Statue Found In Olmec Ruins At La Venta
Posted on 03/15/2005 5:42:09 PM PST by blam
Mother of us all, or sister? Olmecs a puzzle
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD, New York Times
First published: Tuesday, March 15, 2005
On a coastal flood plain etched by rivers flowing through swamps and alongside fields of maize and beans, the people archaeologists call the Olmecs lived in a society of emergent complexity. It was more than 3,000 years ago, along the Gulf of Mexico around Veracruz.
The Olmecs moved a veritable mountain of earth to create a plateau above the plain, and there planted a city, the ruins of which are known today as San Lorenzo.
The Olmecs are widely regarded as creators of the first civilization in Mesoamerica, the area encompassing much of Mexico and Central America, and a cultural wellspring of later societies, notably the Maya. Some scholars think the Olmec civilization was the first anywhere in America.
Were Olmecs the "mother" culture? Or were they one among "sister" cultures?
Last month, Dr. Jeffrey P. Blomster, an Olmec archaeologist at George Washington University, reported in the journal Science what he and other researchers described as evidence of widespread export of Olmec ceramics that they said supported "Olmec priority in the creation and spread of the first unified style and iconographic system in Mesoamerica."
But proponents of the sister school are not letting things go unchallenged. The mother-culture advocates, said Dr. Susan D. Gillespie, a Mesoamerican archaeologist at the University of Florida, were "flogging a dead horse, the idea that the Olmec invented civilization, carried it to all of Mesoamerica, and it's the basis of the Maya."
Sort of stopped me right there!
Archaeologist catfight!
The Link Between Chinese And American Cultures? The Olmec And The Shang
Jomon type 'cord-marked-pottery' has been found in Olmec ruins. The Jomon are the original Japanese.
The seed must have been huge!
Remember, the modern Chinese characters are far, far removed from Shang, and have gone through several major reforms in just the last 2000 years. The Shang characters are true ideographs whereas modern Chinese characters are stylized representations of ideographs.
I once demonstrated this to some Chinese people observing the display of Shang Dynasty characters at the Smithsonian. Using my sign language book I correctly interpreted what was said. The Chinese observers could not do so.
The Plains Indian tribes were living in the vicinity of Cahokia and the confluence of the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio rivers prior to European immigration. One would imagine that any Chinese influence there would have arrived on boats coming up the Mississippi from the Gulf.
Amazing
So... the mound builders were Asians ?
Now I'm curious. Do you have any pictures of Shang Dynasty characters? With translations?
I'm sure the Plains Indian sign language connection has been made before. One of the problems here is that we've known the sign language longer than we've known about the Shang character set. Although it is very ancient in origin, it was discovered rather recently by archaeologists.
Didn't I read somewhere that Some other plains tribes could hold a conversation in Hindi?
BTW, I know a Japanese American lady for whom a firm offer was made by an interested Zuni. The "resemblance" is tremendous.
Lot's of bets on what's written there!
It makes sense, many Idians have the high cheekbones and a more caucasian than asian look to them. I have noticed some caucasian features in many Japanese. Something you wont find in Koreans or Chinese for instance.
Statue Found In Olmec Ruins At La Venta
In fact, Captain John Smith was chosen as the first governor of Jamestown because he was fluent in Turkish (which he had learned as a prisoner of war).
There's some basis in fact for this idea since the Spanish used South Carolina as a POW camp for Turks, Greeks and Balkan people (e.g. Croats) they captured in their wars in the Eastern Mediteranean at the time. In this lightly guarded POW operation, many men escaped, fleeing to Indian villages up the coast.
No doubt many such former prisoners lived out their days as slaves in numerous tribes.
This business also ties into the Melungeon supposition that this group of families in the Piedmont of West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee have some Turkish roots.
Kennewick Man also appears to have been Jomon.
I don't think there's any doubt that Japanese people have been coming to America for many centuries. It's just that none of them ever traveled back to Japan to tell anyone. Some problem with Pacific currents, the distance, etc.
I had no idea that the Spanish had any dealings that far north in America as early as the 1600's? Are their Spanish named towns in the Carolinas? Surnames?
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