Postscript and errata to 8th edition

Errata Eighth Edition

As usual, when posting I was working from memory and not from reference books - so made an error or two. For one, Oetzi had arsenic in his hair, not copper, arsenic is produced as vapors when smelting copper ore; the presence of it in fairly high concentrations in his hair is strong evidence that he was directly and closely involved in the smelting and production of copper. The experts make no apologies for having the "Copper age" dates so far off either, just say that it is "remarkable" that Oetzi had a copper axe, and now claim that copper was being worked at least 1000 years before this time. This is the sort of attitude that irritates me - an all-knowing, conceited, arrogant element among historians that will not admit when they were so "remarkably" wrong about the timing of copper working. And it is this element among historians which is the most vocal and influential, those who have open minds and do not make such sweeping statements are a minority and a silent one at that.

Recent studies of DNA of Pacific rats and Polynesian people proves they are of Asian origins, which disproves Thor Heyerdahl's premise of a Peruvian origin. However, he did prove that cross-oceanic travel with the most simple craft was very possible, and brought up several issues that will not fit with the isolation idea. In particular, the sweet potato - which is native to Peru, and called there by local Indians "kumara" is the same plant found scattered across the South Pacific, also called by the same name among Polynesians. The sweet potato could not survive salt water, so could only have traveled across the Pacific by the aid of human beings. The bottle gourd too, traveled across the Pacific; cocoanuts too must have been propagated by human beings - it cannot survive in salt water for any length of time, the salt water seeps in through the 'eyes' of the cocoanut and spoils it. Since it is believed to be of American origins, the only answer is that ancient seafarers were transporting these plant products across the oceans! Yet historians still insist that no such ancient seafarers could ever have crossed the oceans, they must have sailed along within sight of shore at all times. This despite the number of finds of ancient shipwrecks in deep waters far from any shore by Robert Ballard, Willard Bascom and others. The nationality of the great majority of these ancient shipwrecks? Phoenician and Carthaginian. What a surprise.

Then there are the mysteries of cotton and hemp. Cotton made it from the Old World to the New some time in antiquity; no historian even mentions it, but it is a fact, and apparently made the voyage long after the Bering land bridge had sunk beneath the sea. Cristopher Columbus was offered spools of cotton thread for trade by the natives of America on his very first voyage. Hemp is another problem - it too apparently crossed from the Old World to the New in ancient times, and is ignored by historians as evidence of ancient contact across the oceans. Here too, the linkage to Phoenicians and Carthaginians is clear - hemp was a particular item of trade among these peoples; the Phoenicians built a rope bridge for Xerxes to cross the Hellespont with his massive army to invade Europe in 480 BC of hemp, which held up to storms and weather while the Egyptian papyrus rope bridge failed; Carthaginians carried it in their ships as cargo, both as a 'smoke' as as rope and fibers, it was found in Carthaginian shipwrecks dating to 260 BC. Ancient American Indians used hemp too, for ropes and weaving of nets and cloth. Mayan rope bridges built of hemp ropes were found still standing by the early Spanish explorers. Recently these historians have "discovered" the fact that cloves from the Moluccas islands, (near Australia) were being used in ancient Egypt, proving that SOMEONE was transporting them a tremendous distance.

There are theorists who propose Egyptians or Celts or Atlantians as the source of these mysterious migrations of plants and products, ignoring the fact that Egyptians and Celts were no great seafarers and that Atlantians would be too far back in history (11,000 years plus) and ignoring the obvious agents of such transmission, the Phoenicians and Carthaginians who were great explorers and traders. Herodotus even mentions in passing that Cinnamon came from the Phoenicians, who brought it from some near-mythical place. He also mentions the Phoenicians selling Cassia, which came from far SE Asia. Then there are the Egyptian mummies which when tested proved to have ingested both tobacco and coca, uniquely American products. The skeptics howled that this must be contamination, or from some African or Asian plants which were similar, again ignoring the obvious solution - that someone was bringing these products from America to Egypt in ancient times. Remember the rule of Occam's Razor, that in questions where one cannot find the answer directly, the simplest answer is usually correct. It is so violently distasteful to these guys that the very idea that some seafarers might have been trading with America that they will grasp at any answer, no matter how ridiculous, in order not to admit that some ancient contact was taking place. This is the purpose of my book, and I must get it done as others are already working on similar lines!

The Carthaginians excelled their parents the Phoenicians, using the 'gnomon' and astrolabes as well as the magnetic compass ("baetillium" or the "bones of Typhon") to navigate their way with ease. They plated the hulls of their ships with this sheets of lead or copper to prevent the attacks of shipworms, which would destroy wooden ships traveling in the tropics; this practice was not rediscovered until the British many centuries later. They hired mercenaries as sailors and soldiers from many lands, including Celts, Greeks, Germans, Scyths and many others, which would lead to some confusing clues left behind. They kept the Americas their national secret land, and threatened with death any who would dare to sail there. Indian seer tradition repeats this in large degree, including the fact that they (American Indians) were encouraged to kill any trespassers who ventured to "Turtle Island" (America). When Carthage was destroyed by Rome, contact was lost. Some Iberian-punic adventurers did apparently try to return, and Plutarch records that one American came to the ruins of Carthage where he remained for some time. Oh well, so much for the errata and addenda, will close here.
Oroblanco