Western Americans PDF

52 THE OLMECS The Olmecs inhabited today's Mexcio from around 1200 to 400 BCE. Among their more famous remaining artifacts are giant heads carved from stone. For years, people have claime...

52 THE OLMECS The Olmecs inhabited today's Mexcio from around 1200 to 400 BCE. Among their more famous remaining artifacts are giant heads carved from stone. For years, people have claimed that the facial features of these statues more closely resemble those of people from sub-Saharan Africa than those of Mexico's indigenous people. Is this because the Olmec people were descended from, or possibly even ruled by, Africans? Ivan Van Sertima wrote a book, Dey Came before Columbus, arguing that this might be the case. He also found that many of the Olmec cultural practices were similar to African ones, writing, "A study of the Olmec civilization reveals elements that so closely parallel ritual traits and techniques in the Egypto- Nubian world of the same period that it is diffcult to maintain all these are due to mere coincidence." In support of these theories, Polish professor, Andrzej Wiercinski believed he found African skeletons and skulls at Olmec sites in 1972. He estimated that 13.5 percent of the skeletons at the Olmec site Tlatilco and 4.5 percent at Cerro de las Mesas were of African origin. Tie Olmec civilization also is known for its pyramids, math,.42 and written language (contributions that also influenced the Maya civilization). Perhaps traders from Egypt or Nubia came over and spread this knowledge among the Olmecs. Although it Olmec statue seems very early in history for someone to make such a long trip, Herodotus, the great Greek historian, wrote in the fifth century BCE about the impressive navigational skills of the Egyptians. Van Sertima also posited that ancient Phoenicians might have taken the Africans there; he believed that a stela found at an Olmec site shows the portrait ofa Phoenician captain. However, critics wonder why these journeys were not discussed in Egyptian documents. also note that Egyptians and Nubians at this time probably did not look like the statues either. Because Egyptians and Nubians were from North Africa, and interacted more with the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, neither were known to have sub-Saharan attributes. Addition- ally, the reason the faces may not have looked like the indigenous people of the area may have been because they were carved on huge rocks. Archaeologists have also noted that the dates do not line up well. Radiocarbon dating estimates that the Olmecs were making the giant heads hundreds of years before the Egyptians/Nubians were supposed to have arrived. Furthermore, at the proposed times that this interaction happened (between around 1100 BCE and 700 BCE), it had been around a thousand years since the Egyptians had made their giant pyramids. And although the Nubians were building small pyramids during this time, they were quite different from the Olmec pyramids in terms of the materials and manner in which they were built. Most importantly, the purpose of the Olmec pyramids appears to be ceremonial, and not for burial. It seems unlikely that the Olmecs would build and use their pyramids so differently from the people they supposedly learned about them from. Image source: Photo of Olmec Statue, By iStock.com/Quasarphoto WESTERN AFRICAN ACCOUNTS 53 Mansa Musa told the following to the son of a Cairo sultan. It was printed by A1-Omari, a Cairo historian, in1340. The predecessor Mansa Musa is discussing was Abu Bakr. If I have become the master of Mali, it is only because my predecessor refused to believe that the ocean was infinite.... My predecessor sent a preliminary reconnaissance fleet of four hundred ships towards the unknown and shadowy horizon. Only one returned, but that one told stories of a mysterious river in the middle of the ocean.... Not in the least discouraged, the emperor ordered the building of two thousand more vessels, a thousand for the men, a thousand for supplies.... He assigned to me his authority and power until such day as he should return, but to this day no one has ever seen him again. Most sailing done by the West Africans was done down the Niger River. 1%eir primary boat was a dug-out (or a canoe). In modern times, however, people have shown that it is possible to go much farther than the 1,600 miles from Africa to South America on one of these boats, if they get into a current. Some posit that the river Musa referred to was one of these currents. Had Abu Bakr's people gotten their boats into a major current, they could have made it across the Atlantic Ocean. Skeptics have argued that one would think an important event like this would have been mentioned in the extensive Mali oral tradition or in other literature about this time period. Defenders of the theory note that Abu Bakr's decision to leave the country was deemed a shameful act, and so it may have been forbidden to speak about it. Of course, even if Mansa Musa's account is true, there is no way to know that Abu Bakr and his fleet actually made it. Judging by how the first voyage went, it seems quite possible that the bigger venture could also have been a failure. Quotation Source: Villiers, Marq det and Sheila Hirtle. Timbuktu: The Sahara's Fabled City of Gold. New York: Walker and Company, 2007. SPANISH EXPLORERS Bartolomé de Las Casas, who traveled with Columbus, wrote the following about Columbus on his third journey. [Columbus] thought to investigate the report of the Indians of this Espanola [Haiti] who said that there had come to it from the south and southeast black people, who brought those spear points made ofa metal which they call guanin, of which he had sent to the king and queen for assaying, and which was found to have 32 parts, 18 were of gold, 6 of silver and 8 of copper. 3 Not only would West Africans have come from the southeast to get to the Caribbean Islands, where Columbus was located, but the word "guanine" was also the same word West Africans used for their gold alloy. Additionally, Columbus sent some spear points back to metallurgists in Spain, who said it was the same as used in Africa. There are other Spanish men who believed that Africans were there before them. Peter Martyr, a sixteenth century historian, discussed Africans already in the "New World" and theorized that they were shipwrecked Ethiopian pirates. Gabriel Garcia, a sixteenth century Dominican priest, also discussed these people, saying, "Tiese are the first [black people] we have seen in the Indies." Vasco Nåfiez de Balboa, a Spanish explorer who made it to the Pacific Ocean through the Americas, claims to have seen two black men living among an indigenous tribe in the early sixteenth century. Critics bring up that neither Columbus nor Las Casas saw these "black people." Columbus was only told about them, and the people from the Caribbean Islands may have been referring to a darker-skinned person native to the Americas rather than a person from Africa. Also, the Spanish claims to have seen Africans in the Americas are all from the sixteenth century, after the Spanish had already been there. Even if it is true that Africans were there, they may have been brought over by other European explorers. Source: Weiner. Leo. Africa and the Discovery of America. Vol. 2. Philadelphia: Innes and Sons, 1920. Image source,' Illustration of CoEumbus Ashore. By jStock.com/HultonArchive DRUGS AND MUMMIES 55 In 1992 drugs native only to the Americas, cocaine and nicotine, were found in Egyptian mummies. I-he researchers claim that out of nine mummies-they studied, all contained cocaine and eight of the nine had nicotine. These drugs may have been in the mummies because the mummified people had used these stimulants while they were alive. Or, maybe these drugs were part of the mummification process; for example, the nicotine might have worked as a bug repellent. Because these mummies are estimated to be from between 1070 BCE and 395 CE, the only way these substances could have gotten to Egypt would have been if there were trade between the South American and African continents well before Columbus crossed the Atlantic Ocean. In 1995, Nerlich et al. also discovered a mummy, dated from approximately 950 BCE, with nicotine and cocaine compounds in its stomach. Critics have wondered if the mummies could have been tampered with or been fake mummies. Others have posited that a chemical the Egyptian priests used may have changed over time to appear similar to cocaine or nicotine, but did not actually start as one of those two chemicals. Some also wonder if accidental contamination, such as people smok- ing in museums, might be the culprit. II 'mage source: Illustration of Embalmed Body and Mummy Case. By iStock.com/fotosmania 56 ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE IN THE AMERICAS Russell Burrows claims he was hiking in Southern Illinois in 1982 when he came upon a section of a cave that had carvings, coins, statues, weapons, scrolls, and more. Engravings in many of the artifacts appeared to be in ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek. It was proposed that this could be King Juba II's tomb, who was from North Africa. In 44 CE his body and treasure was removed before the Romans invaded. Could it have been transferred to Southern Illinois? In Arizona inscriptions have been found that appear to be in the Malian language, Mandinka. One translates to, "Birds are numerous, white." Another reads, "The elephants are sick and angry. At present sick elephants are considerable." Tie only reason Mandinka would be in America is if people from Mali had made the crossing. That the translated text discusses elephants, an animal native to Africa, makes it even more likely. It seems too much of a coincidence that a language would appear to be from Africa and discuss an African subject. Critics do not take the cave evidence seriously at all. Archaeologists consider it to be a hoax. Flhe few artifacts they have been allowed to see are not actually in an ancient language or have been deemed forgeries. Tie only question they have is whether Burrow was tricked or was doing the tricking. Many are also unconvinced by the inscriptions in Arizona. If these truly have been translated accurately, the writers seem to be talking about elephants in the present tense. Then where are these elephants? It is hard to imagine that elephants were in America but no remains would have been found. Also, how would they have even gotten elephants here? The inscriptions could be a hoax or a mistranslation ofa Native American language.