They Came By Boats
By Mike Colacuori
While attending a conference on Ancient America in Harris, Michigan, there was a concern raised about the high number of grey hairs among the attendees. If you happen to have grey hair, perhaps you remember the 1964 hit song by Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A Changin’. I was 23 and recently out of college when that song was popular and already had several experiences which caused me to question what I had been taught.
I might have felt rejected by the concern expressed at the conference as I do not fit well within the grey hair contingent. I more properly fit among the no hair group. Actually I do have a little hair around my ears, but I have been excluded from the grey hairs. We no-hairs have to coalesce around our own hair condition. One other group may be worthy of mention. Some there belonged to a group of those having much facial hair. We then had a conference made up of “grey hairs”, “no hairs”, and “facial hairs”. We are thus classified based on our hair existence or lack thereof.
It must be admitted that a three way classification did not include quite everyone present. There were a small number who did have hair, but, were difficult to classify based on their hair color. One person, in particular, had hair which seemed to have undergone a remarkable transformation from 2017 to 2018. That person’s hair seemed to defy classification and I am forced to exclude that person from the mix.
This all might seem odd as the conference is attended by highly intelligent people who have researched much of our history, in some cases for decades. Why are we not classified based on our knowledge or experience, but rather by our hair! Weird. The real concern was that there was a shortage of younger researchers who might continue the work of research into overlooked or disavowed aspects of our history after we old timers are gone.
While none of us are satisfied with the traditional view of history, I think it is important to take a step back and see how far we have come in the past 50 years or so. Our progress seems to have been somewhat underestimated. I believe progress has been far more significant than we might realize. While ‘The Times they are A Changin’, it is not the view of the alternative history buff that is changing. It is traditional history that is in for change.
While I was in college during the early 60s, I can recall my archeology professor suggesting that the New World had been initially populated about 3500 years ago. A younger professor who was sitting in on the class was sucking on his pipe and nodding in agreement. I was at a loss as to what to think about such a comment. I was perhaps 18 or 19 years old and knew nothing (I am not sure I know anything, yet.). However, his suggestion as to such a recent date for any initial contact between the New and Old Worlds was too much for me. Why was the Old World heavily populated for a very long time and these two large continents left totally empty for many thousands of years? It made no sense. I, a young student who knew nothing and did not understand, was not ready to challenge my teacher who held a PhD from Harvard University. It would take many years and the loss of much hair before I was ready to be heard on this matter.
\During the early sixties the dispute between the diffusionists and the independent inventionists was in its final throws. The independent inventionists believed that, given similar resources, two people groups might come up with similar inventions and cultural practices. The difusionists felt that similar inventions and cultural practices was an indication of cultural contact. The independent inventionists seemed to accept cultural contact over land but drew the line at oversea contact. They viewed the oceans as a major blockade, never to be breached by ancient man.
The main proponent of the independent invention view, Ales Herdlicka, eventually passed and his firmly held position was gradually questioned. There had been many finds in the New World which produced C14 dates going back much farther than tradition was ready to permit and all such dates were rejected. All samples tested were consistently thought to have been contaminated. The entry of people into the New World was accepted only as having been from the crossing of the land bridge between Asia and Alaska, a view which held sway for many years.
The early book by Constance Irwin, ‘Fair Gods and Stone Faces’, published in 1963, was perhaps the first widely circulated book to challenge this view. Reading that book at 23 years old was my first exposure to alternative history. It had cost thousands to attend college. ‘Fair Gods and Stone Faces’ had cost $7.50. At the time I did not recognize the dichotomy. As is usually the case, change comes slowly.
Perhaps the excavation of a major site in Southern Chile (Monte Verde) by Thomas Dillahay began to bring about a significant change in thinking. He had obtained C14 dates going back about 14,000 years. While these dates we’re challenged by conventional archeology they were eventually accepted, reluctantly accepted and a major crack in the independent inventionists thinking was introduced. For people to migrate from Northern Asia to Southern Chile using the so-called land bridge was not plausible within the time constraints. Questions were raised concerning the periods during which such a bridge may have been open (ice free) and the time required to migrate the full length of two huge continents. The conclusion was that such a migration during the available time was unlikely. People had not come by land. They had come by boats.
Once Dillahey’s early date had become accepted, several of the earlier finds which had previously been rejected eventually began to be revisited. Such finds as Keniwick Man, dating back about 9,000 years and thought to have been connected to the Ainu of Japan, gradually became accepted. Likewise, Clovis was gradually accepted as being perhaps 13,000 years old. The expression “Clovis first” was widely used for many years.
When Dillahay was doing his investigation he was not attempting to support the position of cultural diffusion. He was only doing an honest scientific examination of the evidence before him. Isn’t it amazing what an honest appraisal can accomplish? The acceptance, albeit the reluctant acceptance, that people had come by boats has opened the door to investigation into a huge variety of evidence of cultural diffusion.
Almost everything we examine today has been made possible by the knowledge that people came by boats. Credit Dillahay with opening the door to new thinking. Both the early date and the knowledge that passage was possible by boats was huge. Doors began to open and a new breed of thinker has slowly entered the field.
All of these gradual changes are good news. Our early history is slowly becoming understood. Even though these changes have taken place since my college days, we continue to feel that very little progress is taking place. While we all might be happier if we could see more progress taking place, I am afraid that we fail to see just how far we have actually come. Acceptance of man coming by boats and having arrived thousands of years sooner than had been thought represents a great deal of change.
During the early 60’s the Department of Anthropology at Beloit College, where I had attended, was divided into four fields of study: Physical Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, Archeology, and Linguistics. Sixty years later a fifth field of study has been added, that of Archeoastronomy. In mentioning this to Lee Pennington, he was quick to add that some universities are also now teaching Marine Archeology. Even though most marine archeology continues to be conducted as shipwreck salvage, the need to examine the many sunken cities that are known to exist is at least taken seriously. Anthropology is expanding.
Perhaps some of us will not see progress unless Columbus day is overturned. Take heart. While at the 2018 conference I perused through a group of books offered by Wayne May. I found a book entitled “King Arthur’s Voyage to the Otherworld”, by Robert MacCann. MacCann proposes that not only did Arthur venture all the way to the New World, but that he actually met his demise here. In looking over the book, I realized that the author did not seem to be an alternative history buff. He seemed to be a traditional academic. Traditional academics do not espouse that Arthur ever came to the New World, much less was killed here. Wow! What a departure.
His thesis is being advanced based on evidence from poetry and it seems that it is being evaluated based on the evidence rather than on tradition. If I am right about that, that’s huge. This is coming at a time when many people still think that Arthur may have been a wholly mythological figure, or at a minimum that he never left Wales. That mainline academia might even consider the possibility that Arthur ever left Britain (in the sixth century) is progress. Big progress. The time is coming when information will be evaluated on evidence, not on previous beliefs!
As what we call alternative history gradually gains acceptance, conferences such as A.A.P.S. may become less important. Our concern about who will take up the slack left by the passing of us “grey hairs” may be of less consequence than we might realize.
Do you remember the Negro League (from major league baseball)? As interest in including black athletes in the major leagues began to grow, there was much controversy and conflict. The first few black athletes which were included had an extremely difficult time, but eventually the door opened and many more were signed. Major League Baseball was the better for it. The quality of the game improved and people of both races benefited. What was not expected was that as the major league expanded, the Negro League diminished. It eventually spelled the demise of the Negro League, an unexpected, but real, consequence. Was all that good news? The majors became a better place, but the loss of the Negro League was bemoaned by many.
Wayne May, himself, might be counted within the group of “grey hairs”. Using hair color as the standard, he is marginal, but, for the sake of argument, I will count him as a “grey hair”. At this point, he has more dark hair than grey. Perhaps those Times Are A Changin’ as well. While I think Wayne has quite a few good years left in him, perhaps he will eventually look around for someone to take up the baton and become the publisher of Ancient American Magazine.
Maybe, just maybe, by the time Wayne wants to retire, researchers will be able to get their information published in journals that will reach a wider audience. We who have enjoyed Ancient American for all these years will not like that, but if the information reaches an audience that has not been reached we might count it as a good thing.
Yes, we all wish progress was moving along at a faster clip. However, I believe that not only is it moving, but that it is gathering momentum. The times they are a changin’.