Two papers in early publication this week report on aspects of an old old theory--that of connections between the cultures of the Polynesian islands and the peoples of South and Central America. Appearing in an upcoming article in the Journal of Archaeological Science is a report of Polynesian chicken bones in a site in Chile dated to AD 1321-1407; and in the early edition of the Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences today is an article on computer simulations of accidental raft voyages which might explain the presence of South American sweet potato in Polynesia.
- Trans-Pacific Crossings: Was there Pre-Columbian Contact between Polynesia and America?, more details on the subject and links to the articles
- Sweet Potato Domestication, some info on the what we know about the delectable root crop
- Chicken Domestication, more on the chicken's power over us
- Spiced Chicken and Sweet Potato Recipe, from our Guide to Southern Cooking, Diana Rattray
Comments
Accidental raft voyages?!?!? Seriously?? Because a bunch of polynesians “accidentally” floated to South America with a raft full of sweet potatoes and chickens and didn’t eat them!? And then, to explain the corn in India they, what, floated back and missed?? Well… you tell me.
Well, I must not have described these papers particularly well. There are two papers, one about accidental drift voyages westward, and the other about the presence of Asian chickens in Chile. The articles are not related to one another, except insofar as they are exploring what used to be a taboo topic: interconnections between South America and Polynesia.
The ‘accidental voyages’ are only the name given to computer simulations and they don’t rule out any purposeful voyages whatsoever—it was simply to indicate that you could get sweet potatoes to Indonesia by accident.
Clearly, getting five chickens to South America from Polynesia was a trick, and it remains to be seen yet what’s up with that.
Thanks for your comment! Sorry for the confusion.
Kris
The book “1421″ is additional source that presents the same facts.
The author traveled the same route the Chinese armada from 1421 to 1423.
The findings are confirmed by DNA of plants, animals, people and stone towers. The maps Columbus and other explorers were originally made by the Chinese.
Hi Barbara:
Thanks for your note; but I’m not ready to believe that Chinese armada story, at least not yet. I haven’t seen the data that you’ve seen, though–it certainly hasn’t been published outside of Menzies’ books that I’m aware, and there’s no real data there. If you (or anybody) knows different, please pass it along!
Kris