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Re: FW: [evol-psych] Aborigines were the first Americans & Viking Rock




Rob, I love the Viking rock! I have forwarded the article to several of my 
friends and I am sure they too will love the vague dates etc.  Today, I also 
received this article on the possible earliest Americans from the 
Anthropology List.  It ties in nicely with our discussions of early 
explorers from Europe.  If Australian Aborigines could make a 4,000 mile 
journey I am sure Europeans could make the skip across the Atlantic.  
However, a skull, and possibly several more skulls that haven't been studied 
yet, is better evidence than a rock.  Anyone can fake a rock or rock 
structure.  You have more trouble faking a well documented skull.  And you 
have trouble faking a documented local population with genetic traits of the 
"visiting" population.

For those of you who were bored the last time we got into this discussion, 
maybe you should skip this.  Darwin


> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:	Jesse S. Cook III [SMTP:jesse_cook@JUNO.COM]
> > Sent:	Sunday, August 22, 1999 5:13 PM
> > To:	ANTHRO-L@LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU
> > Subject:	Fwd: [evol-psych] Aborigines were the first Americans
> >
> > --------- Begin forwarded message ----------
> >
> > From: "Ian Pitchford" <Ian.Pitchford@scientist.com>
> > To: <evolutionary-psychology@egroups.com>
> > Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 18:50:00 +0100
> >
> > THE SUNDAY TIMES
> > August 22 1999 UNITED STATES
> >
> > Aborigines were the first Americans
> > By Sarah Toyne
> >
> > THE first people to inhabit America were Australian Aborigines - not
> > American
> > Indians. New archeological findings have uncovered evidence that they
> > crossed
> > the Pacific Ocean by boat and settled on the continent long before
> > Siberians
> > trekked across the Bering Straits after the Ice Age.
> >
> > Scientists have reconstructed the skull of a young girl found in Brazil.
> > At
> > 12,000 years old, "Luzia" is the oldest human skeleton yet found on the
> > American landmass. During the past four years 50 other skulls have been
> > discovered in Brazil and Colombia, all predating the invasion of
> > Mongoloid peoples from the north about 9,000 years ago.
> >
> > Luzia's skull was discovered in the early 1970s by a French archeologist
> > in a
> > layer of sediment in Amazonas and was dismissed as insignificant. It was
> > given
> > away to the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, where it remained until a
> > few
> > years ago when Walter Neves, professor of biological anthropology at the
> > University of Sao Paolo, heard about it and realised that it might
> > provide
> > vital clues for solving the mystery of America's anthropological
> > heritage.
> >
> > The procedure has revealed conclusive evidence of Luzia's ancestry. 
>Neves
> > is
> > still shocked by his findings. "When we started seeing the results, it
> > was
> > amazing because we realised the statistics were not showing these people
> > to be
> > Mongoloid; they were showing that they were anything except Mongoloid,"
> > he said.
> >
> > Luzia was reconstructed by Richard Neave, a forensic artist from the
> > University
> > of Manchester, for Ancient Voices, a BBC2 documentary to be shown next
> > week.
> > Neave's reconstruction backed up Neves's calculations: "That to me is a
> > negroid
> > face. The proportions of the face do not say anything about it being
> > Mongoloid."
> >
> > Luzia's facial characteristics are similar to those of the people of the
> > islands of southeast Asia, Australia and Melanesia. "They are similar to
> > modern-day Aborigines and Africans and show no similarities at all with
> > Mongoloids from east Asia and modern-day Indians," said Neves.
> >
> > The oldest signs of habitation in north or south America were previously
> > believed to be stone spear points discovered at Clovis, New Mexico, in
> > the
> > 1930s. They were dated at 11,000 years old. Charcoal, a chipped stone
> > stool and
> > scraps of food found recently, however, have been dated at 40,000 years
> > old--the remains, perhaps, of a campfire lit by ancient seafarers from
> > Asia.
> >
> > The theory that Aborigines could have travelled by water to the Americas
> > has
> > been given further credence by the discovery of a painting of an ocean-
> > going
> > vessel in Western Australia, which is 20,000 years old. The 4,000-mile
> > journey
> > between Australia and South America can still be undertaken with
> > relatively short island hops.
> >
> > Dennis Stanford, chairman of the anthropology department at the Natural
> > Museum
> > of History in Washington DC, believes the capability of prehistoric
> > peoples has
> > long been underestimated. "Way back then they weren't really 'cave'
> > people,
> > they were pretty sophisticated," he said. "I think Neolithic people were
> > doing
> > a whole lot more than we give them credit for; they were just as smart 
>as
> > you and I, they just did different things."
> >
> > Further evidence of the fate of the Aboriginal invaders has been 
>provided
> > by
> > computer- imaging technology, used to interpret cave paintings in the
> > Serra da
> > Capivara in northeastern Brazil. The pictures show pregnant women and
> > hunters
> > chasing giant armadillos, as well as what were initially interpreted by
> > archeologists as human figures dancing. After more examination, however,
> > the
> > figures are now thought to be warriors spinning through the air with a
> > spear--illustrating battles between the Aborigines and the invading
> > Mongoloids from the north.
> >
> > The American Aborigines were almost entirely wiped out by the 
>encroaching
> > Mongoloids, but anthropologists believe that some of their descendants,
> > interbred with the Mongoloid peoples who preceded today's South American
> > Indians, survived in Tierra del Fuego. Scientists believe that 
>Aboriginal
> > descendants escaped to this remote island off the southern tip of South
> > America, where they prospered until European settlers migrating to
> > Argentina at
> > the beginning of the 20th century brought stomach illnesses to the area,
> > which wiped out the majority of the remaining native Fuegans.
> >
> > Rows of white crosses mark the graves of the Fuegans, who wore sealskins
> > and
> > lit fires everywhere - even in boats - to protect themselves from the
> > harsh climate. Their skulls have now been analysed to reveal features
> > common to Neves's skulls.
> >
> > Evidence from Father de Agostini, an Italian ethnographer who filmed the
> > Fuegan
> > way of life in the 1930s, reveal similarities with Aboriginal culture in
> > Australia. Only a few Fuegans remain alive today, a fading
> > anthropological link with the first native Americans.
> >
> > http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/
> >
> > --------- End forwarded message ----------
> >
> > Jesse S. Cook III
> >
> > >>>>>> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the command <<<<<<
> > >>>>>> UNSUB ANTHRO-L to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU .  <<<<<<


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