Posted on 06/15/2003 9:18:19 PM PDT by blam
'First Americans were Australian'
This is the face of the first known American, Lucia
The first Americans were descended from Australian aborigines, according to evidence in a new BBC documentary.
The skulls suggest faces like those of Australian aborigines
The programme, Ancient Voices, shows that the dimensions of prehistoric skulls found in Brazil match those of the aboriginal peoples of Australia and Melanesia. Other evidence suggests that these first Americans were later massacred by invaders from Asia.
Until now, native Americans were believed to have descended from Asian ancestors who arrived over a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska and then migrated across the whole of north and south America. The land bridge was formed 11,000 years ago during the ice age, when sea level dropped.
How rock art suggests a violent end for the "Australian" Americans However, the new evidence shows that these people did not arrive in an empty wilderness. Stone tools and charcoal from the site in Brazil show evidence of human habitation as long ago as 50,000 years.
The site is at Serra Da Capivara in remote northeast Brazil. This area is now inhabited by the descendants of European settlers and African slaves who arrived just 500 years ago.
But cave paintings found here provided the first clue to the existence of a much older people.
The costumes and rituals shown in rock art survived in Terra del Fuego
Images of giant armadillos, which died out before the last ice age, show the artists who drew them lived before even the natives who greeted the Europeans.
These Asian people have facial features described as mongoloid. However, skulls dug from a depth equivalent to 9,000 to 12,000 years ago are very different.
Walter Neves, an archaeologist from the University of Sao Paolo, has taken extensive skull measurements from dozens of skulls, including the oldest, a young woman who has been named Lucia.
"The measurements show that Lucia was anything but mongoloid," he says.
Walter Neves has measured hundreds of skulls
The next step was to reconstruct a face from Lucia's skull. First, a CAT scan of the skull was done, to allow an accurate working model to be made.
Then a forensic artist, Richard Neave from the University of Manchester, UK, created a face for Lucia. The result was surprising: "It has all the features of a negroid face," says Dr Neave.
Lucia's skull is 12,000 years old
The skull dimensions and facial features match most closely the native people of Australia and Melanesia. These people date back to about 60,000 years, and were themselves descended from the first humans, who left Africa about 100,000 years ago.
But how could the early Australians have travelled more than 13,500 kilometres (8,450 miles) at that time? The answer comes from more cave paintings, this time from the Kimberley, a region at the northern tip of Western Australia.
Here, Grahame Walsh, an expert on Australian rock art, found the oldest painting of a boat anywhere in the world. The style of the art means it is at least 17,000 years old, but it could be up to 50,000 years old.
And the crucial detail is the high prow of the boat. This would have been unnecessary for boats used in calm, inland waters. The design suggests it was used on the open ocean.
Fantastic voyage
Archaeologists speculate that such an incredible sea voyage, from Australia to Brazil, would not have been undertaken knowingly but by accident.
Just three years ago, five African fishermen were caught in a storm and a few weeks later were washed up on the shores of South America. Two of the fishermen died, but three made it alive.
Walter Neves says the negroid people disappear 7,000 years ago But if the first Americans had drifted from Australia, where are their descendants now? Again, the skulls suggest an answer.
The shape of the skulls changes between 9,000 and 7,000 years ago from being exclusively negroid to exclusively mongoloid. Combined with rock art evidence of increasing violence at this time, it appears that the mongoloid people from the north invaded and wiped out the original Americans.
Fuegean Cristina Calderon may be one of the few surviving descendants of the first Americans
The only evidence of any survivors comes from Terra del Fuego, the islands at the remotest southern tip of South America.
The pre-European Fuegeans, who lived stone age-style lives until this century, show hybrid skull features which could have resulted from intermarrying between mongoloid and negroid peoples. Their rituals and traditions also bear some resemblance to the ancient rock art in Brazil.
The identity of the first Americans is an emotive and controversial question. But the evidence from Brazil, and a handful of people who still live at the very tip of South America, suggests that the Americas have been home to a greater diversity of humans than previously thought - and for much longer.
And, then, along came Kenniwick Man who seemed to predate "native Americans".
Hmmmm. If Kenny were here before the Indians, how did the Indians get their land? Of course!!! By murder, plunder, genocide and land grabbing.
We can't have the text books even give a hint of that, now, can we? So, in the name of truth and justice, Clinton ordered the digs bulldozed and returned to their natural condition. History closed.
yitbos, is that about how it happened?
LOL! That might work.
Lost tribe??
Unraveling The Origins Of The Mysterious Olmecs
The Olmecs have pottery that is called cord pottery that is identical to the pottery of the ancient Jomons of Japan.
Yes, In a broad brush sort of way. I'm a catastrophist. The below link will give you a hint of what I mean
Did Asteroids And Comets Turn The Tides Of Civilizations
The tree rings indicate that there have been worldwide affecting events (some say near extinction events) at 3195BC, 2354BC, 1628BC,1159BC and 540AD, with two smaller events at 207BC and 44BC. Civilizations have risen only to be 'smacked' back down by these catastropic events. For example, I believe 1628BC was the Exodus and 540AD was the beginning of the Dark Ages. The asteroid that struck Iraq in 2354BC probably provided all the imagery for Revelations, etc. (Then of cource, all the water from the ending of the Ice Age did a number too, Noah's Flood?)
FReeper LostTribe got banned, LOL. I miss him.
BTW, this 2300BC+/- Iraqi crater was not found until Saddam drained the swamps that is/was the home of the Marsh Arabs. (it's a big one)
May also have been the Soddom and Gomorrah incident?
I'll admit, he didn't have his mojo working all the time.
Did you happen to see the "Cavemen" special on the Discovery Channel tonight? Pretty well done, but it was hard for me to get past that fact that Alec Baldwin was the host. ...kind of ruined it.
Posting ideas like this on FR is like saying "Jesus is Lord" in Pakistan or Saudia Arabia. You got kahunas. Why the date of 1628BC for the Exodus? What's your take on Moses?
A very interesting read, and his post-Worlds in Collision books are the most interesting of all, imo.
I agree. I'm not sure they got all the details correct but, most wouldn't argue with it. (I think we are Neanderthals)
I read his books many, many years ago. I think the best contempory book in this area is Cosmic Winter, by Clube and Napier.
IMO, Velikovsky's biggest mistake was trying to explain everything.
That is the date that Santorini/Thera/Akatori volcano blew it's top. It could have provided all the elements described in the bible, plagues, storms, darkness and etc. ('Torch at night staff by day)
Plus, archaeologists have dated charred wheat grains above the Santorini ash layer but below the collapsed walls of Jerico to 1628BC. The Santorini plume would have to be 30 miles high to have been seen in Egypt. The recent Pinatubo (Phillipines) volcano was 26 miles high and it was much, much smaller than Santorini.
The present accepted dating of the Exodus is based on the Egyptian 'Kings List', and more and more people are beginning to recognize errors in that list.
I believe Moses was real. Some calculations indicate that he was 80 years old at the beginning of Exodus, which means he didn't wander in the desert for 40 years.
Many are beginning to recognize an error in the translation of the number 40. It should mean 'many.' Notice how reaccuring the number 40 is in biblical writings?
Most of the Jews that left Egypt during the Exodus died inroute.
I also believe Mount Siani(sp) is in Saudia Arabia.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.