The Admiral

Knock off this shit. Everyone knows that the Mormons discovered America, North and south.

The Admiral

Secular Pinoy

Wake up you misinformed fools! The Americas were first discovered and inhabited by the Atlanteans, where they created massive structures, like pyramids, which they used to communicate with advanced alien races. And they also exploited the Continents by mining for all those energized crystals that they sell on TV. Geez, don't people read informative books, like those by Graham Hancock, anymore?

ps418

Well, the first humans to enter north America were from Asia. But they arrived about 13-12,000 years ago.

Human skulls are 'oldest Americans'

Vorkosigan

I'm all for Chinese contacts; no reason why one-way voyages were impossible. Some of the technological evidence is very suggestive. See Needham's extremely sober Transpacific Echoes and Resonances: Listening Again, the best book ever written on the topic, by the major scholar of Chinese technology. Not only is the book a great intro to the topic -- although it is a bit dated now -- but it contains a fascinating discussion of the whole concept of diffusion as well. Numerous traits and manufacturing processes, from the use of night soil as fertilizer through scapulimancy through distillation methods through the identical myth of a rabbit on the moon pounding out magic drugs. A very suggestive book, though nowhere conclusive.

The cocaine mummies were quite interesting. It's a shame that no one knows whether the mummies themselves were fake or real.

Vorkosigan

Marduk

"The cocaine mummies were quite interesting. It's a shame that no one knows whether the mummies themselves were fake or real. "

???fake mummies?
I hadn't heard that, were they dated? could you elaborate?

joedad

Has it not already been determined that the oldest human skulls in the Americas most closely resemble aboriginal Australians and Ainu?

I cannot recall the specific South American find off hand, which more closely resembles Australian aboriginals, but Kennewick man most closely resembles Ainu AFAIK. In both cases, these oldest skulls do not resemble Siberian asians or native Americans (Indians).

joe

Ulrich

There is also a theory that the remnants of the Knights Templars attempted to found a colony in America more than 100 years before Columbus. Carvings at a Templar church in Scotland, as well as those on the Tombstone of one of the leaders of the order indicate that they sent a fleet of 300 people along with considerable Templar wealth to the new world in an attempt to reestablish the order. Enigmatic artifacts found in Nova Scotia point to the founding of just such a colony. The fact that the Templars were being persecuted at the time would be reason enough for secrecy, though it should be obvious that any such colony ultimately failed.

Wyz_sub10

I know this is a 'no-no', but I tend to summarily dismiss any rumour or story that contains the Knights Templar.

*bad, bad skeptic...no treat*

Ulrich

In general I tend to agree, and nearly started the post by using the words 'conspiracy theory' rather than just 'theory'. The fact that I learned of this through a segment on the History Channel, where they actually visited the site where they found the stone artifacts and remnants of colony buildings in Nova Scotia lend a bit more creedence to this particular theory in my mind.

Since we were already on the very speculative subject of who visited the Americas first, and this find would have predated the Chinese fleet, I thought I would throw it out there for consideration. I think the Templar theory may even have a bit more credibility than the Chinese theory, as evidence has been found to support it on both sides of the Atlantic.

Vorkosigan

Alas, there was a huge traffic in fake Egyptian mummies during the 19th century. Many mummies in old collections are actually modern fakes. The origin of the mummies tested for the cocaine mummies deal is not well-documented.

Vorkosigan