[Bringbackthedraft]

I wonder if they will ever find a sword and a battle ax in an Indian Burial mound. Or maybe a Viking sailing ship on the bottom of one of the great lakes. The Iroquois and Huron had long huts similar to the Viking long houses. Makes me wonder just how long ago the Vikings explored our continent.

[muawiyah]

Real simple answer ~ The soils of North America east of the Appalachians are very acidic. Even the metal tools dropped on the ground by pioneering American immigrants in the 1600s and 1700s have mostly been corroded into rust.

Soil conditions change West of the mountains ~ and so far no metal tools.

The Spaniards had a survey operation going on the Acadia/Virginia line ~ at present day Spanish Hill Pennsylvania. They found extant armor, crucifixes, etc. and a buried boat. Some of the folks working out of there were picked up about 1612 by the Indians and shipped to New Jersy to the Dutch ~ where, of course, there were no Dutch in North America at the time. So, who were the Dutch in New Jersey? Were these proto-mandans? (/s) ~ more likely they were Spanish Netherlanders carving out fishing villages. I've found town sites for several dozen such places all around Souvr'n Jersey!