Yet another bit of evidence to support pre-Columbian contacts between the old world and the new! I read that a german archaeologist opened a mummy (dating from the 7th century BC) and found tobacco leaves. Since tobacco is a new world planr, how did it get to ancient Egypt?
Anybody hear more about this?
Um, no.
What has been found recently are the residues of nicotine and cocaine in some Egyptian mummies. Or at least stuff that reacts like those residues. The news media have taken this to mean that the pharoahs were smoking and snorting while building the pyramids.
No explanation yet, although my money is on Old World herbs that metabolized or otherwise altered over the years into analogues of the New World alkaloids.
Might not the aliens who were busy flying around building pyramids in Egypt and Central America have been similarly addicted to tobacco, and accidentally left some?
Of course not, mjollnir! The aliens would never stoop to such low-end intoxicants as tobacco and cocaine. They used … Angel Dust.
Livin’ on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine
Another piece of evidence? What is the other “evidence”?
See those stars over there? That is the Little Dipper. I’d show you the Big Dipper, but my zipper is stuck.
Are these mummies from graves that had been broken into by tomb robbers?
Perhaps your average grave robbing team is a crack smoking, tobacco puffing bunch? 
Or maybe it’s the research students who did the actual work on the mummies in the lab… :>
You ask for evidence? How about the fact that a New World shellfish (softshell clam) was found in a danish fjiord! How about the fact that copper (from the great lakes region of N. America) was found as a component of european bronze. And what about the celtic “beehive” structures found throughout the NE states (Mystery Hill, NH). The evidence is there-just being ignored by orthodox archaeologists!
If the readings are tainted due to lax procedures by research (grad?) students, then there should still be uncontaminated samples to test. If there isn’t any control samples, the students should lose NSF funding.
See those stars over there? That is the Little Dipper. I’d show you the Big Dipper, but my zipper is stuck.
It’s impossible to date sea life using carbon dating, so the shell fish is a worthless bit of evidence.
I have no idea how the bronze was identified, details?
And yes, it has been suggested that Vikings visited North America. Whether they or Native Americans are responsible for the mounds is an entirely different story.
In any case, it’s a big stretch from there to Egyptian-Peruvian connections.
Sorry, Adam, I was attempting a joke. Obviously wasn’t appreciated.
egkelly,
When did this new world clam get found? Can you find a cite that shows copper from Ohio ended up in european bronze?
I don’t doubt that the Vikings and perhaps others were in the new world long before Columbus, but there is a HUGE difference between a quick visit and establishing contact for trade puposes.
See those stars over there? That is the Little Dipper. I’d show you the Big Dipper, but my zipper is stuck.
Kyberneticist,
Sorry, I didn’t mean to get defensive, but contamination is a real possibility. Plus I hate the fact that archaeology, more than most fields, really seems open to bizarre speculations.
See those stars over there? That is the Little Dipper. I’d show you the Big Dipper, but my zipper is stuck.
No prob, Adam. Probably it’s due to the scanty details with which Archaeologists are forced to work. That, and people’s preconcieved ideas about their origins.
Certainly preconceptions are what are causing controversy in the otherwise incredibly well documented field of evolutionary theory.
There is a good deal more evidence for pre-Columbian contact beyond Vinland. Widespread meso-American legends of bearded white men who came from the East. Bearded meso-American statues. Negroid meso-American statues. Very early Spanish reports of Negro tribes in the Americas. European legends, too, such as that of St. Brendan. There are also classical Chinese records that appear to speak of trans-Pacific voyages. Heck, maybe Kennewick man has something to do with it, too. And there are the persistent reports of Welsh-speaking “Indians”. (Some modern sources insist these last claims were exploded; others categorically deny it. Both sides impress me as giving in to wishful thinking.)
Unfortunately, the whole thing is a swamp of racism, reverse racism, loonyness and knee-jerk anti-loonyness.
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams
Whole heck of a lot of legends. And statue similarities is one area of frequent loony misinterpretation.
Let’s not forget Native Americans incorporated horses into their legends as an ancient gift of the gods, despite it being a fairly recent european introduction. Didn’t take long to adapt to that…
Lets face it, the Spanish weren’t in the new world to learn and explore. They came to convert and exploit. If you check their records they probably also saw cyclops and anthropomorphic animal-people. Not to mention the legends of the giants from the Argentine pampas. Again, coincidences are not enough to establish long-term contact.
Maybe the Maya had kept written records of contact with europeans and africans, but thanks to archbishop Landa the vast majority of Mayan writtings were destroyed. The 5 remaining codices and stellas from various sites, don’t mention anything.
American softshell clam: a Danish biologist found an ancient softshell clam in the Llimfjord in 1992. I don’t have his name, but he filed a report with the Danish National Museum. This shell was identified as a species never seen in N. Europe-speculation was that it was brought to Denmark in a Viking longship.New World copper: the isotopic ratio of copper (there are 2 or 3 isotopes)varies by the source of the ore. Several bronze swords were found in Scandinavia, which have isotope ratios matching American copper.AND Mystery hill (NH) has sevral carvings which are very close to celtic counterparts in Europe. Definative proof? No, but surely suggestive!
The clam I am not convinced of. How was it dated?
For the bronze, I hate to ask for a research reference, but I’ve never heard a peep about this before. Could you provide one?
If properly done and analyzed, isotopic compositions can be extremely effective methods for identifying something’s source.
At any rate, all three of your examples have nothing to do with Peru or Egypt, and there is a reasonable amount of evidence pointing to Viking incursions into North America.
The methodology for locating the source of minerals is pretty well established. I do know of obsidian found on one pacific being determined to have been quarried over 3000 miles away. The difference is that obsidian is not melted down and mixed with other materials.
Kyberneticist,
Actually, prehistoric Peruvians had contact with Japan ;). Ceramics found in northern Peru bear a resemblance to jamon style pottery from southern Japan. Then again the people who point this out never assume that two diverse groups could come up with similar motifs on their own.