Crossing Ancient Oceans: Voyages to the Americas Before Columbus.
Publisher: Springer
Published: 2007
Place of publication: S.l
Language: eng
Description: Did the Polynesians, Chinese and others make contact with North American civilizations in prehistoric times? For many years, this question was as close to taboo as you could get in anthropology: even to ask it was to risk labeling oneself a racist. Now, however, hard physical evidence of such contact has mounted to the point where it is difficult to ignore. This groundbreaking work, by the single most prominent scholar on the subject of pre-Columbian contact, is sure to be controversial and will cause the standard textbooks of North American prehistory to be rewritten. Stephen Jett covers the maritime capabilities of Far Eastern and Oceanic peoples, the physical evidence for contact, and the cultural similarities between New and Old World civilizations that had previously been explained away. This is an important book that will force a reassessment of the entire picture of North American prehistory.