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        The Pre-Columbian America's:

The 'discovery' of the Americas in 1492 signalled one of history's most profound cultural decimations.

Although today, the savagery of such conquest might appear alien to us, as we sift through the fragmentary remains of pre-Columbian history, we reveal that it is still only ourselves we have to fear.

Quick Links:

(List and Description of Featured American Sites)

 

When were the America's First Colonised.

There is no question that the Americas were populated for a long time before Columbus' arrival in 1492. The focus of debate today is centred on suggestions that the Americas had been colonised by people from what is generically termed the 'old-world'.

Pre-Clovis Colonisation?

Two Mexican sites continue years after their excavation to be proposed as valid pre-Clovis sites. At Tlapacoya, Mexico, presumed hearths associated with animal bone middens were dated to 24,000 � 4000 and 21,700 � 500 years B. P. (Lorenzo and Mirambell 1999:488-489). Lorenzo and Mirambell (1999:489) recently concluded that "these dates provide clear evidence of human activity at the site about 22,000 years ago." At the site a prismatic obsidian blade found under a tree trunk dated to 23,950 � 950 years B. P. was obsidian hydration dated to between 21,250 and 25,000 years B. P. (Lorenzo and Mirambell 1999:489). Between 1977 and 1984, at El Cedral, San Luis Potosi, Mexico, excavation of a spring with an abundance of faunal remains produced, from a stratum dated to 33,300 � 2700 years B.P., a circular scraper manufactured from microcrystalline quartz by direct percussion (Lorenzo and Mirambell 1999:491). A limestone core was recovered from a stratum dated at 15,000 years B.P., and the nearest identified limestone source is 5 km distant (Lorenzo and Mirambell 1999:491). A hearth containing a charcoal lens dated to 31,850 � 1600 years B.P. and ringed with proboscibian tarsi "leave no room for doubt that it is the product of human activity," according to Lorenzo and Mirambell (1999:492). Three other roughly contemporaneous hearths dated to between 26,000 and 28,000 years B.P., while the two hearths producing the sites limiting dates dated to 37,694 � 1963 and 21,468 � 458 years B.P. (Lorenzo and Mirambell 1999:492). The seven superimposed hearths varied in size from 60 to 170 cm in diameter and contained many small fragments of burned bone (Lorenzo and Mirambell 1999:493). (18)

Monte Verde, Chile: Meltzer wrote (1995:21), "The Monte Verde site in Chile is the most viable pre-Clovis candidate, although for now neither it nor any other site resolves when or by which route humans first came to the Americas." According to Adovasio (the excavator of Meadowcroft) and Pedler (1997:573), Monte Verde, with its exceptionally well preserved organic material and artefacts radiocarbon dated to between 12,500 and 13,000 years B.P. "may prove to be the seminal archaeological site that will finally prevail over the Clovis-first model." Monte Verde was excavated from 1977 to 1985 and analyzed by more than 70 collaborating researchers. Monte Verde contains four discrete zones of buried cultural material and two components. The first, or basal, component, Monte Verde I, produced a radiocarbon determination of 33,370 �530 years B.P., associated with stones not yet shown to be artifactual (Roosevelt, et. al. 1996:363). The second component, Monte Verde II, has produced more than 30 radiocarbon determinations averaging 12,500 to 13,000 years B.P. (Adovasio and Pedler 1997:574). Because of the debate over the dating of the Monte Verde site, a group of archaeological specialists visited the site to assess its validity. They had to examine the artifacts, study the site�s stratigraphy and evaluate the reliability and internal consistency of the radiocarbon determinations. Their on-site visit focused on depositional circumstances, confirmation of stratigraphy, validation of depositional context, anthropogenic reality of alleged living structures, and potential sources of carbon contamination at or near the site (Adovasio and Pedler 1997:577). All the specialists agreed that there were indisputable human artifacts in a primary depositional context mantled by a peat layer and without indication of materials deriving from later depositional horizons at the site (Adovasio and Pedler 1997:578). The specialists reviewed the Monte Verde collections, geology, stratigraphy and chronology before reaching a consensus that Monte Verde "is a bona fide site" (Bonnichsen and Schneider 1999:497). (18)

 

Article: NewScientist.com (Apr. 2013) 

'A team claims to have found 22,000-year-old stone tools at a site in Brazil, though other archaeologists are disputing the claim. Christelle Lahaye of Michel de Montaigne Bordeaux 3 University in France and colleagues excavated a rock shelter in north-east Brazil and found 113 stone tools. The team dated the sediments in which the tools were buried using a technique that determines when the sediments were last exposed to light. Some tools were buried 22,000 years ago � thousands of years earlier than any known human colonisation of the Americas'.

(Link to Full Article)

 

Article: ScienceDaily (May 23, 2011) 

'South America's Oldest Textiles Identified With Carbon Dating'.

'Textiles and rope fragments found in a Peruvian cave have been dated to around 12,000 years ago, making them the oldest textiles ever found in South America, according to a report in the April issue of Current Anthropology'                  

(Link to Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com )

 

Article: Science Daily (Apr. 3, 2008) 

'DNA from dried human excrement recovered from Oregon's Paisley Caves is the oldest found yet in the New World -- dating to 14,300 years ago, some 1,200 years before Clovis culture -- and provides genetic ties to Siberia or Asia, according to an international team of 13 scientists'. (5)

 

 

The now fossilised, worked bone in the photo (above), was found nearly 40ft deep in upper Pleistocene deposits dating from about 10,000 - 8,000 BC, at Tequixquiax, in the north of the valley of Mexico. Height 6 inches (15.4cm). (Present location: Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Mexico).

 

 

   Pre-Columbian American Cultures:

 

The North American Indians.

Numerous Palaeo-Indian cultures occupied North America, from around the Great Plains and Great Lakes of the modern United States of America and Canada, as well as adjacent areas to the West and Southwest. According to the oral histories of many of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, they had been living on this continent since their genesis, as described by a wide range of traditional creation stories. However, genetic and linguistic data connect the indigenous people of this continent with ancient northeast Asians. Archaeological and linguistic data has also now enabled scholars to determine some of the migrations within the Americas.

Much has been written about the American Indian lifestyle, but the portrayal of Indians as war-painted savages still prevails in literature and on the screen. Sadly, many of the most important aspects of Indian lifestyle have been washed over in the course of providing this more commercially popular (and easier on the conscience) image of them. However, it is these very aspects of their lifestyle that are now recognised to be of such value in the way we perceive our relationship with the world today.

Estimates on the American Indian population before European contact range from between 2 and 18 million. By 1890, only 250,000 native Americans remained. (1) The total death toll has been estimated at around 100 million American Indians from the time of Columbus' arrival to the end of the Indian Wars 400 years later.

(More about the North American Indians)

 

A Summary of the better known Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures:

One of the most significant realisations from Meso-American archaeology is that several well-formed civilisations appear to have risen to greatness, only to disappear seemingly overnight from historical record. This same cycle of the 'rise-and-fall' of civilisations can be seen to be repeated around the ancient world, making it one of the most pertinent questions of prehistory, and one which perhaps deserves more debate in this time of global angst.

 

The Olmecs: (c. 1,500 BC - 400 BC) - The Olmecs were one of the first proper civilisations in Mesoamerica. Their culture is epitomised by extraordinarily lifelike and dynamic statues of people and several large carved Stone-heads. If the Olmecs are to be in any way gauged on their art, they appear to have been an almost multi-cultural society, with several genotypes present, including Oriental, Negroid and European (bearded). They are also the first culture to use the now-famed 'long-count', later adopted by the Mayans. The Long-count has a start date of 3,113 BC.

(Image Credits:http://www.latinamericanstudies.org)

(Tres Zapotes)   (La Venta)   (San Lorenzo)   (Monte Alban)   (Cuicuilco)

(The Carved Olmec Stone-Heads)

(Olmecs Homepage)

 

Teotihuacan civilization: (c. 300 BC - 650 AD) - The decline of the Olmec resulted in a power vacuum in Mexico. Emerging from that vacuum was Teotihuacan, first settled in 300 BC. By 150 AD, Teotihuacan had risen to become the first true metropolis of what is now called North America. Teotihuacan established a new economic and political order never before seen in Mexico. Its influence stretched across Mexico into Central America, founding new dynasties in the Maya cities of Tikal, Copan, and Kaminaljuy�. Teotihuacan's influence over the Maya civilization cannot be understated: it transformed political power, artistic depictions, and the nature of economics. Within the city of Teotihuacan was a diverse and cosmopolitan population. Most of the regional ethnicities of Mexico were represented in the city, such as Zapotecs from the Oaxaca region. They lived in apartment communities where they worked their trades and contributed to the city's economic and cultural prowess. By 500 AD, Teotihuacan had become the largest city in the world. Teotihuacan's economic pull impacted areas in northern Mexico as well. It was a city whose monumental architecture reflected a monumental new era in Mexican civilization, declining in political power about 650 AD�but lasting in cultural influence for the better part of a millennium, to around 950 AD

(Teotihuac�n)

 

The Zapotecs: (c. 600 BC - 700 AD) - The Zapotec civilisation flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca of southern Mesoamerica. Archaeological evidence shows their culture goes back at least 2,500 years. They left archaeological evidence at the ancient city of Monte Alb�n in the form of buildings, ball courts, magnificent tombs and grave goods including finely worked gold jewellery. They had a form of writing which is considered (along with another possible Olmec script), to be the predecessor of Mayan, Mixtec and Aztec writing. Monte Alb�n was one of the first major cities in Mesoamerica and the centre of a Zapotec state that dominated much of what is now the Mexican state of Oaxaca.

Zapotec culture/civilisation

(More about Monte Alb�n)

 

The Mayans: (c. 2,000 BC - Present). There is some debate over when the Mayan Civilisation began. The Mayan chronology is now divided into three periods of time; The Pre-Classic (c. 2000 BC - 250 AD), from which we still have the remains of the largest pyramid in the world 'La Danta', at the 'Cradle of Mayan Civilisation' - El Mirador, Guatemala; The Classic period (c. 250 - 900 AD) which can be considered as the 'Temple building phase', and the Post-Classic (900 AD - Spanish conquest 1492). The Mayan culture is noted for having the only full written language in Pre-Columbian America., as well as being highly skilled in astronomy, mathematics, and for their uniquely imaginative art. The Mayan peoples never disappeared, and today their descendants still form sizeable populations in the Mayan lowlands, living with a mixture of Pre and Post Columbian ideas.

(Chitzen Itza)   (Palenque)   (El Mirador)

(Mexico Homepage)

 

Incas: (c. 1,200 AD - 1,520 AD)  The Incas were the largest and the last of a complex of Andean civilisations formed primarily from the ancient Tiahuanacan and Peruvian cultures. The earliest traces of cultures in Peru are found in the Caral-Supe culture on the northern coast, predating the Olmecs by at least a millennium (c. 3,500 BC). Inca tradition spoke of the founding Inca male and female coming to Cuzco from the 'Island of the Sun' on Lake Titicaca, nearby. (4)Other important Peruvian cultures include the Chavin, Nazca, Moche, and Tiahuanacan. The Inca culture is typified by its cyclopean masonry and networks of roads. Their king was considered the 'Child of the Sun'.

(Cuzco)   (Sacsayhuaman)   (Machu Pichu)   (Chavin Du Huantar)   (Ollantaytambo)   (Nazca)

(Prehistoric Peru Homepage)

 

Aztecs: (c.1,400 AD - 1,520 AD)  The world "Aztec" is the Nahuatl word for "people from Aztlan", (14) a mythological place for the Nahuatl-speaking culture of the time. The Aztec empire arose only a hundred years before Cortez arrived and decimated it. The Aztecs borrowed much of their culture from the Toltecs, who in turn took influence from the Teotihuanacans, all located in the Valley of Mexico. The ruins of the capital city of the Aztecs, Tenochtitlan, are located in Mexico city. The Aztec empire is marked for the practice of human sacrifice (as were the Mayans). When Cortez arrived, he found a culture saturated by their own blood, who believed they had to sacrifice to sustain the path to death.

The Great Calendar Stone, Mexico City Museum.

(Teotihuacan)   (Tula)   (Tenochtitlan)

 

 

   Featured Pre-Columbian Locations:
 
    Atacama Giant, Chile.
  • Atacama: (Giant and Newly Discovered Complex)

The Atacama Desert in Chile is officially the driest place on Earth. Ironic then that a recent discovery has revealed the presence of a vast complex of structures sitting right beside the largest petroglyph in the world (The Atacama Giant), and lying buried beneath what can only be very ancient flood events.

(More about the Atacama Desert)

 
 
 

Caral-Supe Complex.

At 2,600 BC, this is the oldest centre of civilisation in the Americas. A quipu (the knot system used in Andean civilizations to record information) found on the site testifies to the development and complexity of Caral society. The city�s plan and some of its components, including pyramidal structures and residence of the elite, show clear evidence of ceremonial functions and monumental architecture, including six large pyramidal structures.

(More about the Caral Pyramid Complex)

 
 
   
  • Chankillo: (Landscape Observatory)

The Thirteen Towers of Chankillo run north to south along a low ridge within a fourth-century B.C. ceremonial complex in north coastal Peru. They formed an artificial toothed horizon that spanned the annual rising and setting arcs of the Sun. At present, the culture that made them has not been named.

(More about the Chankillo Observatory)

 
 

The Chaco canyon 'Sun-dagger'

In what is now the state of New Mexico in an area known as Chaco Canyon are the remains of an elaborate development of the Anasazi people who lived in the region from about 500 to 1300 AD. Some 120 meters (400 feet) above the canyon floor near the top of an outcropping known as Fajada Butte, three slabs of sandstone were placed against a rock wall creating a shaded space. Carved into this shaded wall are two spiral petroglyphs, one large and one small. Sunlight passes over them at various times throughout the year as it streams through chinks between the sandstone, but it was not until the 1970s that their true purpose was literally illumined.

(More about the Chaco-canyon sun-dagger)

 

    chavin du huantar
  • Chavin du Huantar: (Capital of the Chavin Culture)

Chavin du Huantar, is an unusual complex of steeply walled platforms, honeycombed with stone-lined passages surrounding a sunken plaza. It is unique amongst Pre-Columbian temple groups. The principle edifice, called 'The Castillo' is faced with cut-stone blocks in courses of varying widths. Inside the core are at least three irregular storeys of stone-lined galleries, chambers and ventilating shafts.

(More about Chavin du Huantar)

 

 

Chichen Itza - (Abandoned Mayan city).

The stepped pyramid-temple records the equinoxes in a unique way. The sun creates a shadow of a huge 'snake' to ascend the steps in spring, and descend again in autumn (2). Whether or not this was a deliberate design feature is speculative, but other astronomical features at the site certainly lend weight to the idea that it was intentional. Each step corresponds to a day, each platform to a Mayan month. The temple is erected above the 365 steps. (17)

(More about Chichen Itza)

 

   
  • The Olmecs - The First Multicultural Society.?

It was in 1938 that Dr. Mathew Stirling uncovered the first Olmec head which was made from a single piece of basalt rock resting on a prepared foundation of un-worked slabs of stone. He said of it:

 '...The features are bold and it is amazingly negroid in character'. (3)

(More about the Olmecs)

 

 

Machu Pichu - (Mountain Citadel)

This Pre-Columbian Inca mountain citadel was only rediscovered in 1911. It shows several strong indications of astronomical observation. The structures are built from white granite, with blocks reaching up to 3.7 metres in length.

Location of the "The Hitching Point of the Sun" because it was believed to hold the sun in its place along its annual path in the sky. At midday on March 21 and September 21, the equinoxes, the sun stands almost above the pillar�casting no shadow at all.

Skeletal remains show a 10:1 ratio of females to males. (12)

(More about Machu Pichu)

 

   
  •   Palenque: (Mayan Pyramid Complex)

'The entire city of Palenque was solely a priestly centre, a place of pilgrimage'.(8) The city is laid out in the shape of an amphitheatre, with a central pyramid. The city was deserted in the 8th century AD, along with several other Mayan centres. Archaeologists estimate that only 5% of the total city has been uncovered.

(More about Palenque)

 

 

San Agustin, Columbia: (Megaliths and Hypogea).

The San Agustin archaeological park in Colombia includes a wide variety of stone sculptures (Megaliths), mostly carved between AD 100 and 1200. In the park are an amazing array of separate stone sculptures, in the shapes of animals and warriors and human faces, some mythical, some realistic. They are carved out of volcanic rock - some are over 4 meters tall and weigh several tons. The site, excavated by K. Th. Preuss during the 1940s, has been declared a World Heritage Site.

(More about San Agustin)

 

 

   
  • Tiahuanaco, Bolivia:

The city was the administrative and religious heart of a pre-Incan civilisation that began in the year 237 BC and endured for over 1,400 years. During its peak the Tiahuanacan Empire covered nearly all of Bolivia, Northern Chile and Southern Peru, ruling over more than three million subjects. (9)

(More about Tiahuanaco)

 

 

Teotihuac�n - (The 'City of the Gods').

It was suspected by Stansbury Hagar, that the city had been built as a 'map of heaven'. During the 1960's and 1970's a comprehensive mathematical survey was carried out by Hugh Harleston Jr who determined that the principle structures line up along the street of the dead (and beyond), and that the city was a precise scale model of the solar system. (21)

The Pyramid of the sun (Left), has the same base dimensions and half the height of the great pyramid in Egypt.

(More about Teotihuacan)

 
 

 

 

 

   Pre-Columbian Americas - Other Items of Interest:

 

   The 'Canal Builders'...

The realisation of extensive ancient canal systems, harbours, quays and other (now underwater) earthworks in Florida and Louisiana has certainly raising a few eyebrows and has inspired debate as to their origin. Some of the canals are 5ft underwater, leading to claims of their being onwards of 7,000 years old, which is a considerable way from the first serious attempts to build American canals in recent times at around 1780, following independence from Great Britain, but is supported by discoveries of burials of humans in Florida at the same time, as evidenced by the remains of the 167 Windover 'Bog-people' bodies dated c. 7,000 BP. Of most interest however, are those canals that are reported as being underwater, as they suggest the existence of ancient and unknown culture.

(More about the Ancient Canal Systems in the Americas)

 

   The 'Mound Builders'...

USA has more than 100,000 artificial mounds between the great lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. (12)

The varying cultures collectively called Mound Builders were prehistoric inhabitants of North America who, during a 5,000-year period, constructed various styles of earthen mounds for religious and ceremonial, burial, and elite residential purposes. These included the Pre-Columbian cultures of the Archaic period; Woodland period; and Mississippian period; dating from roughly 3,400 BC to the 16th century AD, and living in regions of the Great Lakes, the Ohio River valley, and the Mississippi River valley and its tributaries. (15)

Grave Creek Mound, Moundsville, (c. 200 BC). One of several funerary mounds in the area.

The Inscribed stone from Grave Creek Mound: When the mound was opened in 1838, by Mr Tomlinson, the owner of the land, he found skeletons, adorned with plates of mica, copper rings and ivory beads, along with 'The Inscribed Stone'. Although this stone has caused much debate since its discovery, it seems that there is little debate over its existence (As it is held by the Smithsonian Institute). It is classified officially as an 'anomalous artefact'.

The 'Grave Creek' Inscription:

The Bat Creek Stone was professionally excavated in 1889 from an undisturbed burial mound in Eastern Tennessee by the Smithsonian's Mound Survey project. The director of the project, Cyrus Thomas, initially declared that the curious inscription on the stone were "beyond question letters of the Cherokee alphabet." (Thomas 1894: 391:4)

In 1988, wood fragments found with the inscription were Carbon-14 dated to somewhere between 32 A.D. and 769 A.D.(McCulloch 1988). This range is consistent with Gordon's dating of the letters. (9)

Original Lithograph: Thomas, 'The Cherokees in Pre-Columbian Times'. (1890).

(Note that the two vertical strokes on the top-left corner are not present on the original litho...)

Article: (P.P. Cherry, 1877) - 'The Grave-Creek mound: It's History and the Inscribed Stone, with its Vindication'.  (Quick-link)

(More about the American Mound-Builders)

 

 

   The Pre-Columbian Pyramid Builders:

In 1964, aerial photography identified nearly 1,000 pyramid sites in Peru alone. (4)

The earliest radio-carbon dating of the North American 'Mounds' is at 3,400 BC, while in Meso-America, the earliest evidence of such mound building is seen in the 'Proto-Pyramid' complex at Caral-Supe in Peru, which has been dated to 2,600 BC, the same time that the first pyramids were being constructed in Egypt and the Middle-east. The existence of pyramids in the Americas has often been suggested as a significant proof of contact between people from the 'Old' and 'New' worlds. However, this claim has been reasonably contended with the argument that the similarity in shape proves no such thing, and that such claims can only be validated by providing through substantiating proof, such as cultural, botanical and more recently, genetic research.

 Whether through accident or design, it is a fact that the 'Pyramid of the Sun' at Teotihuacan has the same base dimensions and is half the height of the 'Great' pyramid at Ghiza.

  

The layout of the two great pyramid complexes have also been compared.

(More about Pyramid Geometry)

Further similarities become apparent when we look at the similarities of 'function' between pyramids from the two cultures. We know for example that there was an astronomical association in both cultures. Van Sertima notes that 'When pyramids appear in America in the Olmec culture they are orientated astronomically'. (3) Of course, the fact that the Babylonian ziggurats and Egyptian pyramid were also built by 'Solar' worshippers is just one of the many other cross-cultural similarities that can be seen.

 

Pyramids and the Feathered Serpent.

The step pyramid of Kukulcan (Quetalcoatl), at Chitchen Itza (Note the snakes on the left side)

The Great stairwell at Hatshepsut's Mortuary temple (c. 1,458 BC) includes a huge feathered serpent running down each side of the stairwell.

The feathered serpent is a very specific and fundamentally important symbol of both South American and Egyptian cultures. In Egypt during the Middle kingdom, the symbol was generally interpreted as representing a united Egypt (both upper and lower). In South America, the feathered serpent was used to represent the legendary bringer of civilisation Quetzalcoatl, and is first seen in Olmec art c. 1,400 BC. The synchronicity of such a specific dual-symbolism being used in two completely seperated cultures is as equally startling as the similar dates it makes its first appearance.

(More about Feathered Serpent's)      (Other South American Pyramids)

 

 

   The Piri Reis Map:

The significance of this map is sometimes overshadowed by the various myths and claims surrounding it. Regardless of the debatable claim that the map shows the outline of the Antarctic continent, there are certain demonstrable facts which make this map potentially one of America's most valuable historical relics.

The Piri-reis map (c. 1513), is a fragment of a larger composite map of the world, with its epicentre in Egypt. It was created with a working understanding of longitude and latitude and a system of geometry which allowed the cartographer to accurately draw the outlines of Africa and America relative to each other. 

The legend on the map dates it to 'Muharran' in the Muslim year 919 (1513 AD), only 20 years after the official discovery of the Americas by Columbus in 1492. The legend itself however, gave claims an origin far older than 20 years,  revealing that it was a section of a world map composed from more than twenty source maps, some drawn in the time of Alexander the great, and that 'some were based on mathematics' (7).

The map has  pre-Columbian provenance.

The map shows the eastern coastline of America.

The map shows accurate use of Longitude and Latitude.

The map-builders used 'Spherical geometry'.

The centre of the map is at the junction of the 23.5˚ parallel and the longitude of Alexandria.

The cartographers of the Piri-reis map used a system called the 12-wind system, which was used extensively in the middle ages and has its roots in the Babylonian sciences.

(More about the Piri-reis map)

 

 

   Old World - New World Contact:

Diffusionism Vs Convergent Evolution:

There has been a long-standing prejudice in archaeological circles that transatlantic (or trans-pacific) crossings would have been impossible before the time of Columbus. This prejudice has been based on two basic precepts: Firstly that prehistoric people weren't advanced enough technologically to cross the oceans, and secondly, that having survived an ocean crossing, they would have been 'killed or eaten'. Both of these ideas today appear unreasonably unscientific, but a solid resistance to the idea remains.

In favour of the convergent evolution theory, it is argued that what is most interesting to archaeologists is the fact that 'the foundations of New World civilizations were so similar while their Great Traditions were so different. Because of the stylistic differences in the Great Traditions between the Old World and the New, and the lack of genetic and linguistic evidence, [they] assume that there was no contact between New and Old World civilizations before AD [1492]. This rules out diffusion as an explanation for any similarities in these societies. The most likely remaining conclusion is that there must be some regularity in the general process of social evolution', (16)

This seemingly illogical impasse has put the ball firmly back in the diffusionist's court, whose job it is now to find satisfactory archaeological proof of contact between old world and new world cultures. The argument for convergent evolution prevents 'similarities' from being considered, and although numerous artefacts have been produced n the past that appear to have old world provenance, as yet, none have been proven with modern methods. However, until such a discovery is made in a modern archaeological setting, there are several other respected avenues of research that do show evidence of prehistoric oceanic contact.

Article: The Azores: A Case for Pre-Columbian Contact.

(Pre-Columbian Contact between the Old World and the New World)

 

 

 

   Featured Pre-Columbian Sites:
 

North American Sites:

Bighorn Medicine Wheel
'Sun-Wheel' made of stones.
Blyth Figures
Man and 'horse' drawn in stones. (Horse extinct since 10,000 BP)
Cerro Blanco
Carved clay platform from eighth century B.C.
Chaco Canyon Anasazi 'Sun-dagger'.
El Endrillado (Chile)
Cyclopean complex.
Mystery Hill
Megalithic remains. Dolmens, Menhirs, Astronomy etc.
Serpent Mound Serpent Effigy Earthwork.

 

Mesoamerican Sites: 

(Mexico Homepage)

Chichen Itza

The Calendar pyramid, Observatory.
La Venta Olmec site. Negroid stone-heads
Monte Alban
Mountain-top ceremonial complex.
Palenque
Pyramid complex with tomb of 'Pascal'.
San Lorenzo One of the earliest Olmec centres.
Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) Aztec Capital City.
Teotihuac�n
Ceremonial pyramidal complex.
Tula Toltec ceremonial complex

 

South American Sites:

Bolivian sites.

 (Bolivian Homepage)
Tiahuanaco
Ceremonial complex next to Lake Titicaca.
Puma Punka Collapsed Temple.
Samaipata. Pre-Incan Carved Mountain-top.
   

Chilean Sites.

 
Atacama Giant. Newly Discovered Complex beside the Atacama Giant.
   

Colombian Sites.

 
Ciudad Perdida. Lost and Found jungle citadel.
San Agustin. Pre-Columbian concentration of 'Megaliths'.
Tierradentro. Numerous rock-carved underground Hypogea.
   

Costa Rica.

 
Carved Stone Balls. Several hundred carved petrospheres.
   

Guatemalan Sites.

(Guatemala Homepage)
El Mirador. Pyramid complex with 'La Danta', the largest pyramid in the world.
   

Peruvian Sites.

(Peru Homepage)
Caral Earliest Pyramid Complex in the Americas.
Chankillo Landscape Observatory dated at 300 B.C.
Chavin Du Huantar
Cyclopean complex, network of underground tunnels.
Cuzco. Earth Navel and Inca capital.
Machu Picchu
Cyclopean mountain citadel. Astronomical associations.
Nazca
Large-scale desert 'drawings'.
Ollantaytambo
Cyclopean hilltop fortress.
Sacsayhuaman
Cyclopean citadel near Cuzco.
Sechin Alto Complex Complex dating back to 3,500 BC.
 

(Old World - New World Contact)

(A-Z Index)

(Homepage)

References:

1). Barry Fell. America B.C. 1974. Demeter press.
2). A. Collins. Gods of Eden. 1998. Headline press.
3). Ivan Van Sertima. African presence in Early America. 1992. Transaction Publishers.
4). D. Zink. The Ancient Stones Speak. 1979. Musson Bok Co.
5). http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080403141109.htm
6). http://rllewellyn.net/academic/FantArch/fantastic.html
7). Hapgood, Charles Hutchins; Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings: Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age; 1997, Adventures Unlimited Press.
8). Lewis Spence, Mexico and Peru, 1994, Senate press.
9). http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1878905.stm
10). John. D. Baldwin. Pre-Historic Nations. 1869. Harper and Brothers.
11). J. Alden Mason. The Ancient Civilisations of Peru. 1957. Penguin Books.
12). The Atlas of Mysterious Places. 1987.Guild publishing.
13). Frank Joseph. Atlantis in Wisconsin. 1998. Galde Press Inc.
14). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec
15). Squier, A.M., E.G.; Davis M.D., E.H. (1847). Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. Washington DC. Smithsonian Publ.
16). http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/g/h/ghb1/anth2/ant2-16.htm
17). E. Von Daniken. In Search of Ancient gods. 1976. Corgi.
18). http://www.jqjacobs.net/anthro/paleoamericans.html
19).Thorton, Russel. American Indian holocaust and survival: a population history since 1492. 1990. University of Oklahoma Press.
21). G. Hancock. Fingerprints of the gods. Mandarin. 1996.

Further Research:

Olmecs: http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/olmecs.htm

 

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