Seafaring clue to first Americans

[Viggen]

People in North America were voyaging by sea some 8,000 years ago, boosting a theory that some of the continent's first settlers arrived there by boat.

That is the claim of archaeologists who have found evidence of ancient seafaring along the Californian coast.

 

The traditional view holds that the first Americans were trekkers from Siberia who crossed a land bridge into Alaska during the last Ice Age. The report in American Antiquity makes arrival by boat seem more plausible.

 

more at the BBC

[kama]

Not possible to cross the pacific ocean in primitive canoes from the cave man era.

[Viggen]

Bear in mind that polynesia was inhabitated that way, not sure about the time frame though

[journaldan]

I think Thor Heyerdahl (sp?) proved decades ago that one could sail in a extremely primitive canoe-like structure across not only the Pacific but the Atlantic as well. If memory serves, on his first voyage, in the Kon-Tiki (sp?), a craft made from balsa woods, he made it from the coast of South America to somewhere in Indonesia. Aboard the Ra (again, sp?), a craft made of reeds, he made it from the eastern coast of Africa to the Caribbean.

 

Heyerdahl did this with a small crew on the vessel with him.

 

The trips took place in the 1940s, after World War II.

 

He proved that using natural materials that were all but certainly available from the dawn of time, one could cross both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Maybe not every time, as I believe he had one voyage that also failed, but certainly with a fair degree of success.

 

So, the question is not if it could be done. Rather, was it? And if so, by whom and when?

 

 

Here's a Thor Heyerdahl link with a short bio:

http://www.museumsnett.no/kon-tiki/Heyerdahl/

[Primus Pilus]

There are also so many strange connections between ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians and Native South Americans. Various plants and trade goods that were only available in the Americas have been found with burial sites or excavated in Africa.

 

I don't think there was any question that there was inter-continental contact in the ancient and even pre-historic world. It may have been limited and infrequent, but once in a while, one of those little boats would make it.

[kama]

in 1940, they could treat wood to make it water proof, had nails, sails, and food preservation. Cave man era had nothing of the like.

 

 

The only civilization that, IMO, could make it to the americas was the phoenicians. The only possible route would have to be off an island in west africa then over to the point of brazil or to florida. But then why didnt the phoenicians or egyptians try and conquer and settle the lands?

[journaldan]

Kama:

While they certainly could do the things you mention in the 1940s, my understanding is that they did not. Otherwise the point of the exercise would be wasted.

 

As to why didn't they conquer the New World, there's probably a couple of answers: the voyage was not a certainty and the crafts probably couldn't carry a whole lot, so getting military-type personnel and equipment to the New World was probably difficult.

 

I suggest that the most likely reason for not conquering the New World was that, given prevailing ocean currents, such ocean voyages of the pre-1400s were more or less one-way trips, with very little realistic hope for making it home. So, assuming that these civilizations could cross the ocean in any substantial number, it would have been even more difficult to bring home the spoils of such activity.

 

Why bother with the war if you can't get at the loot?

[Viggen]

An interesting news story that fits the theme

 

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=58...19P146&set_id=1