Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact: Encyclopedia II - Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact - Overview

Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact - Overview

Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact - The diffusionist view

Theories of pre-Columbian contact have been fairly popular in the Western world since the 16th century. Several reasons may account for the spread of these diffusionist theories, including political propaganda, apology of colonialism, and the backing of priority claims. Proponents of such contacts often stated or implied the ethnocentric premise that Native Americans — generally portrayed as savages — could not have developed the sophisticated technical and scientific knowledge of some New World civilizations without outside help. These theories were also helped by certain religious beliefs, and of course by the scarcity of data about the origins and history of the American native peoples, which until the 1970s did not have a coherent scientific model.

Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact - The isolationist view

Popular views began to change by the 1830s, as the history and character of the pre-Columbian American civilizations became better known through traveler reports (such as the books by Stephens on Mesoamerica), documentary research (such as Prescott's accounts of the Spanish conquests of Mexico and Peru), and extensive archaeological research. These data eventually led most historians to embrace an isolationist view: namely, that the pre-Columbian civilizations had evolved gradually over several millenia, and that most (if not all) of their culture and knowledge had in fact been developed by the ancestors of the current Native Americans.

Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact - The Bering Land Bridge model

Another strong argument for the isolationist view was provided in the late 20th century, as carbon dating and molecular genetics began to shed light on the origins of native populations. It turned out that, while the human presence all over Eurasia is attested by fossil finds spanning several hundred thousand years, no human remains could be found in the Americas that were older than about 13,000 years.

This date roughly coincides with the last Ice Age, a time when the sea level was substantially lower than it is today. This coincidence, and the great genetic similarity between the indigenous peoples of the Americas and certain Siberian populations, led scientists to believe that the Americas were populated by migrations across the Bering Strait, which would have been mostly dry land at the time.

Linguistic and genetic data indicated two or three distinct migration waves. On the other hand, if it was the Ice Age that made the migrations possible, the route must have been closed again when that cold spell ended and the sea level rose again to its present level, some 9,000 years ago.

Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact - The isolationist dogma

Between the 1950s and the 1980s, this Bering Land Bridge theory came to be viewed as proved beyond any doubt. At the time, it was also widely believed that trans-oceanic travel became possible only in the 15th century, after key advances in European shipbuilding and navigation technology. Thus, most archeologists came to believe that the native cultures of the Americas had been completely cut off from the Old World after the closing of the Bering routes, when they were still in the Neolithic hunter-gatherer stage; and had developed without any outside influences for the next 9,000 years, until the time of Columbus.

This belief was reinforced by the lack of any solid evidence of Old World influences on the American civilization. By the 1980s, this theory had largely become a dogma; and claims of pre-Columbian contacts were often automatically dismissed, or even ridiculed, by most mainstream scholars.

Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact - Lessening of the dogma

Nevertheless, the isolationist view — that there were no trans-oceaic contacts after the initial migrations — has not yet been definitely proved; and, due to its nature, it is unlikely that it will ever be. In fact, a minority of scholars still find that historical records and/or cultural similarities provide convincing evidence for various pre-Columbian contacts.

The mainstream view has also softened somewhat over the last few decades. Some of the aforementioned contact claims are no longer lightly dismissed by scientists. In particular, the actuality of the pre-Columbian Viking landings at Newfoundland are now widely accepted, and may already be considered "mainstream". (However, they apparently did not have any lasting effect on the native cultures.)

There is also growing consensus that ancestors of the Inuit, Yupik, and other related North American peoples entered the continent well after the last Ice Age. This theory implies that a high-latitude route between the Old and the New Worlds, of which the location and nature is stil uncertain, probably existed at sometime or throughout the historical past.

Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact - Bering Land Bridge model in question

In fact, the standard model for the population of the Americas has been increasingly challenged in recent years, by claims of human remains that are dated between 20,000 and 50,000 years. The remains have anatomical features that differ greatly from those of Siberian populations. While those claims are still highly disputed, they raise the possibility that the Bering Land Bridge model may be too simplistic, to say the least. For instance, short-range navigation along the Pacific coasts of Siberia and Alaska may have provided an alternate route, independent of sea level. These doubts obviously weaken the earlier conclusion that the original migration routes were blocked 9,000 years ago.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Overview", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki