Approximately 8,000 BC-6,000 BC: Human beings in many locations are constructing villages and developing agriculture and various handcrafts; brain surgery is being performed; the secrets of fire-starting are emerging and spreading
Humanity in southwest asia lives in villages and farms animals and grains. Pottery and weaving is in evidence.
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-- page 789, "Stone Age", The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia, Second Edition, 1989, Columbia University Press
-- WHERE DID AGRICULTURE REALLY BEGIN? From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies ##86, MAR-APR 1993 by William R. Corliss, citing Leigh Dayton; "Pacific Islanders Were World's First Farmers," New Scientist, p. 14, December 12, 1992
Head injuries can require holes cut into the skull to relieve pressure due to bleeding; a practice utilized in modern medicine circa 2000 AD. It appears similar surgeries were being performed possibly further back than 5000 BC in France. Some of the prehistoric treatments seemed to be of high quality.
-- Stone Age surgery Discover Magazine; September 1997; Section: Break throughs: ARCHEOLOGY
STONE AGE SURGERY
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Up to around 7,000 BC Humanity is forced to maintain/feed a fire nearby 24 hours a day, seven days a week or else be forced to trade with someone else for a living flame. The alternative of waiting for a natural fire such as one set by lightning can require years or decades, and is not really practical.
In substantial communities maintaining one or more continuous fires is likely a critically important function.
Finally, in approximately 7,000 BC, people in various regions begin to discover reliable ways to start fires from scratch-- though the process will remain difficult and inconvenient for centuries to come. Thus, the continually burning flames of community centers will continue to be important for many generations.
Note that global sea levels continue to rise, forcing a perpetual creeping movement inland and/or to higher elevations for most coastal, island, and riverside communities. This incessant creeping migration (and attendent unexpectedly severe damage and death tolls from sporadic storms and tidal waves which rising seas intensify) cannot help but sap the productive and innovative efforts of the populace overall, as many communities of fixed location are higher maintenance now than they will be after 4,000 BC to 3,000 BC.
Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 8,000 BC-3,000 BC: Fresh peoples continue to pour into the Americas from all over the world
Around 8,000 BC-4,000 BC the Amerind's mitochondrial DNA incorporated a particular mutation common to southeast Asian/Polynesian branches (this may signify the integration of the Polynesians in California and Mexico, and the Australians in South America, all of which had already been living in those areas for many millennia by then).
A wave of Na-Dene peoples (such as Navajos and Apaches) and Eskimo-Aleut arrived in North America around 8,000 BC-3,000 BC. The languages of the Na-Dene appear to place their sources as China and Tibet, northern europe, and the western parts of the Pyrenees mountains separating France and Spain. Again sea crossings of the Pacific and Atlantic are implied, as well as far north excursions between Europe and North America.
Note that the Chinese/Tibetans almost had to get to America by boat, as the Bering land bridge disappeared beneath the sea again around 8000 BC. An intriguing alternative however is that lucrative trade in cocaine and tobacco may have spurred Chinese/Tibetans to actually travel the length of Asia into Europe or Africa, then cross the Atlantic or take a near-Arctic route to get to the Americas. There is some evidence for such lengthy journeys in scientific findings, despite the incredible nature of such prehistoric commercialism.
The influx of europeans across the Atlantic continues the trend described earlier.
The Eskimo-Aleut language sources appear to include Japanese and Ainu, Korean, and others ranging from Europe to India. Again sea crossings of the Atlantic and Pacific are suggested, and virtually any other route as well (except for the Bering land bridge).
The next/second earliest group which settled in north central and north eastern North America apparently were originally Jomon from prehistoric Japan. This group came in two waves, the first forming the peoples leading to the modern Blackfeet, Iroquois, and related tribes spread over Michigan, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Ontario, and the second becoming the Inuit. Other tribes of the eastern seaboard also share this heritage. Related peoples later became the Inuit. Other relatives of these appear to have migrated down to settle the entire eastern coast of North America.
This appears to be an anomaly in migration. Prehistoric Japanese crossing the Pacific and then an entire continent as well to settle in central and eastern North America? It may seem hard to believe, but that's what recent research describes.
Next came the Chinese, spreading through Alaska and into northwestern Canada, and south through Arizona and northern Mexico.
The languages of the Amerinds include a hodgepodge of terms seeming to originate from a broad array of peoples geographically: Europe, Asia, Africa, Polynesia, and Australia. These clues point to the Amerind migration involving sea-crossings of both the Pacific and Atlantic, as well as use of the Bering land bridge, and possibly island hopping and ice crossings in the far north between Europe and North America.
Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 7,911 BC-7,090 BC: During this period there are perhaps seven substantial volcanic eruptions in various spots around the globe
Given that volcanically active areas are typically fertile and inviting to plant and animal life alike, and make for near ideal locales for human habitation, foraging, agriculture, and hunting-- and that humanity has been rapidly spreading over most of the world for thousands of years now-- there's a good chance these eruptions destroy one or more significant human settlements or cities.
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-- page 99, "Ice on the World", National Geographic magazine, October 1988
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 7,000 BC: MAJOR CATASTROPHE: Massive earthquakes possibly stronger than magnitude 8 pulverize many sites of early human civilization in Europe and North America
Note that such quakes typically do little harm or injury to primitive peoples, but for those cases where they cause landslides, avalanches, or tsunamis to directly strike villages. True urban civilizations however, with multi-story, complex housing and earthworks, and various structures of a civil engineering nature (like dams and canals), are a different matter. These may easily be decimated or completely destroyed by strong quakes, by way of large numbers of fatalities and injured, as well as severe damage done to housing, irrigation works essential to agriculture, and defenses erected against animals and human enemies.
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Monster earthquakes may be occuring in many places around the world as the glaciers disappear-- especially in Europe and North America. Scientists were shocked at the apparent severity of quakes taking place in geologically stable Scandinavia during this time (as large as magnitude 8.2). The finding suggests less stable areas may have been undergoing still worse shocks.
-- Demise of the ice age sparked great quakes by R. Monastersky, Science News Online, November 2, 1996, http://www.sciencenews.org
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Note that here is another possible enormous wave of destruction for emerging civilizations and their works, spanning perhaps a quarter of the world.
The likelihood of massive tsunamis accompanying or being triggered by these quakes has not yet been addressed by scientists. But tsunamis may actually have done more damage to fledgling civilizations during this time than the quakes themselves.
Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 7,000 BC: The substantial migrations of Eurasians into North America long ago expanded into South America-- with dire consequences for the Australians who had lived there for millennia
Basically, the Australians are outnumbered and outgunned (the Eurasians bring with them new diseases for which the Australians have no resistance). This leads to those Australians which don't die of contagions being massacred or virtually enslaved by the Eurasians. The sea-crossing to the Americas had by necessity kept the initial numbers of Australians arriving in South America to tiny quantities, while the Eurasians crossing the Bering land bridge and overcoming other obstacles more recently could come in strength, over many millennia. Another long term reproductive strike against the Australians may have been a severe shortage of women among the earliest groups to make landfall.
Thus, the new native South Americans may have suffered a much smaller starting population than the new native North Americans, as well as severely limited reproductive capacities in early generations-- which also explains why the Australians made no significant forays into the northern continent even during the millennia it remained uninhabited, or devastated the South American megafauna prior to the arrival of the Eurasians.
If this invasion and apparent 'ethnic cleansing' proceeds like many others throughout history, any and all historical records and other knowledge stores of the Australians are effectively destroyed by the invaders during this time or shortly thereafter-- resulting in potentially a catastrophic loss of human knowledge and history regarding possibly as much as three continents (Eurasia, Australia, and South America) and the islands of Polynesia in the Pacific as well.
Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 6,200 BC-5,800 BC: The Northern Atlantic is cooled by 6 to 15 degrees due to collapsing ice dams in North America releasing enormous floods of icy water into the sea
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-- "Catastrophic draining of huge lakes tied to ancient global cooling event", 21 JULY 1999, Contact: Don Barber, [email protected], 303-492-7641, University of Colorado at Boulder
-- "Two Glacial Lakes Caused Ancient Freeze-Up -Study"
Reuters/http://dailynews.yahoo.com/ News Science Headlines, July 21 1999
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 6,000 BC - 1 AD: Sometime during this period the Earth, along with the rest of the Solar System, enters a vast cloud of interstellar gas
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The cloud may be the residue of a super nova explosion in Scorpius-Centaurus around 250,000 years ago. Various effects upon the Earth could include climate and geomagnetic field changes around the time of entry.
-- THE EARTH HAS RECENTLY BEEN SWALLOWED BY A CLOUD OF INTER-STELLAR GAS From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #98, MAR-APR 1995 by William R. Corliss, citing Priscella C. Frisch; "Morphology and Ionization of the Interstellar Cloud Surrounding the Solar System," Science, 265:1423, 1994, and I. Peterson; "Finding a Place for the Sun in a Cloud," Science News, 146:148, 1994
Seemingly excessive quantities of relatively short half-life aluminum-26 in interstellar space may indicate the solar system is moving through the debris cloud of a super nova explosion no older than 10,000 to a million years in age. Such a nearby explosion may have affected life on Earth when the blast first reached our vicinity, as well as the rest of the solar system (planetary interaction with the debris could be significant too).
-- THE MESSAGE OF ALUMINUM-26 From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #39, MAY-JUN 1985 by William R. Corliss, citing "Are We inside a Supernova Remnant?" Sky and Telescope, 69:13, 1985
The solar system entered an expanding shell of gas several thousand years ago originating from the Scorpius-Centaurus Association. The density of material in this region could fluctuate greatly as we move through it. We might at some point find ourselves enshrouded in gas and dust thick enough to reduce the sunlight reaching the Earth-- perhaps to catastrophic levels. There's little indication of when we might encounter such conditions, or how long they might last when we did. But the possibility of such a dimming will exist for at least another 50,000 years beyond 1996.
-- "NOT WITH A BANG BUT A WHIMPER" From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #107, SEP-OCT 1996 by William R. Corliss, citing Ray Jayawardhana; "Earth Menaced by Superbubble," New Scientist, p. 15, June 22, 1996
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 6,000 BC: The giant flying carnivorous birds of North America ("Thunderbirds") may be declining drastically in numbers
The "Thunderbirds" may have been facing extinction during the period 8,000 BC- 6,000 BC.
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-- Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #52, JUL-AUG 1987 by William R. Corliss, citing Bernard Heuvelmans; "Annotated Checklist of Apparently Unknown Animals with Which Cryptozoology Is Concerned," Cryptozoology, 5:1, 1986
TERATORNIS was a huge flying predatory bird of up to 25 foot wingspan, possibly living as late as 8,000 BC or so.
-- TERATORNIS from Extinct Birds
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 6,000 BC: Nomadic hunters of high plains worldwide may now be moving to the lowlands...
...perhaps because massive glacial flooding and rising sea levels have wiped out and/or so disorganized and demoralized the civilizations previously living in the lowlands that those regions are now rich targets for scavengers and raiders.
Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 6,000 BC- 3,000 BC: Mound building in North America
The North American mound-builders create impressive structures over a vast area of the continent, for purposes which will remain unclear to 20th century scientists.
The earliest mounds seem to be created simply as repeated 'clean ups' of tribal trash; i.e., the people bring in dirt to cover over old refuse and then live atop the fresh ground. Eventually they find themselves living atop a small hill.
Later built mounds increasingly show less sign of permanent habitation or trash, and more signs of artifice. Seasonal, perhaps ritualistic, visitations are implied. Some locations appear to serve as trading centers.
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-- Ancient Louisiana mounds intrigue scientists By JANET McCONNAUGHEY, Nando Media/Associated Press, December 5, 1999, http://www.nandotimes.com)
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Approximately 3,000 BC- 1,200 BC (or beginning in the latter stages of the mound builders' era) a huge copper mining operation was underway on the Keweenaw Peninsula and Isle Royale in Michigan. Though the vast majority of this ore will remain unaccounted for as of the late 20th century, some of it may be finding its way into some mounds, in the form of 'reels', which appear to be copper sheets shaped much like animal skins with four corner protrusions. They share much in common with the 'oxhydes' often seen in Bronze Age Europe.
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-- MISSING: 500,000 TONS OF COPPER From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #90, NOV-DEC 1993 by William R. Corliss, citing Betty Sodders; "Who Mined American Copper
5,000 Years Ago?" Ancient American, 1:28, September/October 1993
The Watson Break site near Monroe Louisiana have been dated to 3,440 BC- 3,040 BC (or 5,400- 5,000 BP (Before Present)).
-- ABOUT AS ANOMALOUS AS MOUNDS CAN GET From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #114, NOV-DEC 1997 by William R. Corliss, citing Joe W. Saunders, et al; "A Mound Complex in Louisiana at 5400-5000 Years before the Present," Science, 277:1796, Heather Pringle; "Oldest Mound Complex Found at Louisiana Site," Science, 277:1761, 1997, and Dick Stanley; "Finds Alter View of American Indian Prehistory," Austin American Statesman, September 19, 1997. Credit: D. Phelps
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 5,000 BC: World population may be 50 million; The "Red Paint" people seem to have established a trans-atlantic domain which includes North American Labrador to New York state, and the northwestern coast of Europe; mysterious mound-building civilizations are appearing in the Amazon
These people may or may not have been involved with the Celtic peoples of Europe, and responsible for some of the megalithic works of North America
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-- AMERICA B.C. AND EVEN EARLIER from Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #73, JAN-FEB 1991 by William R. Corliss, citing Public TV programming regarding North
America's Red Paint People, George F. Carter; "Before Columbus," Ellsworth American, November 23,
1990. Cr. R. Strong, "Megalithes d'Amerique du Nord," Kadath, no. 72, Spring 1990, and David H. Kelley; "Proto-Tifinagh and Proto-Ogham in the Americas,"
Review of Archaeology, 11:1, 1990
Pre-Columbus Carribean peoples possessed both the seamanship and watercraft (carrying capacities of as many as 80 people, in boats as long as 80 feet) necessary to reach Europe-- especially with favorable winds and sea currents. Several anomalous bits of European historical accounts hint at red peoples appearing in Europe from afar, and there seem to be signs of Eskimos reaching Ireland and Scotland before the historic journey of Columbus to the Americas.
-- THE AMERICAN DISCOVERY OF EUROPE! From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #87, MAY-JUN 1993 by William R. Corliss, citing Brian Kluepfel; "Native Americans May Have Found Europe, Says Scholar," Berkeley Voice, January 28, 1993. Cr. P.F. Young
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World population could amount to as much as 50 million.
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-- 3.4 Human Population History and Future; Geography 210: Introduction to Environmental Issues, Created by Dr. Michael Pidwirny, Department of Geography, Okanagan University College, 12/20/99, Human Population History and Future (http://www.geog.ouc.bc.ca/conted/onlinecourses/geog_210/contents/210~3~3~4.html)
In 1540 AD European explorers reported large cities on flood plains in the Amazon. By 1700 AD the cities will have been hidden by the jungle. Now (1990) some speculate that the civilizations discovered high in the Andes may in fact have begun in the lowlands of the Amazon centuries before. One lowland site (Marajo island) holds 400 enormous earthen mounds and may have been inhabited for a millennium or more. It may have been built around 5000 BC. Other sites display vast regions once under intensive cultivation and irrigation by natives.
-- GREAT ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS IN AMAZONIA? RIDICULOUS! From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #71, SEP-OCT 1990, by William R. Corliss, citing Ann Gibbons; "New View of Early Amazonia," Science, 248:1488, 1990
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 4,000 BC -3,000 BC: Rising global sea levels finally stabilize at heights roughly equivalent to that of the late 1990s AD
Author's Note: Isn't it fascinating that most all the evidence circa 1999 AD humanity will find of sophisticated ancient civilizations date back to NO EARLIER than the end of the great global deluge which washed away everything existing several hundred feet lower in altitude during earlier millennia? Keep in mind all these lowlands that will be underwater in 1999 AD were prime seafront and fertile riverside property thousands of years before-- precisely the kinds of places where people would settle and build cities and ports and trading centers. Even the human civilization of 1999 AD would find it a struggle to overcome a sudden rise in sea levels worldwide of hundreds of feet which decimated the majority of our largest cities and most important centers of food and goods production and commerce...End Note.
Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 3,000 BC: Asians are utilizing an early form of abacus for calculations; some rich kids in western Asia are attending school; farmers in the Americas are performing genetic engineering to create better crops...
...while Egyptians are creating their hieroglyphics and papyrus writing tools, and becoming the leading engineers and surveyers of their time, constructing pyramids and fleet ships.
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-- The digital century: Computing through the ages by the PC World staff, (IDG) /CNN, November 24, 1999
-- "Neolithic farmers grew modified maize", New Scientist, 20 March 1999, and Milestones in Technology, February 26, 1999, The Knoxville News-Sentinel
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Complex social development and impressive architectural works are arising in the area of Peru in South America (3,000 BC - 1,500 BC), that seem to predate the better known civilizations of Central America by a healthy margin.
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-- NEW WORLD CULTURE OLD From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #67, JAN-FEB 1990 by William R. Corliss, citing William K. Stevens; "Andean Culture Found to Be as Old as the Great Pyramids," New York Times, October 3, 1989. Cr. J. Covey
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"High schools" similar to those of future 20th century America exist today in Sumer/South Mesopotamia to teach writing and other subjects to the children of wealthy citizens.
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-- "BC High", page 14, Feats and Wisdom of the Ancients, Library of Curious and Unusual Facts, Time-Life Books, 1990
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 3,000 BC- 1,200 BC: An enormous copper mining operation involving thousands of pits is underway on the Keweenaw Peninsula and Isle Royale of Michigan
On average some 278 tons per year is taken from the site, over a period of 18 centuries.
There is little sign of where all this metal ended up anywhere on the entire continent of North America.
There are clues that this is a european operation. The project may or may not involve hundreds or thousands of native american slave laborers.
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-- MISSING: 500,000 TONS OF COPPER From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #90, NOV-DEC 1993 by William R. Corliss, citing Betty Sodders; "Who Mined American Copper
5,000 Years Ago?" Ancient American, 1:28, September/October 1993
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
2,400+ BC: Native South Americans are developing metal gilding techniques to apply to ornaments and perhaps clothing.
Metal working in the new world seems to precede smelting by quite some time-- according to artifacts found at Mina Perdida in Peru.
New clues offer evidence that metallurgy was being practiced in the central Andes at an early date. Hints of experiments using the heat of fires to improve the metal have also been uncovered.
Similar finds across the Atlantic in Turkey however are (so far) much older-- dating to around 6000 BC.
Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 2,354 BC: Tree growth rings and rare historical accounts of this time point to worldwide ecological catastrophe
The causes may have been asteroid/comet impacts (or near-misses dusting the atmosphere) or large volcanic eruptions.
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-- "Chaos from Above-- Did Asteroids and Comets Turn the Tides of Civilization?" by MIKE BAILLIE, Discovering Archaeology, http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 1,628 BC: Tree growth rings and rare historical accounts of this time point to worldwide ecological catastrophe
The causes may have been asteroid/comet impacts (or near-misses dusting the atmosphere) or large volcanic eruptions.
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-- "Chaos from Above-- Did Asteroids and Comets Turn the Tides of Civilization?" by MIKE BAILLIE, Discovering Archaeology, http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 1,600 BC: Central Americans are adding juice from morning glory flower vines to rubber tree sap to make rubber
They produce bouncing balls for gaming from the material, as well as molded figurines and other items.
They are also using their liquid rubber for paint and medicine purposes.
Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 1,500 BC: The Olmecs populate the Mexican Gulf coast; a Chinese expedition seems to record a trip to North America (and an encounter with a mammoth)
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-- World History, page 552, The 1996 World Almanac and Book of Facts, World Alamanac Books
The Chinese document Shun- Hai Ching seems to describe a violent encounter with a mammoth
-- A MAMMOTH TALE! from Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #62, MAR-APR 1989 by William R. Corliss, citing C.F. Eckhardt; "Prehistoric Explorers of the West?" National Tombstone Epitaph, p.17, October 1988. Cr. H.J. Hanson
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 1,500 BC: The Mayan civilization is emerging in the Central Americas; bark paper processing technology (such as the Mayans will use) seems to be brought to the Americas from Southeast Asia now
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-- World History, page 554, The 1996 World Almanac and Book of Facts, World Alamanac Books
-- A PAPER TRAIL FROM ASIA TO THE AMERICAS From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #77, SEP-OCT 1991 by William R. Corliss, citing Paul Tolstoy; "Paper Route," Natural History, 100:6, June 1991
Watson Brake Louisiana boasts a mound group created between 6000 BC and 3000 BC-- the oldest known in the western hemisphere as of 1999 AD. Their purpose remains unknown, but their builders seemed to visit them only seasonally.
-- Ancient Louisiana mounds intrigue scientists By JANET McCONNAUGHEY
Nando Media/Associated Press, December 5, 1999, http://www.nandotimes.com
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 1,200 BC: The Olmecs of Mexico are building "temple cities" and large stone sculptures.
The Olmecs have also established a calendaring and writing system.
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-- World History, page 552, The 1996 World Almanac and Book of Facts, World Alamanac Books
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 1,159 BC: Tree growth rings and rare historical accounts of this time point to worldwide ecological catastrophe
The causes may have been asteroid/comet impacts (or near-misses dusting the atmosphere) or large volcanic eruptions.
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-- "Chaos from Above-- Did Asteroids and Comets Turn the Tides of Civilization?" by MIKE BAILLIE, Discovering Archaeology, http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 128,000 BC- 1,000 BC: World sea levels may be highly unstable throughout this entire period
There are indications it may be changing quickly between 3,000 BC and 1,000 BC. Around 1,500 BC it may fall a meter in just 10 to 50 years.
Note that such changes as these may occasionally wreak havoc with coastal settlements and especially major sea harbors and ports of call.
Is it any wonder that many cities are deserted, then become buried in sediment or shifting sands-- or even submerged? At least a few instances of city losses may occur so fast many residents find themselves unable to escape.
Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 1,000 BC: The wheel is in common use throughout eurasia; textile production is now the largest endeavor of most of humanity worldwide; periodic contact between the peoples of southwestern North America and Central America with China (and China with Europe) seems to be occuring.
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-- page 33, "Ignoring the Wheel", Feats and Wisdom of the Ancients, Library of Curious and Unusual Facts, Time-Life Books, 1990
-- "The mummies of the Urumchi" by MITZI PERDUE
Nando Media/Scripps Howard News Service, June 8, 1999, http://www.nandotimes.com
-- "Study: China Influenced Ancient Americans" By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News Brief, DISCOVERY ONLINE, http://www.discovery.com, found on or about 9-3-99
Some Egyptian mummies from 1000 BC or earlier apparently test positive for traces of tobacco and cocaine use during life. Rameses II also tests positive. This indicates some sort of trade contact between Egypt and the Americas.
Large amounts of nicotine seem present in some bodies from Austria, Germany, and China dying sometime between 3,700 BC and 1,100 AD as well.
There are clues pointing to a torturous trade route for such goods spanning Asia through China and across the Pacific to Central and South America, rather than the much more direct route across the Atlantic. Such a route implies that these substances would have been fabulously rare and expensive goods for their time, affordable only by the wealthiest individuals. The supply line was apparently months to years long, indicating significant problems about maintaining freshness in the products too.
-- TOBACCO AND COCAINE IN ANCIENT EGYPT From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #111, MAY-JUN 1997 by William R. Corliss, citing Priscilla Ross; the New England Antiquities Research Association Transit newsletter, 9:5, Spring 1997
The Egyptian pharaoh Henut Taui exhibits signs of both tobacco and cocaine use.
-- MYSTERY OF THE STONED PHARAOH From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #116, MAR-APR 1998 by William R. Corliss, citing Bernard Merigaud; "La Cocaine des Pharaons," Telerama, p. 122, September 3, 1997. Cr. C. Mauge
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 208 BC: Tree growth rings and rare historical accounts of this time point to worldwide ecological catastrophe
The causes may have been asteroid/comet impacts (or near-misses dusting the atmosphere) or large volcanic eruptions.
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-- "Chaos from Above-- Did Asteroids and Comets Turn the Tides of Civilization?" by MIKE BAILLIE, Discovering Archaeology, http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Around Zero or One AD: Humanity may have settled and re-settled many Polynesian islands across the Pacific many times
Some of the vessels used to cross and colonize the Pacific were surprisingly large for such ancient times, carrying as many as 250 people-- plus ample supplies-- at a time.
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-- Illustrated Transcript of The Future Eaters, Illustrated transcript of episode 2, Nomads of the Wind, Presented and Narrated by Dr Tim Flannery,
Author of the Future Eaters, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. email: [email protected], http://www2.abc.net.au/, found on or about 9-12-99
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 1 AD: Elephants may only now be going extinct in Florida and Central and South America
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Clues to late survival of elephants and their relatives in the Americas continue to appear, such as in the oral histories and art and sculpture of native americans, reports to a Revolution-era US president, and younger than expected fossil remains in some areas.
-- RECENT SURVIVAL OF THE ELEPHANT IN THE AMERICAS From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #68, MAR-APR 1990 by William R. Corliss, citing George F Carter; "A Note on the Elephant in America," and "The
Mammoth in American Epigraphy," Epigraphic Society, Occasional
Publications, 18:90 and 18:213, 1989
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 100 AD: Native Americans are using wheels in toy-like burial artifacts and other small items
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-- page 33, "Ignoring the Wheel", Feats and Wisdom of the Ancients, Library of Curious and Unusual Facts, Time-Life Books, 1990
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The perplexing absence of the wheel in common use for vehicles and other purposes in the Americas at this late date is used by many as evidence for little or no meaningful contact between the Americas and other continents until Columbus. However, civilizations much nearer to the heart of the Old World such as Egypt also for some reason disdained the use of the wheel for many centuries after others known to them had adopted the device. Greece similarly ignored the true architectural arch while others around them did not. Other examples of different cultures choosing differently in regards to use of certain innovations over periods of centuries or even millennia also exist.
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-- The Diffusionists Have Landed by Marc K. Stengel, The Atlantic Monthly, J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 0, http://www.theatlantic.com
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
100 AD-150 AD: A civilization possibly predating the Teotihuacan in the Americas may exist at this time
The primordial city-state in Teotihuacan preceded the Aztecs in the Americas by centuries.
A structure named "the Pyramid of
the Moon" in this location was under excavation by archaeologists in late 1998 AD. They were surprised to find clues inside the pyramid to a civilization possibly still more ancient than Teotihuacanos itself-- with a skeleton and artifacts dating back to 100 to 150 AD.
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-- "Mexico's Pyramid of the Moon Beginning to Yield Some of Its Secrets", Associated Press/ CNN, 21-OCT-98
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 200 AD-300 AD: There seems to be at least a possibility of sparse and accidental contacts between europeans and the americas now...
...such as one or more Roman trading ships reaching the coasts of Brazil. Whether these events are the result of ships forced off-course by storms or Atlantic currents, simply lost, or carrying out rare (and possibly secret) trips for commercial trade purposes, will remain unknown by 1999 AD. Verified Roman wrecks have been found among the Azores in the mid-Atlantic.
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-- page 123, "Romans in Brazil", Feats and Wisdom of the Ancients, Library of Curious and Unusual Facts, Time-Life Books, 1990
An apparent Roman artifact from around 200 AD found near Mexico City in 1933 was unearthed in practically an ideal location and fashion with which to validate its authenticity.
-- Romans May Have Reached New World First-Magazine, Reuters/http://dailynews.yahoo.com/ -
Science Headlines, February 9, 2000
Did Romans shake hands with ancient Mexicans before Columbus? Author: Jonathan Knight, San Francisco, New Scientist issue 12th February 2000, Source: Ancient Mesoamerica (vol 10, p 207)
New Scientist and EurekAlert!
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Did some europeans not only visit but choose to settle in South America around this time? More specifically, did they found Tiahuanaco in Bolivia? Tiahuanaco, a complex including an impressive pyramid and temple, already existed as ruins by 1200 AD. Native american myths say Tiahuanaco was built by fair-skinned, bearded men, led by one named Viracocha. Mayan and Aztec tales also describe a light skinned, bearded man named Kukulcan or Quetzalcoatl, respectively, making contact with their cultures. Possibly related legends about a return of such a man to South America may contribute substantially to the European conquest of native South American civilizations which will occur more than a thousand years from now.
Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 400 AD: The American sweet potato is becoming a common food among Pacific islanders
This of course indicates some sort of contact with the Americas from across the Pacific Ocean.
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-- The Diffusionists Have Landed by Marc K. Stengel, The Atlantic Monthly, J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 0, http://www.theatlantic.com
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 536 AD- 541 AD: Tree growth rings and rare historical accounts of this time point to worldwide ecological catastrophe
The causes may have been asteroid/comet impacts (or near-misses dusting the atmosphere), large volcanic eruptions, or perhaps even the passing of the Earth through a great cloud of cosmic dust in space.
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-- "Chaos from Above-- Did Asteroids and Comets Turn the Tides of Civilization?" by MIKE BAILLIE, Discovering Archaeology, http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com
-- "Did the Dark Ages begin with a bang?" by Robert Matthews
Connected, Electronic Telegraph, http://www.telegraph.co.uk,
29 July 1999, Telegraph Group Limited
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The period of climatic disaster following in the wake of the event looks to have lasted roughly 15 years.
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-- THE 536 AD DUST-VEIL EVENT From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #96, NOV-DEC 1994 by William R. Corliss, citing "Raining Death and Dark Ages," London Times, July 27, 1994. Cr. A. Rothovius and M.G.L. Baillie; "Dendrochronology Raises Questions about the Nature of the AD 536 Dust-Veil Event," The Holocene, 4:212, 1994. Cr. L. Ellenberger
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One characteristic of the event is a record-breaking widespread and long-lived dry fog over Europe and the Mideast such as 20th century science will recognize as a sign of atmospheric ash and gases from large volcanic eruptions. Such fogs seem to afflict one or more areas of the world every few centuries.
Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 600 AD: It may be possible that a handful of europeans are reaching the americas by now
There's an Irish folk tale about an abbot and monks taking a fantastic ocean journey, the details of which strongly imply sights and experiences that lengthy sea voyages to the americas and other open Atlantic locales could entail. In 1977 Timothy Severin used a boat built to specifications likely for the group in the folk tale, and managed to successfully travel from Ireland to Newfoundland.
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-- pages 114-115, "The Fabled Voyage of Brendan", Feats and Wisdom of the Ancients, Library of Curious and Unusual Facts, Time-Life Books, 1990
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Glass windows are invented by the Romans.
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-- "TIME TRIPPING", July 14, 1999, San Francisco Chronicle, Page 2/Z1, www.sfgate.com, found via http://www.robotwisdom.com/
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 1,000 BC-1,000 AD: Central American natives are processing tree bark into cloth and paper.
Their procedures for this seem suspiciously similar to those used in southeast Asia-- prompting some 20th century scientists to think there may have been contact between the two cultures. Specifically, between the peoples of pacific islands Celebes and Borneo, and central Mexico.
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-- pages 122-123, "A Paper Trail from Asia to the Americas", Feats and Wisdom of the Ancients, Library of Curious and Unusual Facts, Time-Life Books, 1990
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Sometime before 700 AD: The Maya build a suspension bridge at Yaxchilan Mexico now that will not be surpassed in size and structure until 1377 AD by European engineers.
The practical engineering expertise displayed in the Mayan culture by items like the bridge above seemed the exception rather than the rule-- for the Maya seemed to excel more in the theoretical than the mechanical, or physical world. They managed to accurately devise a calendar extending hundreds of millions of years, and perform surprisingly sophistocated astronomical calculations.
And yet they never appeared to bring the wheel into mainstream use, or achieve other feats of practical technology which were at the same time or before appearing elsewhere in the world.
The incongruity of these two aspects of Mayan culture has led to speculation that perhaps a single Einstein-type genius appeared in their midst at some point to push their theoretical sciences ahead by decades or centuries, all on his own-- or the Maya alternatively received such information from others, perhaps outsiders visiting them from faraway lands.
Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 780 AD - 900 AD: An unusual member of the Mayan elite helps lead his nation into ruin to serve his own ends
[Caution: Extreme speculation ahead; this section mostly created for "What If?" entertainment value]
Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 980 AD-990 AD: Vikings apparently reach and settle the americas at Newfoundland in Canada...
...though the settlement doesn't continue for long (maybe just three years or so); being perhaps too far and isolated from the majority of related peoples and lands. There were perhaps as many as 160 persons in the party. The actual settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, seems to be made a bit after 1000 AD according to the Atlantic Monthly (see citation below).
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-- page 1,830, "Sea Warriors from Scandinavia", Webster's Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary, Tormont Publications Inc., 1987, 1990
-- The Diffusionists Have Landed by Marc K. Stengel, The Atlantic Monthly, J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 0, http://www.theatlantic.com
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There remains some mystery attached to these far flung Viking expeditions...and to the relatively brief stay made in what was apparently an inviting place compared to where the Vikings had come from....
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One possibility is that one or more unusually long droughts were affecting parts of North America around this time. Evidence exists indicating lengthy droughts between 912 AD and 1112 AD, and 1210 AD to 1350 AD, in the vicinity of the Sierra Nevada.
-- Climate conclusions drawn from research on ancient trees By JOHN D. COX, Nando Media/Scripps McClatchy Western Service, January 1, 2000, http://www.nandotimes.com
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To Be Continued...
Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 950 AD-1,200 AD: This is a warmer than usual time in terms of world climate; the city of Cahokia, population 15,000, is prospering where someday Collinsville, Illnois, USA will be located.
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-- page 99, "Ice on the World", National Geographic magazine, October 1988
-- Unraveling History's Mysteries By Joseph B. Verrengia
The Associated Press
Aug. 30, 1999, ABC News Internet Ventures, http://www.abcnews.go.com/
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Cahokia may be the central hub of a trade network encompassing much of the eastern USA at this time, created by a people 20th century scientists will call the Mississippians. Cahokia's population may have reached as high as 20,000. Cahokia is a very unusual organization of people and resources for this time and place. Cahokia shows signs of both a sudden rise and sudden collapse. Thus, it appears a single charismatic leader may have been responsible for much of Cahokia's existence-- and the community may have lasted pretty much only so long as his influence was present.
Cahokia arose in mere decades, and suddenly collapsed after 200 years. The settlement suffered lots of disease and injury near the end, as well as armed conflict, power struggles, and exhaustion of its lands from farming, or climate change. Cahokia's decline began by 1200 AD, as residents began moving out.
The Mississippians were apparently responsible for similar mound works across the southeast USA. The Mississippians of Cahokia were a small-sized people that partook of ritual sacrifice but for the most part avoided violence. Cahokia included an array of individual homes surrounding a great central mound. Over a hundred other mounds in the vicinity were used as homes or tombs for the elite of Cahokia (as well as their servants), or as ritual sites. The city was protected by a two mile long 15 foot high fence.
Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 1,200 AD- 1,400 AD: Dramatic shifts between drought and flooding are occuring more often than usual in North America
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-- Underwater Sediments Yield Clues To Past Climates, 02-Dec-1999, UniSci Daily, http://www.unisci.com
Evidence exists indicating lengthy droughts between 912 AD and 1112 AD, and 1210 AD to 1350 AD, in the vicinity of the Sierra Nevada.
-- Climate conclusions drawn from research on ancient trees By JOHN D. COX, Nando Media/Scripps McClatchy Western Service, January 1, 2000, http://www.nandotimes.com
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 1,334 AD - 1,351 AD: MAJOR CATASTROPHE: Black plague kills a third the population of europe (as well as others throughout Asia and northern Africa)
The Hohokam and Anasazi cultures of southwestern North America half a world away also begin a rapid deterioration now. Could it be contact with europe or asia has brought the plague to this part of the New World? Inhabitants of this region of North America will continue to suffer sporadic outbreaks of the disease even into the late 20th century.
The Bubonic Plague may have first appeared in Athens Greece around 430 BC.
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-- BUBONIC PLAGUE AS AN INDICATOR OF DIFFUSION? from Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #45, MAY-JUN 1986 by William R. Corliss, citing L. Lyle Underwood; "Bubonic Plague in the Southwest," Epigraphic Society, Occasional Publications, 14:207, 1985
One possibility is that one or more unusually long droughts were affecting parts of North America around this time. Evidence exists indicating lengthy droughts between 912 AD and 1112 AD, and 1210 AD to 1350 AD, in the vicinity of the Sierra Nevada.
-- Climate conclusions drawn from research on ancient trees By JOHN D. COX, Nando Media/Scripps McClatchy Western Service, January 1, 2000, http://www.nandotimes.com
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As described elsewhere on this site, most ocean islands may get scrubbed clean of their inhabitants every other millennia or so by terrific storms or tidal waves. However, just as sufficiently heavy construction may weather even the winds of hurricanes, so too might it survive much of what tsunamis or a week or so of fierce wind-blown seas could mount against it. Such fortifications may have been what the builders of Nan Madol had in mind.
Nan Madol on Micronesian Pohnpei is a substantial complex of artificial islands with robust walled structures built atop them, in the Pacific Ocean. Besides offering the builders extra dry real estate where such stuff is rare, they also offer barriers against storm and wave otherwise not available in the vicinity.
The heavy duty construction appears to be completed (or interrupted) around 1,400 AD-1,500 AD-- which suggests the possibility that the bubonic plague has reached this most remote of places too by now.
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-- THE LOST CITY OF NAN MADOL From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #45, MAY-JUN 1986 by William R. Corliss, citing Charles J. Hanley, "Oregon Anthropologist Unravels Story of Lost City of Pacific," The Oregonian, February 3, 1986. Cr. D.A. Dispenza
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 1,250 AD-1,400 AD: The Zunis of New Mexico North America apparently receive an infusion of Oriental peoples among their numbers...
...according to a careful analysis of Zuni culture, biology, and oral histories which will be done hundreds of years from now by late 20th century scientists.
Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 1,420 AD: Some Mayans of this time show signs of suffering from venereal disease
So it may be that european conquerers did not introduce the disease to the americas 100 years later as once thought.
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-- "Mexican Experts Find Syphilis in Mayan Remains", LatinoLink, LatinoLink Enterprises, Inc., http://www.latinolink.com, July 28, 1999
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 800 AD-1,480 AD: The Chacahpoyas empire, consisting of a tall and fair-skinned people, is building impressive city complexes in the mountains of Peru
The Inca eventually conquer the Chacahpoyas, perhaps absorbing their populations into their own.
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-- IMMENSE COMPLEX OF STRUCTURES FOUND IN PERU From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #42, NOV-DEC 1985 by William R. Corliss, citing "Ruined City Found in Jungle in Peru," New York Times, July 7, 1985. Cr. M. Hall via L. Farish
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
1,440 AD-1,500 AD: Western european science is beginning to surpass Islamic efforts; the total native population of the Americas may be around 30-40 million; Gutenberg creates the printing press...
...by 1,500 Europe will boast over 1,000 print shops in operation.
Algebra and trigonometry have been created by Arabs. Significant works of chemistry, optics, and astronomy also are coming from the Arabs. But the world of Islam tends to discourage such efforts among its members during this time.
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-- Tracing the millennium in the stars By GAIL RUSSELL CHADDOCK, October 28, 1999, Nando Media/Christian Science Monitor Service, http://www.nandotimes.com
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Thirty to forty million native Americans may exist around 1492, and speak over a thousand different languages.
95% of the native American population of both continents will soon die due to raging epidemics among their numbers stemming from viruses brought across the Atlantic by the Europeans.
Note the virulance of the diseases brought from Eurasia to the Americas beginning now. A 95% mortality rate! Such a high mortality rate does indicate some form of extended isolation of populations-- but perhaps not the kind commonly described in historical texts. It may be that several factors combined to kill off so many native Americans at this time; with new diseases from the Europeans accounting for only one. Others might have been:
(One), the native populations themselves appeared to be booming, bringing about greater chances for native diseases across the two continents to break out of previously isolated enclaves to wreak widespread havoc.
(Two), the native populations may have become considerably more mobile as their cultures began suffering the shock of technologically advanced invaders on both continents. This mobility would have increased the chances for diseases to spread.
(Three), the native populations were possibly entering the range of critical mass in regards to interaction with their own domesticated animals to allow the creation of new illnesses passing from animals to humans. The incoming Eurasians themselves had already undergone such a process at least centuries before-- therefore they were somewhat protected from so sourced new American diseases while the natives were not.
Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 1,519 AD: Cortes of Spain conquers the Aztec empire in the Americas
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-- page 58, "Aztec", The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia (2nd edition), Columbia University press, 1983, 1989
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Here again an enormous and possibly crucial store of ancient knowledge and history is destroyed due (largely) to ignorance, racism, religious intolerance, and barbarism. This time the knowledge store razed is a major portion of that native to both the North and South American continents. Only four books out of possibly thousands will be known to have survived by the late 20th century.
Among other things, the Aztecs knew how to create and use concave metallic mirrors to start fires with reflected, concentrated sunlight.
Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 1,532 AD: Spaniard Francisco Pizarro begins the conquest of the Incan empire in the Americas
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-- page 390, "Inca", The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia (2nd edition), Columbia University press, 1983, 1989
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A MOMENT OF EXTRAORDINARILY GOOD LUCK FOR SOME, BAD FOR OTHERS
Pizarro, an illiterate ex-farmhand, enjoys not one but several extraordinary strokes of luck which allow him to perform one of the most astonishing feats in history: the conquest of a sophistocated empire of millions of people and considerable wealth with only 200 men equipped with horses (horses had never before been seen by the Incas), and only somewhat superior weaponry.
Lucky events or circumstances included: Terrible biological weapons brought from Europe (diseases for which the Incas had no resistance) which sickened and killed millions of the natives with no effort at all on Pizarro's part; beginning the conquest immediately on the heals of a long civil war within the empire, which had exhausted its resources; help from some natives eager to overthrow the native leadership; and a fortuitous quick capture of the chief Inca early on.
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-- Chronology of the Conquest, 1999, the Archaeological Institute of America, http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/peru/conquest.html
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Among other things, the Incas knew how to create and use concave metallic mirrors to start fires with reflected, concentrated sunlight.
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-- fire; Encyclop�dia Britannica
Aztec Mexico and the Inca Empire of Peru were fabulous nations and cultures rivaling and surpassing in some ways the best of Eurasia across the Atlantic, during comparable periods of history. The Tahuantinsuyu (Inca) Empire boasted a population larger than ten million, and 20,000 miles of paved roads. It managed to successfully integrate many different cultures, religions, languages, and ideas into one sophistocated state over a matter of centuries. Long distance relays of runners carried important mail. The government maintained great food and supplies banks to be drawn down to sustain the people in times of drought and other disasters. Even with their superior military technologies, it is unclear that the Europeans could have overwhelmed these civilizations so easily without the natural biological weapons they carried in the form of diseases for which the native Americans had no resistance, and the strange coincidence of native american myth and internal Incan turmoil of the time which helped the Europeans gain a powerful advantage in their initial dealings with the natives.
But these South American civilizations had been preceded by others, over thousands of years.
Weaving and ceramics appeared to have been strong points of the ancient Peruvians (1000 BC and before). Successes with brain surgery are also evident. Electroplating was in use.
These South Americans bred and domesticated small pack animals like llamas and alpaca, devised sophistocated crop irrigation and anti-erosion schemes, grew cotton, and established elaborate systems of trade and governance.
The environment of Peru was one of the more challenging ones on Earth of the time: desert coastlines jammed against steep mountain ranges, and near arctic condition plains bearing soil not well suited to agriculture. Add to this frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, as well as tsunamis, and the results are not promising. But the peoples of the time found a way to not only survive but prosper.
The earliest known stoneworks of substantial size and quality seemed to be built by a people called the Chavin, in the Andes of the north (1000 BC). The Paracas also built combination tombs/temples to the south at around the same time. Then came the Nazca in the south and the Moche in the north. The Moche built huge mounds and pyramids. Later in the north arose the Chimu-- eventually themselves swallowed in conquest by the Incas. The Chancay appeared on the central coast. Sometime after 1438 AD the Inca conquered the Chancay, as well as other nations in the region.
-- Empires of Mystery: Unraveling the mysteries By CHRIS SHERMAN, Times staff writer, St. Petersburg Times, found on or about 12-11-99]
[jump off sources include...Tahuantinsuyu was the Incan's own name for their empire. At its peak Tahuantinsuyu was the greatest nation on the planet in terms of land area, and may have been the largest native american country to have ever existed.
Around 1500 AD Tahuantinsuyu boasted a population of 10 million. Its capital was Cuzco. Citizens paid taxes to the government in the form of work, involving construction projects as well as other matters. Citizens earned income from the government in the form of food and clothing.
Much of Inca life took place at high altitudes, since they possessed one of the highest mountain ranges in the world. 15,000 feet altitude was commonplace, while rituals might take place still higher, such as 22,000 feet and above. Much labor and hardship was involved in toiling at such frigid heights, as well as transporting supplies and building materials there. Their robust road system connecting all regions of the empire despite often horrific terrain was a marvel of ancient engineering. There were no wheels, and so no carts or wagons.
Basic Incan food staples included many kinds of corn and potatoes. The government was similar in many ways to modern socialist practices. Urban living was primarily a province of government and religious affairs and associated workers, with most citizens living outside the cities. Crime seems to have been rare, as the Inca possessed no prisons. For murder, or insults against the highest leaders or the gods, people would be punished by falls from high cliffs. Imprisoned starvation for adultery involving ritualistic virgins, or a leader's wife, and cut off hands or feet or blinding for smaller offenses, were other notable crimes and punishments of the Inca.
Young male runners relayed messages throughout the empire, over hundreds of miles.
The Incan empire had already been undergoing timultuous times before the arrival of their Spanish conquerers in the 1500s. The small pox and other diseases brought by the Spaniards devastated the Inca and others throughout the Americas.
-- Incan Indians
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
1,539 AD- 1,542 AD: A large and impressive european expedition travels across and interacts with virtually all of southeast North America and its native groups-- but afterwards all trace of the journey dissappears from the continent
The army of Spaniard Hernando De Soto meets and trades with hundreds or thousands of native americans over a wide region spanning Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, the Carolinas, and Oklahoma. The trade even includes livestock from europe. But afterwards all the goods and animals disappear forever and even the army's march itself is forgotten by the natives.
The disturbing lack of evidence left behind by such a grand european foray into the early americas shows how easily history may swallow up without a trace even the mightiest single ventures across oceans and continents-- not to mention many multitudes of smaller efforts.
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-- The Diffusionists Have Landed by Marc K. Stengel, The Atlantic Monthly, J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 0, http://www.theatlantic.com
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 1,540 AD- 1,598 AD: MAJOR CATASTROPHE: A once-in-a-1000-year drought afflicts much of North America and Mexico
The drought does not afflict all parts of the region equally. The worst hit spots suffer extended drought conditions for up to 40 years.
Spanish colonists living on Parris Island, South Carolina record the years 1,566 through 1,569 as the worst. The Parris Islanders abandon their colony in the same year as the famous disappearance of the Roanoke Island colony takes place: 1,587.
The severe drought conditions in northern Mexico and the North American Southwest may be the cause of native Americans abandoning their communities around 1,540-1,598. From 1,550 to 1,590 the Mexican Chichimeca War between native Americans and European colonists rages.
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-- Researchers Find Evidence Of 16th
Century Epic Drought Over North America, Source: University Of Arkansas (http://www.uark.edu/), ScienceDaily Magazine, 2/8/00. Related URLs include: http://pigtrail.uark.edu/news/Feb00/drought.html and http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/02/000208075420.htm
In 1540 European explorers were also reporting large cities on flood plains in the Amazon. By 1700 the cities will have been hidden by the jungle. Now (1990) some speculate that the civilizations discovered high in the Andes may in fact have begun in the lowlands of the Amazon centuries before. One lowland site (Marajo island) holds 400 enormous earthen mounds and may have been inhabited for a millennium or more. It may have been built around 5000 BC. Other sites display vast regions once under intensive cultivation and irrigation by natives.
-- GREAT ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS IN AMAZONIA? RIDICULOUS! From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #71, SEP-OCT 1990, by William R. Corliss, citing Ann Gibbons; "New View of Early Amazonia," Science, 248:1488, 1990
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Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 1,500s AD: The traditions of the Cherokee tribes of southeastern North America describe a group of pygmies or little people living in the southern Appalachian mountains; accounts of pygmies in northwest North America also exist
If such a people did once exist, they may have been descendents of a migration of pygmy Aetas from the Philippines. Prevailing sea currents could easily have deposited them in the North American northwest (with them becoming known as the "Et-nane" by average-sized natives there) after a crossing of the Pacific. The great influx of large newcomers across the Bering land bridge could have forced such people to move deeper into North America, eventually settling in the pleasant surroundings of the southern Appalachians. Sometime after that they seem to have either died out from disease or other reasons, or been absorbed into the average sized tribes surrounding them.
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-- SOME NEWLY DISCOVERED ARCHEOLOGICAL ANOMALIES FROM NORTH AMERICA From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #48, NOV-DEC 1986 by William R. Corliss, citing the Epigraphic Society, Occasional Publications, 15: 33, 77, and 77, 1986
-- AMERICAN PYGMIES From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #84, NOV-DEC 1992 by William R. Corliss, citing Virgilio R. Pilapil; "Was There a Prehistoric Migration of the Philippine Aetas to America?" Epigraphic Society, Occasional Papers, 20:150, 1991
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[Caution: Extreme speculation ahead; this section mostly created for "What If?" entertainment value]
Other, more exotic explanations for little people worldwide also can be had. For instance, few people circa 2000 AD will be aware that the primate precursors to humanity circa 45,000,000 BC included truly tiny monkey-like creatures so small they could stand on a 21st century person's thumb. These creatures enjoyed an evolutionary headstart of roughly 40 million years on humanity, as well.
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-- Fossils of Tiny Primates Found By DAVID KINNEY, Associated Press/Yahoo! Science Headlines, March 16 2000
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And tiny brains can often do more than we give them credit for. For example, those birds equipped with suitable vocal mechanisms can display impressive speech and speech comprehension skills, circa 2000 AD.
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A particular 24 year old African gray parrot named Alex possesses only a walnut-sized brain, but can speak significant portions of human language-- apparently with thought and meaning. He also can display emotions and social skills roughly equivalent to a two to three year old human child. Intellectual skills seem approximately those of a 5-6 year old child-- better than adult chimpanzees in some respects, apparently, who rate at around 4 years in human child equivalence.
-- Conversing With Parrots By Ned Potter, March 3 2000, ABCNEWS.com
http://www.abcnews.go.com/
Adult 20th century chimpanzees seem to possess intellectual capacities roughly equivalent to a four year old human child.
-- "Scientists identify chimpanzee 'culture'" By JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA, Nando Media/Associated Press, June 16, 1999, http://www.nandotimes.com)
Some scientific studies indicate that human beings may function pretty much normally even with virtually all their brain's cerebral cortex missing. Specific cases studied included cases of hydrocephalus.
These studies may also imply that relative brain sizes may not be as important in determining intelligence as some might think.
-- IS YOUR BRAIN REALLY NECESSARY? From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #15, Spring 1981 by William R. Corliss, citing Roger Lewin; "Is Your Brain Really Necessary?" Science, 210:1232, 1980
The most advanced or complex cells of life do not necessarily possess the greatest amount of genetic material. The cells of certain plants and animals may possess 100 times more DNA than their human equivalent. Partly this is due to 'junk' DNA-- or material that human scientists have so far found no obvious purpose for in the genetic media. But it may be that this extra material serves much the same purpose as a cluttered garage or basement for a human being: spare parts of various kinds which might come in handy someday, or heirlooms which might eventually prove valuable in some future circumstance. In the junk DNA's case of course, the potential value would be of an evolutionary sort.
-- GENETIC GARRULOUSNESS From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #41, SEP-OCT 1985 by William R. Corliss, citing G. Ledyard Stebbins and Francisco J. Ayala; "The Evolution of Darwinism," Scientific American, 253:72, July 1985
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What might have happened if some tiny primate managed to evolve into something akin to tiny human beings or better, over the 40 million year headstart they enjoyed over us? 40 million years is a staggering number. 21st century human beings themselves are only some 6 million years separated from chimpanzees. 40 million years is also a long time in terms of artifacts preservation. It may be that a pretty advanced civilization of tiny primates could have sprang up 30 million years or so ago, suffered a catastrophe, and disappeared, with little or nothing remaining behind to prove they ever existed. If their main civilization existed on only one continent-- and that continent was Kerguelen-- then 20 million years ago their whole world would have sank below the Indian Ocean.
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-- "'Lost continent' discovered"
By BBC News Online Science Editor Dr David Whitehouse, BBC News Online: Sci/Tech, 5-27-99, BBC Homepage
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There's many ways such a civilization-- even a relatively advanced one-- could have died and been erased from the face of the Earth. If the center of the civilization had existed in Chesapeake Bay around 35,000,000 BC, it would have been erased instantly by way of a great comet impact.
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-- Tiny Teeth Shed Light on Ancient Comets; 3/20/98; News Release; U.S. Department of the Interior; U.S. Geological Survey, Central Region Outreach Office, P.O. Box 25046, MS 150, Denver, CO 80225-0046. Contact Heidi Koehler Phone 303-236-5900 ext. 302 Fax 303-236-5882
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Chesapeake Bay and vicinity would appear to be a very unfortunate place for any civilization to arise-- for the cosmic impact described above was the second-- the first took place about half a million years earlier.
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-- GIANT IMPACT-WAVE DEPOSIT ALONG U.S. EAST COAST From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #87, MAY-JUN 1993 by William R. Corliss, citing C. Wylie Poag, et al; "Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 612 Bolide Event: New Evidence of a Late Eocene Impact-Wave Deposit and a Possible Impact Site, U.S. East Coast," Geology, 20:771, 1992
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But enough with tiny Atlantean monkey people. What if a somewhat larger monkey species merely evolved to a state good enough to become trusted early human companions in the pre-wolf/dog days-- as seems possible from some discoveries regarding Procynocephalus monkeys and Homo erectus around 2,250,000 BC?
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-- EARLY HOMO ERECTUS TOOLS IN CHINA by RUSSELL CIOCHON and ROY LARICK, NEWSBRIEFS, Archaeology, Volume 53 Number 1, January/February 2000, the Archaeological Institute of America, http://www.archaeology.org/0001/newsbriefs/china.html
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If such a thing happened, then the special monkeys and human ancestors also parted ways again sometime afterwards. Why? And what became of the monkeys? Could they have continued to evolve? Could it be that the reason the two split was that the monkeys began competing rather than cooperating with their human allies, by some point? Note that this scenario would appear much more plausible than the tiny Atlantean monkeys, just by virtue of much larger brain cases and overall physical sizes more comparable to small humans than mice.
What if these monkeys lacked tails, and walked upright? Walking upright over millions of years might eventually cause them to develop feet of a shape and size much like that of a human child-- thereby leaving behind footprints which would rarely attract human attention as being something out of place. What if they were also largely hairless? From a distance they would likely look like human children or short adults. If they wore clothing as well, observers would likely have to be pretty close to them to notice anything unusual about their appearance (And even then, such appearance might still fit within the extreme outer bounds of normal human variation in physical appearances).
What if they developed their own parallel but hidden society over the millennia? Avoided human beings like the plague? Retained nocturnal habits and eyesight from the early evolution days of primates? Grew to prefer subterranean or semi-underground dwelling over surface living?
Such a scenario could go far to explain age-old myths and legends the world over concerning strange and elusive little people: leprechans, elves, dwarves, fairies, etc., etc. Extra things like wings and magical powers could simply be literary embellishments to plain little people discovered living in various spots around the world.
Some believers will claim in 2000 AD that little people live in places like the southwestern United States. Perhaps by mere coincidence, lots of other claims of unusual finds or phenomena regarding the American southwest will make up a significant part of the American rumors circuit for centuries to come.
Yet another possibility is that some form of 'little people' evolved as symbionts to a wholly different humanoid species than mankind, accompanying them into space and sometimes returning to Earth for reasons of observation or others (please refer to A lost civilization on the Kerguelen continent, circa 21 million BC? for details on this speculation)
Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
Approximately 1,200 AD-1,850 AD: The Little Ice Age; this is the coldest period for world climate since the last deglaciation.
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-- page 99, "Ice on the World", National Geographic magazine, October 1988
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Or was it 1645-1715? There's varying time periods offered by my sources. The Little Ice Age may have coincided with a Maunder Minimum-- or a time when sunspot activity becomes very rare. It seems the Sun actually expands in girth during such minimums, perhaps lessening its radiative heat output as well.
Peopling of Americas 8,000 BC- 1,600s AD Contents
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