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Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 113: Sep-Oct 1997 |
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America b.c. and then some!
B. Fell and some other epigraphers have claimed that a large corpus of inscriptions found on rock walls and tablets all across North America proves that Europeans frequented this continent long before Columbus, perhaps 1,000 or more years before. Mainstream archeologists and anthropologists vigorously reject such claims. The scratches are merely plowmarks and the tablets are frauds.
As customary in these newsletters, there is a "however"! Some even more ancient North American bones are telling an even older tale. Besides Kennewick Man (SF#109), that well-preserved Caucasoid skeleton found recently in Washington state, there are a half dozen or so other well-dated North American skeletons that do not appear to be Asiatic. These skeletons are 8,000 or more years old and resemble those recently discovered in Asia. Collectively, they indicate that early Caucasians were farranging indeed. (Also, the Ainus now living in Japan have some Caucasian features.) It is possible that Caucasians preceded or accompanied Asian peoples across that famous Bering Land Bridge. They may even have helped found some of the Native American populations. (Recall the blue-eyed Mandans?)
Despite the political incorrectness of Caucasians in "America B.C." some scientists seem ready to accept the testimony of the bones, even while rejecting later epigraphic evidence. D. Stanford, at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, muses:
"I think we're going to see the whole complexion of North American prehistory change real fast."
(Rensberger, Boyce; "First Settlers to Reach America May Have Been Caucasoids," Columbus Dispatch, May 5, 1997. Cr. J. Fry via COUD-I.)
Comment. Our title refers to B. Fell's controversial book America B.C..