I understand our list master's insistence that this list is for historical archaeology and not history, but it seems fairly subjective and inconsistent to censor this question.  The discussion of the Cologne archives was allowed although it did not technically relate to historical archaeology outside of the fact that historical archaeologists might use such an archive.  In the same vein, history (including Marco Polo) is clearly a huge portion of historical archaeology, and I, personally, don't think it is outside the realm of what should be allowed discussion on this list.  If anyone had complained that this question was inappropriate, I could understand the censure, but I didn't see any comments from list members who thought that this was offensive.

Jenni Hatchett
 

-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Connie Street
Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2009 11:47 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Marco Polo

Is anyone on this list familiar with Marco Polo?  I watched a movie about him yesterday. First off I was insulted to see a Caucasian actor as the Khan...but what raised my curiosity the most was how Marco was instantly able to communicate with the Chinese.  Does anyone know how he learned Chinese or the Chinese learned Italian?

Connie Street
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