who was their prisoner for several years, they attributed the style to an European monk who had visited them some time before the official Portuguese discovery of Brazil (1500). German and Polish Didrik Pining , with John Of Kolno as his navigator, is said to have landed on the coast of Labrador in 1473 . English From at latest the reign of King Henry VII (1457-1509), English fishermen were catching cod off of the coast of New England. King Henry was recorded as having threatened the captain of the fishermen with imprisonment if he would not reveal the location of this great cache of cod. Reverse contact claims While most claims of trans-oceanic contact are about non-Americans traveling to the Americas, there are a few reports of trips in the other direction. Caecilius Metellus Pomponius Mela (Lib.III,Chap.5) writes, and is copied by Pliny The Elder , that Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer , Proconsul in Gaul received 'several Indians' (''Indi'') as a present from a Germanic King . The Indians were driven by a storm to the coasts of Germania (''in tempestatem ex Indicis aequoribus''). "Metellum Celerem adjicit, eumque ita retulisse commemorat: Cum Galliae proconsule praeesset, Indos quosdam a rege {Link without Title} dono sibi datos; unde in eas terras devenissent requirendo, cognôsse, vi tempestatum ex Indicis aequoribus abreptos, emensosque quae intererant, tandem in Germaniae litora exiise. Restat ergo pelagus; sed reliqua lateris ejusdem assiduo gelu durantur, et ideo deserta sunt." :"Metellus Celer recalls the following: when he was Proconsul in Gaul , he was given people from India by the king of the Sueves ; upon requesting why they were in this land, he learnt that they were caught in a storm away from India, that they became castaways, and finally landed on the coast of Germany. They thus resisted the sea, but suffered from the cold for the rest of their travel, and that is the reason why they left." It is unclear whether these castaways may have been people from India or Eastern Asia, or possibly Native Americans. Edward Herbert Bunbury suggested they were Finns. This account is open to some question, since Metellus Celer died just after his consulship, before he ever got to Gaul. Antonio Galvano According to the Portuguese seafarer Antonio Galvano 'certain Indians' (''certos Indios'') were picked out of sea in 1153 and sent to Lübeck . Galvado said they were probably from Bacalao , a mythical island. Bartolomé de las Casas According to Bartolomé De Las Casas there were two dead bodies that looked like Indians found on Flores ( Azores ). He said he found that fact in Columbus' notes, and it was one of the reasons for Columbus to assume India was on the other side of the ocean. Lost Continents, UFOs, and ''La Merika'' The 19th Century saw the spread of several "lost continent" theories such as the Atlantis of Rosicrucian s and Theosophists , and James Churchward 's proposals of Mu and Lemuria . In the 20th century, Extra-terrestrial civilizations have been added to the long list of conjectural visitors to the Americas. According to popular writers like Erich Von Däniken , these celestial visitors were the real builders of the ancient monuments of the Americas, or at least the masters who taught the natives how to build them. The La Merika theory claims that some old graveyards in Nova Scotia use an ancient measuring system of Rod s and which contain grave stones which incorporate Masonic devices such as Crusader Crosses and Pentagram s. None of these 'theories' enjoy any support from serious historians or achaeologists. Religious Accounts A number of diffusionist theories involving ancient visitors are mandated by or inspired on religious beliefs. The '' Book Of Mormon '', for instance, holds that a number of Israelite s migrated from the Middle East to ancient America around 600 To 700 BC . Others have speculated that one of the Lost Tribes Of Israel may have ended up in America. References #Note|Kirch}} Kirch, Patrick V. ''Background to Pacific Archaeology and Prehistory'' , Oceanic Archaeology Laboratory, Univ. California, Berkeley. #Note|Loewen}} Loewen, James W. ''''. ISBN 156584100X. Bibliography
See also
External links
|