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Before Columbus; Links Between the Old World and Ancient America,
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224 pages, Hardcover
First published October 26, 1972
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November 18, 2022
A strong case for a fringe viewpoint. Did near-eastern seafaring civilizations make contact with the Americas before Columbus? First, there is a preponderance of sculpture, dated to some of the earliest American civilizations, that seems very clearly to depict African and Semitic faces. Second, roughly half a dozen Greek authors seem pretty clearly aware of a massive "island" far to the west of the Mediterranean. Third, there are widespread rumors throughout the Americas of legendary light skinned figures who came from the east, bearing odd customs and technology (frequently associated with the figure of a plumed serpent, a rather unique figure known and still on display in Ancient Greek temples today). Fourth, there are a series of cultural parallels which are shockingly similar (most notably support structures of pyramid architecture, as well as a myriad of bizarre phonetic/linguistic similarities). These appear similar beyond the reasonability of mere coincidence. Fifth, several artifacts-- thought their authenticity is controversial-- have been discovered bearing old world writing (Bat Creek Stone, Ambrose Stone, Calixtlahuaca coin collection).
Gordan's most significant contribution to the theory is his identification of the Bat Creek Stone. A supposed Cherokee artifact found on an official Smithsonian dig. It contained an odd inscription and was retrieved from a site which showed no signs of having been tampered with, that stratigraphy of which appeared entirely valid. The stone represented an archeological enigma for roughly 70 years, until Gordan-- an expert in ancient culture of the near east-- noted that the stone had been displayed upside down and identified the language as perfectly legible Paleo-Hebrew. After his interpretation was confirmed, the Smithsonian declared a forgery, despite the fact that no one in or around the area ever tried to recover it or capitalize on it for a profit. To this day there has never been a plausible explanation presented as to how a resident of South Appalachia would have had such particular knowledge of such an obscure script, and how the stone could have been placed so imperceptibly into an otherwise typical archeological site. Schizophrenically, after claiming the artifact to be an unambiguous fraud, the Smithsonian returned it to the Cherokee people on the grounds that it was an artifact of their culture. The only condition? That, if they ever display the artifact publicly, it must be presented in the original, upside-down orientation. The Cherokee agreed to this condition, not having any plans to display the thing publicly, because they believed it to be authentic and wanted it back.
Perhaps hard to believe, but simple research can confirm every point of this explanation as uncontroversial fact. The authenticity of an artifact-- one that had previously been considered authentic by the highest of authorities for over half a century-- was rejected, virtually overnight, because the implications of such authenticity would falsify established models of ancient history. While one may be inclined to give the Smithsonian-- and the mainstream archeological community altogether-- the benefit of the doubt, their track record is very poor in this department, and supporting evidence has only increased since the publication of this work. Replications of ~5th century CE Phoenician vessels have easily reached the Carribean. 64 year old Aleksander Doba sailed from West Africa to East Brazil in a canoe. Meanwhile the Archeological community has begrudgingly admitted that Vikings reached NE Canada, and that Polynesian sailors reached Chile. Not to mention that their total neglect of oral history led to their embarrassment as total amateurs discovered the existence ancient Troy, which the mainstream of the science had been claiming was known to be purely legendary (not to mention virtually identifiable cases concerning the Indus River Valley Civilization, and the Xia dynasty in China). After such regular instances of failure-- and consistent ridicule of those eventually vindicated-- the burden of proof will have shifted in the mind of any objective observer.
Whether the Smithsonian engaged in willful coverup, or whether this is simply a narcissistic dogmatism, I am not informed enough to comment. The intentional withholding of larger than average skeletons in the Americas (something for which there is a shocking amount of evidence) does cause me to wonder. But regardless of the potentially deceitful motivations of those capable of setting research agendas, I believe it is nonetheless worth giving the last word of this review to the hordes of secular sheep who ridicule virtually all pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories and frequently take knee-jerk offense at the presentation of institutional obscure evidence. Diffusionists like Gordan are frequently accused of racism, as though they must simply consider all non-European savages in order to believe all world culture has a single origin point at the (non-white) cradle of civilization. And while some diffusionists are offenders on this front, is not the opposite position more guilty of an inherent Eurocentrism? To assume that European world colonization is the only colonization, and to reject the rather large body of evidence to the contrary as mere fantasy-- this is not a response born of pure objective rationality, but of a strong cultural to the centrality of European colonization to the history of civilization. The most popular rationalization for the evils of colonialism is unfailingly utilitarian; that the world Columbus and his contemporaries built is the crowning achievement of all human history, and that therefore the ends justify the means. And yet, what if this has happened before? What if the Phoenicians or the Polynesians or some poorly understood seafaring group had also developed a global civilization? In that case the current global regime would no longer be singular. It would have an equal, would be subject to comparison, and its ethical flaws could no longer be justified on the grounds of singular necessity.
The scientific regime in which freethinkers attempt to operate is painfully reminiscent of the intellectual regimes of the past. Where once all ego and subsequent justification of atrocity was predicated upon the assumption that the Earth was at the physical center of the universe-- now the same is true for the desperate assumption that our current global regime is at the center of all history. All theses which question this assumption are systematically excluded with the same kind of groupthink that typifies doctrinal religious adherence and nationalistic fervor. Anyone genuinely interested in truth would do well to keep this prejudice in mind when considering the authenticity of the several hundred apparently near eastern relics found in the US-- not only the Bat Creek and Ambrose stones, but also the Ohio holy stones, the Michigan relics, the Grave Creek stone-- not even to mention the DNA presence of X2 X-Haplogroup and the R1-Y Haplogroup-- both in the American NE. I gave this text a 4-star review, only because it appears to me dated, and excludes a wide variety of potential evidence.
Gordan's most significant contribution to the theory is his identification of the Bat Creek Stone. A supposed Cherokee artifact found on an official Smithsonian dig. It contained an odd inscription and was retrieved from a site which showed no signs of having been tampered with, that stratigraphy of which appeared entirely valid. The stone represented an archeological enigma for roughly 70 years, until Gordan-- an expert in ancient culture of the near east-- noted that the stone had been displayed upside down and identified the language as perfectly legible Paleo-Hebrew. After his interpretation was confirmed, the Smithsonian declared a forgery, despite the fact that no one in or around the area ever tried to recover it or capitalize on it for a profit. To this day there has never been a plausible explanation presented as to how a resident of South Appalachia would have had such particular knowledge of such an obscure script, and how the stone could have been placed so imperceptibly into an otherwise typical archeological site. Schizophrenically, after claiming the artifact to be an unambiguous fraud, the Smithsonian returned it to the Cherokee people on the grounds that it was an artifact of their culture. The only condition? That, if they ever display the artifact publicly, it must be presented in the original, upside-down orientation. The Cherokee agreed to this condition, not having any plans to display the thing publicly, because they believed it to be authentic and wanted it back.
Perhaps hard to believe, but simple research can confirm every point of this explanation as uncontroversial fact. The authenticity of an artifact-- one that had previously been considered authentic by the highest of authorities for over half a century-- was rejected, virtually overnight, because the implications of such authenticity would falsify established models of ancient history. While one may be inclined to give the Smithsonian-- and the mainstream archeological community altogether-- the benefit of the doubt, their track record is very poor in this department, and supporting evidence has only increased since the publication of this work. Replications of ~5th century CE Phoenician vessels have easily reached the Carribean. 64 year old Aleksander Doba sailed from West Africa to East Brazil in a canoe. Meanwhile the Archeological community has begrudgingly admitted that Vikings reached NE Canada, and that Polynesian sailors reached Chile. Not to mention that their total neglect of oral history led to their embarrassment as total amateurs discovered the existence ancient Troy, which the mainstream of the science had been claiming was known to be purely legendary (not to mention virtually identifiable cases concerning the Indus River Valley Civilization, and the Xia dynasty in China). After such regular instances of failure-- and consistent ridicule of those eventually vindicated-- the burden of proof will have shifted in the mind of any objective observer.
Whether the Smithsonian engaged in willful coverup, or whether this is simply a narcissistic dogmatism, I am not informed enough to comment. The intentional withholding of larger than average skeletons in the Americas (something for which there is a shocking amount of evidence) does cause me to wonder. But regardless of the potentially deceitful motivations of those capable of setting research agendas, I believe it is nonetheless worth giving the last word of this review to the hordes of secular sheep who ridicule virtually all pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories and frequently take knee-jerk offense at the presentation of institutional obscure evidence. Diffusionists like Gordan are frequently accused of racism, as though they must simply consider all non-European savages in order to believe all world culture has a single origin point at the (non-white) cradle of civilization. And while some diffusionists are offenders on this front, is not the opposite position more guilty of an inherent Eurocentrism? To assume that European world colonization is the only colonization, and to reject the rather large body of evidence to the contrary as mere fantasy-- this is not a response born of pure objective rationality, but of a strong cultural to the centrality of European colonization to the history of civilization. The most popular rationalization for the evils of colonialism is unfailingly utilitarian; that the world Columbus and his contemporaries built is the crowning achievement of all human history, and that therefore the ends justify the means. And yet, what if this has happened before? What if the Phoenicians or the Polynesians or some poorly understood seafaring group had also developed a global civilization? In that case the current global regime would no longer be singular. It would have an equal, would be subject to comparison, and its ethical flaws could no longer be justified on the grounds of singular necessity.
The scientific regime in which freethinkers attempt to operate is painfully reminiscent of the intellectual regimes of the past. Where once all ego and subsequent justification of atrocity was predicated upon the assumption that the Earth was at the physical center of the universe-- now the same is true for the desperate assumption that our current global regime is at the center of all history. All theses which question this assumption are systematically excluded with the same kind of groupthink that typifies doctrinal religious adherence and nationalistic fervor. Anyone genuinely interested in truth would do well to keep this prejudice in mind when considering the authenticity of the several hundred apparently near eastern relics found in the US-- not only the Bat Creek and Ambrose stones, but also the Ohio holy stones, the Michigan relics, the Grave Creek stone-- not even to mention the DNA presence of X2 X-Haplogroup and the R1-Y Haplogroup-- both in the American NE. I gave this text a 4-star review, only because it appears to me dated, and excludes a wide variety of potential evidence.
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July 15, 2014Interesting read (but grossly incomplete) of the links between the Old World and Ancient America...much, much more before Columbus' voyages.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews