Evidence For Transoceanic Contact with the Americas Prior to 1492

Praise for Across Before Columbus:
 

"The rich bundle of diffusion studies in this section as well as the whole volume will intrigue anyone who follows clues to solve a puzzle and who likes to ponder not-yet-accepted, maybe even offbeat possibilities."                                       

Daniel W. Gade, University of Vermont

"There will be those who will disagree with my conclusions. I don't regret this; an atmosphere of debate will give balance to our research and discussions."

Mary Ritchie Kay, University of California

"These papers are not the final word, but only a very important first word that may someday be looked upon as the tip of later-to-be-discovered masses of evidence that eventually sank the ships of skepticism which are presently secure in their attachment to supposedly unsinkable theories."

Brian E. Stubbs, College of Eastern Utah
 

Across Before Columbus
Proceedings of NEARA Conference held at Brown University, June 1992. Edited by Donald Y. Gilmore and Linda S. McElroy.
 

Did the astonishing pre-Columbian civilizations of the New World arise in the total isolation from Old World influences? Or did transoceanic contacts over hundreds, even thousands, of years shape the development of civilization on both sides of the oceans?

This volume seeks answers to that controversial question. Stated another way: Did civilization blossom in the Americas through independent invention, or were cultural and physiological traits borrowed - diffused - from civilizations across the seas?

The body of evidence that has come to light principally over the last century is addressed in these pages by the twenty-six pioneering scholars, both university professors and avocational researchers, who have examined evidence in more than a dozen fields related to the invention vs. diffusion question.  Their multi-disciplinary approaches are reviewed by four distinguished scholars as well as by the editors. (See the Table of Contents.)

The sometimes startling information in this volume grew out of  the Columbian Quincentennial Conference sponsored by the New England Antiquities Research Association - NEARA - and held on the Brown University campus in Providence RI in June 1992.  Some of the papers were published earlier in the NEARA Journal, but all of the material has been updated by the authors to bring the latest developments to a wider audience.

Information on how to order Across Before Columbus?

Table Of Contents for Across Before Columbus?

To the Reader (v)

Acknowledgments (vi)

Introduction George F. Carter (1)

Section I:  Artifacts, Sites, and Archeoastronomy

• Jomon-Valdivia Similarities: Convergence or Contact? Betty J. Meggers (11)

• King Juba Remembered: a Working Hypothesis Norman Totten (23)

• Comalcalco: An Early CLassic Maya Site Neil Steede (35)

• The Significance of Metallurgy in the Purhepecha Region Celia Heil   (43)

• The Gungywump Enigma: Serial Occupation in an Ancient New England Site David P. Barron (53)

• Earth, Stones, and Sky: Universality and the Continuity of American Cosmology James W. Mavor Jr. (57)

• An Ancient Solar Observatory at Willow Creek, California John H. Rudolph (71)

• Astronomical Alignments in the Newport Tower William S. Penhallow (85)

• Commentary - Section I Shadow and Substance Curtis Hoffman (97)

• Author Responses (104)

Section II:  Botany, Biology, and People

• Maize Diffused to India before Columbus came to America Carl L. Johanssen (111)

• The Zuni Enigma Nancy Yaw Davis (125)

• Dyestuffs and Possible Early Contacts Between Southwestern Asia and Nuclear America Stephen C. Jett (141)

• The Chicken in America: Spanish Introduction or Pre-Spanish? George F. Carter (151)

• The Yuchi, American and Asian Joseph P. Mahan (161)

• Commentary - Section II Peregrination of the Organic Daniel W. Gade (165)

• Author Responses (167)

Section III:  Linguistics, Inscriptions, and Glyphs

• The Identification of the Proto-Tifinagh Script at Peterborough, Ontario David H. Kelley (171)

• American Indian Languages Before Columbus Marie Ritchie Key (183)

• Early Eurasian Linguistic Links with North America Roger Williams Westcott (193)

• Some Remarks on an Insrcibed Stone From Grand Traverse County, Michigan Donald P. Buchanan (199)

• The Bat Creek Stone: A Reply to the Critics J. Huston McCulloch (203)

• The Decipherment of American Runestones Suzanne O. Carlson (217)

• The Transmigration of Tanit Gloria Farley (237)

• Commentary - Section III

Section IV:  Diffusion and Voyages

• Types of Cultural Diffusion Roger Williams Westcott (255)

• A European View of Diffusion and Transoceanic Contacts before 1492 Patrick Ferryn (261)

• Vestiges of the Natural History of Archeology:

• Setting up the Americas as a Scientific Experiment Alice B. Kehoe (267)

• The Hebrew Presence in Pre-Columbian America Cyrus H. Gordon (273)

• Ancient Chinese Maps of the World Donald L. Cyr (279)

• Columbus was 100% Portuguese Manuel L. DaSilva (283)

• The Brendan Columbus Connection Paul H. Chapman (287)

• Commentary - Section IV John L. Sorenson (291)

• Author Responses (295)

From The Editors (299)
Contributed Biographical Notes (303)
Index (307)

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