That’s due to loess soils. Galciers melt and release bits of ground-up rock. The wind picks it up and deposits it wherever, often places where the glaciers never were. Here’s a map of where loess soils are distributed in North America. While there’s lots of loess in the Midwest, there’s none at all where the ice-free corridor was.
But even if there were some there, it takes time for loess soil to become fertile. Less time than bare rock, but it’s not immediate. Newly deposited loess has no organic constituent, it’s just ground up rock. Likely deficient in nitrogen, a very important plant nutrient.
Indeed. One of the most famous occupation sites, Mesa Verde has been dated to well over 13,000 years ago. One recent study pushes the date back to 16,500 +/- years ago.
Back in high school, I read They All Discovered America, wherein is recounted all the stories of pre-Columbian discovery from the the other direction–from the highly suspect to the probable. (This was just before the Norse remains were discovered.) The author’s attitude was–here’s the story, make your own decision.
Christopher Columbus hung out the “Open For Business” sign.
If he were following up such rumors, then you’d think he’s have gone north to Iceland or Ireland before going west on his first voyage. Yet he went south to the Canaries on the first leg of his voyage.
The thing is, he could have heard rumors of far away lands (usually islands) in any port in Europe. Maps of the period populated the Atlantic with all manner of islands, most of which were false. And they probably knew they were false then as well, except for the few known-for-certain ones (Azores, Canaries). He obviously didn’t use them or any rumors in planning his voyage.
He did visit Ireland, and he may have visited Iceland in 1477. But he wasn’t looking for just any land, he was looking for China and Japan. By sailing from the Canaries, he would have been at the latitude of southern China. Rumors of land to the west of Ireland and Iceland would have suggested that Asia was within sailing distance of Europe, but he didn’t want to go to northern Asia.
“A European who leaves the Strait of Gibraltar soon hits the Canary current which pushes him southwest down the African coast. He soon reaches the northeast trade winds which also push him southwest. If he leaves in late summer he will hit the trade winds sooner since wind systems move north and south with the seasons. The problem was to get back again. The solution was the volta do mar in which a captain would sail northwest across the winds and currents until he found the westerlies and was blown back to Europe.”
“Columbus underestimated the size of the earth and thought he could reach China by doing a grand volta do mar, going west on the trade winds and returning home on the westerlies. He had the right route but reached the Caribbean Sea rather than China”
“North Atlantic: The European who sails west is sailing into the wind. Further north, he is sailing against the Gulf Stream. It is not clear how winds and currents were used in this region.”
Yes, to beat a horse that’s been dead over and over again in these threads here…
Columbus took the smallest possible estimate of one Greek’s incorrect measurement of the Earth - About 4,000+ miles diameter. He also fudged the size of a “stadia” or lost it in translation. He added up the distances in Marco Polo’s writings, and estimated that based on the Earth’s diameter minus Marco’s wanderings, China was only about 3,000 miles west of Spain. If he’d heard that there were wild coasts to the north of where China was supposed to be, then it was just more proof he was right. The general intelligentsia of the time believed the Greek who had calculated the correct diameter, and pointed out that Chris was off by 12,000 miles - too far for ships of the day. Ferdinand and Isabel, jealous that Portugal was working its way to the Orient (via the horn of Africa) and cutting Spain out of the trade, decided to take a wild chance on Columbus.
As I said, the recent study I heard about looked at the interior corridor supposed to be an additional route into North America. The Great lakes and central USA may have had plenty of fertile land, thanks to detritus dragged down by the glaciers and left behind when they retreated. However, the area from Siberia to central Alberta was found, by these pollen core samples in lake beds, to be very barren, a lot of bare rock and devoid of significant vegetation - presumably its covering of soil was picked up and left in the moraines down south.
This study attempted to refute the idea of the “central ice-free corridor” as a path for some settlement into North America.
Interesting article- North American inhabitants split off from Siberians about 25,000+ years ago, but didn’t significantly invade north America for another 10,000 years.
Bridget Cleary was murdered in 1895 by her husband, who claimed she was a changeling. Not the middle ages and not a witch. But I’m okay with saying people got murdered over superstition in medieval Ireland. We know they were superstitious, and humans have always been murderous.
In 1453 the Ottoman Empire closed the Silk Road, prompting Mediterranean coutries to look west for routes to the East, so “in 1492, Columbous sailed the ocean blue”
(Mediterranean fleets had been sailing east past Constantinopel to meet up with the silk road.)
Portuguese explorations to find a route around Africa to the Far East pre-dated that, however, beginning in the 1430s under Prince Henry the Navigator.
Daniel J. Boorstin in “The Discoverers” has an excellent chapter on this. Basically, the kingdoms along the silk road imposed their own taxes and “discouraged” foreigners from wandering freely in order to maintain their markups. Genghis Kahn and his descendants opened up an Empire stretching across Asia, allowed free trade and reduced tariffs. Hence, in the 1200’s, Marco Polo and family could travel freely across Asia to China… and back. When the Mongol empire crumbled, the locals got back to their old tricks and banned foreigners, raised tariffs, all those silks and spices got very expensive again in Europe. However, the Europeans now knew where they had to go and started looking for alternative ways to get there. Portugal was geographically positioned to easily control the Africa route, so Spain was looking for alternatives. Columbus happened to have a wild idea so they took a gamble.
I don’t know how good the court record is from medieval Ireland. I somewhat doubt that it is very complete. It’s probably also reasonable to assume that some killings would have happened extra-judiciously. But, there does seem to be evidence of at least some prosecuted witches, including in medieval times. So, thar you go.
But I should also point out that my post wasn’t intended to bolster the idea that the Irish went to the New World. I was saying nothing beyond what I said, the presence of fantastic elements isn’t a slam-dunk against a tale being untrue. A greater context is really necessary to make that sort of determination.
