Jerry, do I sense a certain skepticism regarding pre-Columbian, non-Viking visitors to the Americas? Have you not read the recent news releases about the conclusions regarding Kennewick Man? Polynesian or Ainu or Jomon?
As I told a colleague who, like me, works in the Southwest, what if we were to find out that Zuni, that orphan language among the Pueblos, was actually an ancient Arabic dialect? Wouldn't we feel silly?
(I recommend Nancy Davis's "The Zuni Enigma" for an argument that is both forceful and . . . um . . . fanciful that Zuni culture has its origins in Japan, which means they came through California, your neck of the woods. But don't pay a new-book price for it.)
And let's not forget Phoenicians -- we have Phoenician rock art here in New Mexico. Or so I'm told. I've seen photos but have never actually been to the site. Perhaps when I retire . . .
In any case, I might not have been as interested in Muslims in the Americas if the abstract hadn't mentioned that the notion has some purchase in the modern Muslim world. Southwestern archaeologists are doing a lot of exploring various narratives, including our own, these days so I was caught by that aspect of the abstract.
Jeff
Jeffrey L. Boyer, RPA
Supervisory Archaeologist/Project Director
Office of Archaeological Studies, Museum of New Mexico
* The Center for New Mexico Archaeology
* PO Box 2087
* Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504
* tel: 505.476.4426
* e-mail: [log in to unmask]
"There comes a time in every rightly-constructed boy's life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure." -- Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
________________________________________
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Jerry Schaefer [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2014 2:42 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject:
I have heard these claims before incidentally while doing Islamic archaeology and it can be amusing to see how they are argued. There are claims of pre-Columbian visits to the New World by Chinese, Africans, and let's not forget the ancient Hebrews. The only archaeologically substantiated pre-Columbian visits are by Norsemen, I believe. There has been an interesting theory for some time that ancient Lake Cahuilla in California was Azatlan in the Aztec creation story too, thereby justifying Mexican claims to California.
Jerry Schaefer, Ph.D., RPA
Director
ASM Affiliates • Carlsbad, CA
(760) 804-5757
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Website: www.asmaffiliates.com
-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bob Skiles
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2014 1:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject:
Jeffrey,
You're NOT alone ... I confess that not only am I not up on the need for a reinterpretation of such "claims" ... I wasn't even aware of the existence of any such in the first place!
Bob Skiles, RPA
PS - now that I'm retired, I have a bit more time for enjoyable pursuits like reading fiction ... if you should later snag a PDF, please favor me a copy via e-mail ;)
On 8/28/2014 1:54 PM, Boyer, Jeffrey, DCA wrote:
> (With my sincere apologies for cross-posting) I am intrigued by the content of this article. This is a topic to which I have never before been exposed, which perhaps reveals considerable parochialism on my part. My first response, then, was "What the heck?" Now I'm trying to decide whether to spend the money to access the article (I'm not a subscriber to the journal) because the topic just seems so fascinating. Am I the only one who isn't up on this?
>
> "Far Beyond the Western Sea of the Arabs...": Reinterpreting Claims
> about Pre-Columbian Muslims in the Americas
>
> Richard V. Francaviglia
> Terrae Incognitae, Vol. 46, No. 2: 103-138.
>
> http://www.maneyonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/0082288414Z.00000000033?ai=
> 16h&ui=1yc&af=T
>
>
> Jeff
>
> Jeffrey L. Boyer, RPA
> Supervisory Archaeologist/Project Director Office of Archaeological
> Studies, Museum of New Mexico
>
> * The Center for New Mexico Archaeology
> * PO Box 2087
> * Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504
> * tel: 505.476.4426
> * e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
> "There comes a time in every rightly-constructed boy's life when he
> has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure." -- Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
>
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