Man Across the Sea: Problems of Pre-Columbian Contacts

Published by University of Texas Press 1971

Man Across the Sea

Problems of Pre-Columbian Contacts

Edited by: Carroll L. Riley , J. Charles Kelley , Campbell W. Pennington and Robert L. Rands

https://doi.org/10.7560/701175

Overview
Contents

About this book

Whether humans crossed the seas between the Old World and the New in the times before Columbus is a tantalizing question that has long excited scholarly interest and tempted imaginations the world over. From the myths of Atlantis and Mu to the more credible, perhaps, but hardly less romantic tales of Viking ships and Buddhist missionaries, people have speculated upon what is, after all, not simply a question of contact, but of the nature and growth of civilization itself.

To the specialist, it is an important question indeed. If people in the Western Hemisphere and in the Eastern Hemisphere developed their cultures more or less independently from the end of the last Ice Age until the voyages of Columbus, the remarkable similarities between New World and Old World cultures reveal something important about the evolution of culture. If, on the other hand, there were widespread or sustained contacts between the hemispheres in pre-Columbian times, these contacts represent events of vast significance to the prehistory and history of humanity.

Originally delivered at a symposium held in May 1968, during the national meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, the papers presented here, by scholars eminent in the field, offer differing points of view and considerable evidence on the pros and cons of pre-Columbian contact between the Old World and the New. Various kinds of data—archaeological, botanical, geographical, and historical—are brought to bear on the problem, with provocative and original results. Introductory and concluding remarks by the editors pull together and evaluate the evidence and suggest ground rules for future studies of this sort.

Man across the Sea provides no final answers as to whether people from Asia, Africa, or Europe visited the American Indian before Columbus. It does, however, present new evidence, suggested lines of approach, and a fresh attempt to delineate the problems involved and to establish acceptable canons of evidence for the future.

Author / Editor information

Carroll L. Riley, J. Charles Kelley, Campbell W. Pennington, and Robert L. Rands are retired from the faculty of Southern Illinois University.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
INTRODUCTION Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
SECTION I
1. Diffusion versus Independent Development: The Bases of Controversy Stephen C. Jett Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	5
2. Diffusion and Archaeological Evidence Gordon F. Ekholm Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
3. Diffusion: Evidence and Process David H. Kelley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	60
4. Style and Culture Contact Jon Muller Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
5. Pre-Columbian Contacts—The Dryland Approach: The Impact and Influence of Teotihuacán Culture on the Pre-Columbian Civilizations of Mesoamerica Stephan F. Borhegyi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
6. Commentary: Section I Erik K. Reed Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	106
SECTION II
7. The Sailing Raft as a Great Tradition Jr. Doran Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
8. Cultural Patterning as Revealed by a Study of Pre-Columbian Ax and Adz Hafting in the Old and New Worlds Daniel Randall Beirne Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
9. Pre-Columbian Chickens in America George F. Carter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	178
10. The Significance of an Apparent Relationship between the Ancient Near East and Mesoamerica John L. Sorenson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
11. Vinland and the Way Thither Jr Taylor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	242
12. Quetzalcoatl: European or Indigene? B. C. Hedrick Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	255
13. A Transatlantic Stimulus Hypothesis for Mesoamerica and the Caribbean, circa 3500 to 2000 B.C Robert A. Kennedy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	266
14. Small Boats upon the North Atlantic Alice B. Kehoe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275
15. Commentary: Section II Clinton R. Edwards Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	293
SECTION III
16. A Reevaluation of the Coconut as an Indicator of Human Dispersal Jonathan D. Sauer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	309
17. Endemism and Pre-Columbian Migration of the Bottle Gourd, Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standi Thomas W. Whitaker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	320
18. Construction of the Hypothesis for Distribution of the Sweet Potato Douglas E. Yen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	328
19, The Sweet Potato: An Exercise in Methodology Donald D. Brand Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	343
20. Travels of Corn and Squash Hugh C. Cutler and Leonard W. Blake Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	366
21. Pre-Columbian Maize in Asia M. D. W. Jeffreys Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	376
22. Some Problems of Interpreting Transoceanic Dispersal of the New World Cottons Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	401
23. Phaseolus: Diffusion and Centers of Origin Lawrence Kaplan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	416
24. Commentary: Section III Herbert G. Baker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	428
Conclusions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	445
BIBLIOGRAPHY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	459
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	531
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	535

Language: English
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Copyright year: 1971
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 570

eBook

Published: December 15, 2014
ISBN: 9781477304778