theory

[amcroja]

i got theory that ancient roman empire discovered the Americas b4 any other culture the Mayans have a legend of learning great things from a bearded "white man" who came to them sometime after 31 BC. the only white people that was capable of long was sea voyage was Romans . what did you think

Edited April 14, 2012 by amcroja

[caesar novus]

I sure wish the Romans or Italians established an early presence in the Americas. Besides that culture being more pleasing to me, the Spanish feudal heritage seems to be holding back central/latin America. Meanwhile isn't Italy demographically about to implode?

 

Anyway, to account for one white individual does not require an unprecedented mid atlantic passage. Besides the albino possibility, there could have been frequent visits from Europe via occasional ice bridges. All you would need during cold climate spells are some kayaks and the ability to live off seals or whatever, and work your way along the ice edge connecting the continents.

 

There are hints of evidence of European visits long before Vikings. Besides the clovis style points appearing in France and then in Americas, there are other clues which I forget. Some evidence is being destroyed due to political correctness - truely old skeletons with euro-caucasion features have been taken away from archeologists by courts, who say they are automatically property of Indians who then rebury them.

[MatthewMcIntosh]

I really hate this kind of thing. Kennewick Man is such an example of this. But there comes a point at which gaining historical knowledge is paramount, and if the skeleton is actually Euro-Caucasian, then such burial rights may be argued not to apply.

 

The problem is obviously that Native Americans do not want the possibility of any "white men" being here at any time before them, even though that is becoming largely more accepted. Not in the sense that there were enormous settlements of caucasians, but instead a few here and there that crossed temporary formations and others that have long since disappeared. This whole "claim" thing is ridiculous. Who cares! I don't give a *(&Y) what color or ethnicity a person was. The important information such things provide about human movement is important.

[NoJobRob]

Slightly off topic but relevant... I find the Mormon's idea that the Native Americans came from the pacific islands, and Israel before that, interesting. Not so much the "lost tribe of Israel" part, but the part saying that they came here from the Pacific islands like Tahiti, etc. There are many Tahitians and Samoans here in Hawaii, and they look exactly like native Americans. If you took a "local" from Hawaii and put them on an Indian reservation on the mainland, no one would be able to tell the difference between the person from Hawaii and say, a Navajo or a Seminole. I find these kinds of discussions highly interesting, personally, but sometimes it's easy to offend people because everyone's so touchy and sensitive these days. It gets harder and harder to have an honest discussion every year. LOL

[GhostOfClayton]

In 31BC, the actual Romans would have considered crossing the English Channel as a tough ask. They'd only done that a handful of times, and with limited success.

[caldrail]

i got theory that ancient roman empire discovered the Americas b4 any other culture the Mayans have a legend of learning great things from a bearded "white man" who came to them sometime after 31 BC. the only white people that was capable of long was sea voyage was Romans . what did you think

 

The romans were not known as great sailors. Although Thor Heyedahl 'proved' the egyptians could have cross the Atlantic, you would have to ask yourself whether that was actually likely since Mr Heyedahl knew where America was and the Egyptians didn't. Greeks were competent sailors with suggestions of long voyages - they maiontained seaward trade into the Indian Ocean after the Silk Road was closed by chinese withdrawal in Roman times.

 

As for discovering America, there's no mention of any heroic sea voyages that would give the Romans any credibility for this achievement. Far more likely the white bearded foreigners were vikings if this story has any truth to it.

[caesar novus]

A roman oil lamp from gaul 100ad was discovered in jamestown virginia usa a few years ago in soil context definately dating its placement there to 1607. So shall we assume thats when that roman colony expired or was killed off? Unfortunately that was also the place and time of britains first colonial landing... something this forums readers must know in their hearts was purely coincidental...

 

http://www.dailypress.com/features/family/dp-61191sy0jun19,0,6998506.story

 

 

ARTIFACT OF THE WEEK

 

Curator Bly Straube could hardly believe her eyes when archaeologists probing the cellar in the northeast corner of the fort recovered an early Roman oil lamp dating to 100 or 200 AD. Made in Gaul, the mass-produced firma lampe would have been common in Roman London, she says, and it was probably brought to Jamestown some 1,500 years later as part of a load of ship ballast dredged up from the Thames River. Less likely, yet still plausible, is the possibility that the tiny lamp arrived in the baggage of a gentleman scholar who had collected it as a classical curiosity. "It's a real surprise for us," Straube says. "But I'm beginning to think that nothing at Jamestown should surprise us."

Edited June 10, 2012 by caesar novus

[Auris Arrectibus]

Hi all,

 

 

Try professor Bryan Sykes for genetic roots: The 7 daughters of Eve

 

Here's a review of his work: 7 daughters & 27 Step Diaghters of Eve/

 

Latest book: DNA USA - A genetic portrait of America

 

 

 

 

Jeroen H de Lange,

Amsterdam

Edited June 18, 2012 by Auris Arrectibus

[Ursus]

the Mayans have a legend of learning great things from a bearded "white man" who came to them sometime after 31 BC.

 

 

That was the god Quetzalcoatl: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/487168/Quetzalcoatl

 

I tend to think whatever historical truth behind the myth doesn't involve the Roman Empire.

[DecimusCaesar]

I remember reading about a small Romanesque stauette head discovered by archaeologists in Mexico a few years back. The design was similar to that attributed to the Romans, and it dated back to before the Spanish conquest of Mesoamerica. Whether this stauette was brought over by the Romans, washed up after a shipwreck or was made by native artists remains to be seen. Personally I don't think that Roman triremes and Quinqueremes were designed for transatlantic travel, so it's unlikely that the Romans would have gotten to Mexico about 70 years before the Claudian invasion of Britain.

[Divus Iulius]

The White Bearded Man is more likely to have being an Albino, and Romans where not strictly White, and in General, and White People do not exist,as we are not Ghosts.

 

Those Roman Artefacts are found in Americas prior to European Colonisation, and South American is colonized by Spanish People, whom are Romans