Who Discovered America? : The Untold History of the Peopling of the Americas (9780062236777)

by Menzies, Gavin; Hudson, Ian

  When the bog people died they were clothed in fabrics and laid to rest reverently in this cemetery in Florida, together with their favorite tools and artifacts—as in the case of toys discovered alongside children. The fabric in which they buried their dead was made from local plants, using at least seven different complex weaves that required the use of a loom. The fabric would have taken quite some time to weave. It is thus apparent that they were not hunters always on the move, but a permanent society that gathered all sorts of plants, especially fruit and chestnuts, from trees that flourished in Florida nine hundred years ago, and gourds. They kept hunting dogs to hunt big game—horses and mastodons.

  It is also evident that these Florida bog people were by no means the earliest European sailors to settle in the Americas thousands of years ago.

  CONCLUSION

  Who Discovered America?

  One lesson is clear from our studies: Archaeologists should be cautious about dogmatically establishing estimates and theories concerning human migration to the New World. Not too long ago, the resident wisdom of the scholarly community did not accept the possibility that humans were present in either North or South America before 12,000 B.C. Then an archaeologist at the University of New Mexico, Frank Hibben, discovered Sandia Cave. There was clear evidence that the site had been occupied as early as 27,000 B.C., although some scientists refused to revise their views on the subject.

  The reason for this refusal was that if the dating was correct, here was a site much older than the Clovis site—which archaeologists have used for centuries to substantiate the notion that the Americas were populated by crossing the Bering Strait. Clovis was near enough (15,000 B.C.) to the Bering Strait both physically and chronologically to support the Bering Strait myth. Now here was a much older site than Clovis—and much farther south, thousands of miles from the Bering Strait. Acceptance of the dating of Sandia Cave at 27,000 B.C. would deal a devastating blow to the Bering Strait/Clovis theory. As a result, archaeologists who participated in the Sandia cave dig were sometimes rejected and mocked for their studies.

  As R. Cedric Leonard notes, sites discovered since the Sandia Cave have pushed back the reliable evidence on human habitation of the Americas to about 40,000 B.C. Here is some concluding information about that reality, focusing on Pedra Furada in northeastern Brazil, Monte Verde in Chile, and the Seaweed Trail. Details about these remarkable finds offer more than enough evidence individually to blow the Bering Strait theory to bits.

  The first site, Pedra Furada, is currently the oldest known site in the Americas with reliable, accepted carbon dating that extends human habitation back to 48,000 to 32,000 B.C. The site has human remains and unique rock paintings. The leading archaeologist in exploring, dating, and propagating knowledge of this site is Niède Guidon, from Brazil.

  Professor Guidon’s team has used advanced dating techniques—accelerator mass spectrometry—devised by the Australian National University, Canberra, to date carbon found in hearths uncovered at Pedra Furada. Guidon has described the use of “prepared pigments” that enabled dating at least back to 29,000 B.C.

  Serra da Capivara National Park, in which Pedra Furada is situated, is thousands of miles from the Pacific but may be reached via the 1,800-mile long San Francisco River, also known as “the River of National Unity” because it is a main transportation corridor from the sea to the west. The river flows eastward into the Atlantic Ocean between the states of Alagoas and Sergipe. The Canary and South Equatorial currents could carry boats from the Mediterranean to the mouth of the San Francisco.

  The second site, Monte Verde, located near Puerto Montt in south-central Chile, was uncovered by archaeologist Tom Dillehay, who conducted his research along the Chinchihuapi Creek estuary. He reported finding housing made of wood and covered in animal hides, stone tools, twine, and other types of bindings, signs of cooking, and the remains of butchered mastodon bones. The discovery, later analyzed by a panel of archaeologists, challenges the theory that the Clovis were the first inhabitants of the hemisphere. Evidence of the Clovis civilization was found in New Mexico, where pieces of the carved spear points were uncovered.

  Those who accept the theory of migrations across the icy land bridge from Siberia to Alaska avoid issues that are hard to resolve. The real question about the Bering Strait is succinctly stated by Jack Rossen, associate professor at Ithaca College and Native American studies coordinator in the Department of Anthropology: “Suppose you could find a corridor through a mile high wall of ice and follow it for a thousand miles,” he asked. “What would you eat? Popsicles?”

  The alternative to even venturing across the ice would have been to take advantage of a natural source of food, found beneath the belts of seaweed that extend along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Chile. Rossen describes the seaweed as a food source itself as well as a “canopy” for sea life that would have provided everything for human sustenance. “What would people rather do?” asks Rossen. “Try to find a meal in a world of ice or take a boat down the coast and help themselves to fish, oysters and greens?”

  I think that Rossen is spot-on. The currents in the North Pacific flow in a great loop, carrying boats north from China, past Japan, then swinging east past the Aleutian and Kuril islands to Alaska, then south along the American coast to Central America (see the map at the front of the book). So sea travelers from Asia to North and Central America have a free ride and food along the way and can sail so they are only out of sight of land for three days. This great clockwise, nearly rectangular, flow of water takes place all year round.

  It appears certain that man reached the Americas by sea at least forty thousand years ago. Doubtless this date will be continuously pushed back, probably to 100,000 B.C., which was when the first peoples sailed the Mediterranean to Crete and (separately) in the south from Asia to Australia.

  Mariners sailed via the great currents, which gave them “free rides” across the Atlantic in a great circular loop from Europe to America, like those “free rides” across the Pacific from Southeast Asia to North and Central America. This is entirely consistent with the genetic studies of DNA described in chapter 6.

  The settlers came in never-ending waves from 40,000 B.C. onward, settling initially along the coasts (Monte Verde and Pedra Furada), then migrating inland. In South America after 1600 B.C. there were more or less continuous journeys from Southeast Asia, as we have described in this book.

  The first settlers in Brazil and Florida in 40,000 B.C. probably came from the eastern Mediterranean as signified by the X2 haplotype. The conquistadors came last—Columbus was forty thousand years too late to claim having discovered anything.

  Between 3000 B.C. and 1400 B.C. there was continuous contact between the Minoans of the eastern Mediterranean (who came to the Great Lakes for copper) and North America. This is described in my book The Lost Empire of Atlantis.

  This golden age was abruptly ended by the eruption of the Thera volcano, which also sent a huge tsunami across the Mediterranean. The combination of sunlight being blocked by the volcanic ash in the atmosphere and the tsunami not only smashed Minoan (and possibly Egyptian) fleets to pieces but also flooded northern Crete and probably the Nile delta. Plague followed. The Egyptian pharaoh lost control and a long night descended on the Mediterranean civilizations. Voyages to the Americas stopped, the Great Lakes mines ceased production, and contact between the New World and Europe largely ceased. The “sea peoples” took over and Mediterranean civilization disintegrated, until the emergence of Mycenae and then Athens around 500 B.C.

  This left the field clear for the Chinese and Asian voyages of exploration, principally to Central and South America. They were carried to the New World by the Pacific currents. The Olmec and Maya civilizations of Central America were largely based on Chinese civilizations and culture, as we have described. Korean and Japanese ships joined Chinese fleets in voyages to the Pacific coasts of both North and South America from around 2000 B.C., as described in detail by Charlot
te Harris Rees.

  Chinese exploration peaked under the Emperor Zhu Di and his Admiral Zheng He. By then there were detailed Chinese maps of the Americas, created during the voyages of Kublai Khan and Zheng He. Chinese influence mostly evaporated after the death of Zhu Di in 1424. China retreated into isolation for more than five hundred years. This left the way clear for the European conquistadors.

  America then is one incredibly rich continent—not just because of nature’s bounty but on account of the talents brought by sailors on continuous voyages from Europe and Asia for the past forty thousand years. All of the great religions of the world were represented in wave after wave of exploration. Jains, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, Confucians, Jews, Christians, followers of Islam, Sikhs, and Parsis all have contributed to making the Americas the richest and most fascinating continents in the world.

  Huge advances have been made in researching early America, as we have seen—discoveries of new documents and maps, archaeological material, studies of plants and animal organisms among them. Advances in the study of DNA, not least by the Human Genome Project, have allowed geneticists to devise human ancestry markers to assist in determining a person’s heritage—whether Asian, Native American Indian, or European, and the percentage and mixture of each. Satellite photography and imaging has helped find more sites.

  I am determined to invite skeptics along with me as I gather information, and have benefited from challenges and questioners of all or part of my earlier books. I have intended in this volume to update the evidence—which already was overwhelming—that demonstrates my description of these migrations. It will be an unending saga, I am sure, with new techniques and new generations of explorers setting off to deal rationally and logically with answers to who really discovered America. It has been a rewarding journey and we are not done yet.

  Long live seafaring!

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  GAVIN’S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Who Discovered America? should be my swan song, the culmination of my three previous books. All of these books have become international bestsellers. I am indebted to those who have bought copies of them and contributed to the everlasting stream of new evidence, which has resulted in this book. I thank all of these people, not only those who have helped in publishing it.

  General Thanks

  The three previous books are on sale in more than seventy-two editions, in more than one hundred countries and thirty languages. I left school at fifteen without formal qualifications and am not particularly clever, so it is I think legitimate to ask why anyone should read my books. My answer is that all of these books, not least Who Discovered America?, are the result of team efforts, of which I am proud to be a member. This can be illustrated by the way all four of the books have come about.

  First, we are not alone in asserting that traditional history as currently taught is one long fairy story. Emeritus Professor John Sorenson and Emeritus Professor Carl Johannessen have devoted their lives to publishing bibliographies with descriptions of more than six thousand intercontinental journeys before Columbus. They have been joined by Emeritus Professor Carroll Riley and Emeritus Professor Betty Meggers. We have publicized their work in four popular history books—I am an unashamed popularizer.

  Second, we have a golden stream of new evidence from the friends of our website, www.gavinmenzies.net (at our peak we had more friends than Oxford or Cambridge had undergraduates). This is the basis for all the books. “Professional” historians are patronizing about readers’ contributions—in my view the critics’ condescension is unwarranted now that the Web has arrived and enabled us all to become historians.

  From the mass of new evidence we select the most interesting pieces and I write this up into a manuscript—which takes, on average, three months. I then show it to my literary agent, Luigi Bonomi, who advises me on what should be emphasized or deleted. My second draft is then given to Luigi, who decides to whom he can sell the proposal. Luigi is a genius at this—he has to date sold all four books to the first publisher he has approached. We then retain Midas, who have so brilliantly publicized all four books (they drew in twenty-two thousand press, radio, and TV mentions for the 1418 map). Midas devise a marketing campaign aimed to sell foreign rights at the London Book Fair each April. Selling foreign rights before the book is published helps the publishers sell it to bookstores in the principal markets.

  The publishers—Bantam Press for 1421, Orion for The Lost Empire of Atlantis, and HarperCollins for 1434 and Who Discovered America?—have all done a marvelous job in publishing, marketing, and selling these works. They are just like submariners—decent, pragmatic people, delightful to work with, and extremely clever. My books have been strongly disliked by “professional” historians who have accused my publishers of putting out fraudulent books. These wild accusations have been borne with great good nature and forbearance. I thank these publishers for standing by me.

  Particular Thanks for Who Discovered America?

  As mentioned, Luigi has worked his magic selling the manuscript to HarperCollins, his first choice.

  HarperCollins have been wonderful publishers for the past twelve years. I should particularly like to thank Peter Hubbard (who is the publisher of record for all four of my books in America), Cole Hager (Peter’s assistant), Liate Stehlik (publisher), Juliette Shapland (foreign rights director), and Camille Collins (publicist).

  Peter has shown truly inspiring judgment in selecting and appointing Peter Eisner (a distinguished author in his own right) to restructure the book. Peter Eisner has greatly improved the structure so that it now contains a vast amount of information in a readable form. Peter has also documented the research of a considerable number of experts on whom we have relied—the notes reflect this.

  I would also like to thank Ms. Moy for her fast, accurate, and good-natured word processing of the nine revisions of this book.

  Ian Hudson has once again managed our team with great good nature and wise judgment. He is my joint author for Who Discovered America? and will, I hope, continue the revolution in future books he writes.

  Finally, my heartfelt thanks to my beloved wife, Marcella, without whom there would have been no research and no book.

  GAVIN MENZIES

  June 19, 2013

  IAN’S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  First and foremost I would like to thank Gavin for giving me the amazing opportunity to write this book with him. I have known Gavin from a very early age. He and Marcella have worked with my parents for many years, and their daughters are roughly the same age as my brothers and I. We spent many a happy time together in our childhood days with family trips to the pantomime, Bonfire Night parties, and the like. One outstanding memory was when Gavin and Marcella took us all to lunch in London’s Chinatown, when I must have been all of eight years old. It was the first time that I had been exposed to the wonders of dim sum, and I remember being in awe of Gavin as he seemed to know exactly what he was doing, ordering deftly from the menu. So one might say that my initial interest in Chinese culture was sparked inadvertently by Gavin some twenty-five years ago!

  I started working with Gavin in 2002, upon graduation from the University of Bristol. It was my first job as a graduate, and I haven’t looked back. It has been a diverse, inspiring, and fascinating journey—a personal voyage of discovery that more than a decade ago I never would have dreamed of. Over the years, I have gained experience in all manner of fields—research, translation, editing, writing, lecturing, curating exhibitions, television documentary production—the list is endless, and I am eternally grateful to Gavin for trusting in me, and giving me the freedom to enhance and enrich my skill set. We have covered a great deal of ground over the years, seeing leaps in technology that have made our research work much easier, as well as increasing the speed and widening the breadth of dissemination of our finds around the world. It has been an honor and a pleasure to share this journey with Gavin, and I hope that there will be many more adventures to come.

  I
would also like to thank Frank Lee, who has worked tirelessly alongside Gavin and me, keeping us pointed in the right direction and enabling us to continue with our research projects. Gavin, Frank, and I formed a company in 2009 with a view to maintaining a sustainable business that could keep our website and research going for years to come. We would have found it incredibly hard to continue without Frank’s support and advice over the years, and I hope that the steps that we have taken thus far will ensure our ongoing success in the future.

  I would like to echo Gavin’s words in thanking Luigi Bonomi and HarperCollins for all of their hard work over the years. It has been a pleasure working with so many diligent and inspiring people—long may it last!

  The “1421 team” to me is now like a family, spread far and wide around the world. We are in touch with readers from almost every continent on a daily basis and it is a delight to be at the hub of this focal point for research and the sharing of knowledge. Our special thanks go to those whose ongoing research has contributed to this book. These contributors include, in no particular order, Cedric Bell and his son Dave, Dr. Rosanne Hawarden, Charlotte Harris Rees, Paul Chiasson, Dr. Siu-Leung Lee, Liu Gang, Dr. Gunnar Thompson, Jerry Warsing, Mark and Laurie Nickless, Emeritus Professor Carl Johannessen, and Emeritus Professor John Sorenson. They have all become friends to us along the way, and we are most grateful to them for sharing their knowledge and skills with us, inspiring us in our search for the truth. Their work embodies the brave, tireless spirit of the underdogs, rallying against the established paradigm of American discovery. We hope that this spirit shines through in our book and will continue to shine for many years to come.