Evidence of tumbaga from the Sipan royal tombs, Peru

Earlier in this blog I mentioned that word tumbaga is used both in the Philippines and across the Pacific in the Americas to refer to a gold-copper alloy.

At one time it was thought that both the word and technology had crossed the seas from the Philippines to the Americas during Spanish times with the trade galleons. Tumbaga involves depletion gilding or electrochemical replacement to make the alloy appear as pure gold on the surface -- on both sides of the Pacific

However, the archaeological evidence clearly shows that tumbaga technology was known in the Americas long before Columbus sailed to America.

An abstract of a recent study (below) of the royal tombs of Sipan in Peru shows that there was evidence of tumbaga among the Moche between between 50 and 700 CE.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

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Appl Radiat Isot. 2009 Sep 12. [Epub ahead of print]

Pre-Columbian alloys from the royal tombs of Sipán; energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis with a portable equipment.

Cesareo R, Calza C, Dos Anjos M, Lopes RT, Bustamante A, Fabian S J, Alva W, Chero Z L.

Dip. di Matematica e Fisica, Università di Sassari, via Vienna 2, 07100, Sassari, Italy.

On the north coast of present-day Peru flourished approximately between 50 and 700 AD, the Moche civilization. It was an advanced culture and the Moche were sophisticated metalsmiths, so that they are considered as the finest producers of jewels and artefacts of the region. The Moche metalworking ability was impressively demonstrated by the objects discovered by Walter Alva and coworkers in 1987, in the excavations of the "Tumbas Reales de Sipán". About 50 metal objects from these excavations, now at the namesake Museum, in Lambayeque, north of Peru, were analyzed with a portable equipment using energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence. This portable equipment is mainly composed of a small size X-ray tube and a thermoelectrically cooled X-ray detector. Standard samples of gold and silver alloys were employed for quantitative analysis. It was determined that the analyzed artefacts from the "Tumbas Reales de Sipán" are mainly composed of gold, silver and copper alloys, of gilded copper and of tumbaga, the last being a poor gold alloy enriched at the surface by depletion gilding, i.e. removing copper from the surface.

Parasites as probes for transoceanic human migrations?

A new study supports earlier evidence from parasite studies suggesting a seaborne migration to the Americas. This study seems to mainly analyze data from previous research involving helminths found in mummies and coprolites (dung fossils). There has been a flurry of articles recently supporting the theory of transpacific or transoceanic Pre-Columbian contact and/or migration between Asia and the Americas. Helminths are not found in Siberia, Alaska or northern Canada. One South American mummy that contained helminth (Ancylostoma duodenale) eggs dated back to 1500 BCE.

Trends Parasitol. 2008 Mar;24(3):112-5.

Epub 2008 Feb 11.

Parasites as probes for prehistoric human migrations?

Araujo A, Reinhard KJ, Ferreira LF, Gardner SL.

Fundação Oswaldo Cruz/Escola Nacional de Saude Publica; Rua Leopoldo Bulhoes 1480, Rio de Janeiro 2104-210, RJ, Brazil.

Host-specific parasites of humans are used to track ancient migrations. Based on archaeoparasitology, it is clear that humans entered the New World at least twice in ancient times. The archaeoparasitology of some intestinal parasites in the New World points to migration routes other than the Bering Land Bridge. Helminths have been found in mummies and coprolites in North and South America. Hookworms (Necator and Ancylostoma), whipworms (Trichuris trichiura) and other helminths require specific conditions for life-cycle completion. They could not survive in the cold climate of the northern region of the Americas. Therefore, humans would have lost some intestinal parasites while crossing Beringia. Evidence is provided here from published data of pre-Columbian sites for the peopling of the Americas through trans-oceanic or coastal migrations.

Pre-Columbian Custard Apple in India

Another recent study suggests that an American crop, the custard apple (Annona squamosa) -- was present in India during pre-Columbian times. The discovery of custard apple seed at the Neolithic site of Tokwa is very early, but it would tend to confirm other previous identifications of fruit coat and seeds respectively at Kushan and Iron Age Punjab sites. Custard apples appear to be represented artistically at the 3rd-1st century BCE Sunga dynasty sites of Bharhut, Mathura and Sanchi, identifications made originally by Sitholey and Cunningham.

The authors also mention the archaeological identification of various American beans e.g., the kidney bean or common bean (Phaselous vulgaris), sierra bean (Phaseolus lunatus) and phasemy bean (Phaseolus lathyroides) in peninsular India and a weed Mexican poppy (Argemone
mexicana) in Uttara Pradesh, all from very early sites. They conclude that the evidence argues in favor of pre-Columbian contacts between America and Asia.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Palaeoethnobotanical record of cultivated crops and associated weeds and wild taxa from Neolithic site, Tokwa, Uttar Pradesh, India

Anil K. Pokharia Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53, University Road, Lucknow 226 007, India

Investigation of botanical remains from an ancient site, Tokwa at the confluence of Belan and Adwa rivers, Mirzapur District, Uttar Pradesh (UP), has brought to light the agriculture-based subsistence economy during the Neolithic culture (3rd–2nd millennium BC). They subsisted on cereals, viz. Oryza sativa, Triticum aestivum and Hordeum vulgare, supplemented by leguminous seeds of Lens culinaris, Pisum arvense and Vigna radiata. Evidence of oil-yielding crops has been documented by recovery of seeds of Linum usitatissimum and Brassica juncea. Fortuitously, an important find among the botanical remains is the seeds of South American custard apple, regarded to have been introduced by the Portuguese in the 16th century. The remains of custard apple as fruit coat and seeds have also been recorded from other sites in the Indian archaeological context, during the Kushana Period (AD 100–300) in Punjab and Early Iron Age (1300–700 BC) in UP. The factual remains of custard apple, along with other stray finds discussed in the text, favour a group of specialists, supporting with diverse arguments, the reasoning of Asian–American contacts, before the discovery of America by Columbus in 1498. Further, a few weeds have turned up as an admixture in the crop remains."

Full article at:

http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/jan252008/248.pdf

Datura transported from 'New' to 'Old' World in Pre-Columbian Period

A study released in December, 2007 suggests that at least one species of the plant Datura (D. metel) was transported by humans from the "New World" to the "Old World" at least by the early first millennium BCE.

The researchers believe the transfer to India was either transpacific through Southeast Asia or transatlantic through Africa. At a later date, the plant was diffused from India to North Africa and the Middle East during Muslim times and from there to Europe. They suggest further research in the Southeast Asia/Pacific and African regions to determine the route that Datura took to reach India.

The full article can be found here in pdf form:

http://www.ias.ac.in/jbiosci/dec2007/1227.pdf


Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
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J Biosci. 2007 Dec;32(7):1227-44. Links

Historical evidence for a pre-Columbian presence of Datura in the Old World and implications for a first millennium transfer from the New World.

Geeta R, Gharaibeh W.

Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Faculty of Science and Arts,Jordan University of Science and Technology,PO Box 3030,Irbid 22110,Jordan, geeta@life.bio.sunysb.edu.

Datura (Solanaceae) is a small genus of plants that, for long,was thought to occur naturally in both the New and Old Worlds. However,recent studies indicate that all species in the genus originated in the Americas. This finding has prompted the conclusion that no species of Datura could have been present in the Old World prior to its introduction there by Europeans in the early 16th century CE. Further, the textual evidence traditionally cited in support of a pre-Columbian Old World presence of Datura species is suggested to be due to the misreading of classical Greek and Arabic sources. As a result, botanists generally accept the opinion that Datura species were transferred into the Old World in the post-Columbian period.While the taxonomic and geographic evidence for a New World origin for all the Datura species appears to be well supported, the assertion that Datura species were not known in the Old World prior to the 16th century is based on a limited examination of the pre-Columbian non-Anglo sources. We draw on old Arabic and Indic texts and southern Indian iconographic representations to show that there is conclusive evidence for the pre-Columbian presence of at least one species of Datura in the Old World. Given the systematic evidence for a New World origin of the genus,the most plausible explanation for this presence is a relatively recent but pre-Columbian (probably first millennium CE) transfer of at least one Datura species, D. metel, into the Old World. Because D. metel is a domesticated species with a disjunct distribution, this might represent an instance of human-mediated transport from the New World to the Old World, as in the case of the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas).

Solheim on Nusantao Voyages to the Americas

Archaeologist Wilhelm Solheim has proposed lately that Jomon-like Valdivia pottery of Ecuador and other pottery resembling the Sa-Huynh-Kalanay tradition has its ultimate origin in Southeast Asia.

Solheim quotes the seminal work of the late James Ford, A Comparison of Formative Cultures in the Americas: Diffusion or the Psychic Unity of Man:

At about 3000 BC after a long sea voyage from the southwestern Japanese Islands, a group of fisherman landed on the coast of Ecuador. Meggers, Evans, and Estrada (1965), who have presented the evidence in support of this happening, so novel in terms of currently accepted theory about New World cultural development, have modestly suggested that perhaps this was a single boatload of fishermen, lost at sea in a storm, who were unwillingly brought to the shores of America by the North Pacific ocean current.

There is reason to suspect, however, that this might have been more in the nature of an exploring and colonizing expedition involving a number of individuals of both sexes and varied skills. Subsequent events in the Americas suggest that these people had a seafaring, exploring and colonizing tradition, similar to that fo the later Polynesians and Vikings. Solheim (1964[a]:360, 376—84) has offered statistical evidence to show that one of three sources of Malayan and Polynesian ceramic traditions was influenced from the Japanese Islands at an estimated date of 1000 to 500 BC. The extensive spread of this 'Sa-Hunh-Kalanay' tradition in the southwestern Pacific certainly implies a seafaring tradition. Most of the ceramic shapes, decorative elements, and design motifs are similar to those postulated to have spread to the Americas between 3000 and 1000 B.C.

The remarkable variety of the Valdivia ceramics suggests that more than one or two individuals, or lineages, founded and maintained this tradition. The highly selective fashion in which certain elements of the complex were spread to other parts of the Americas, also argues that specialization in this craft had already developed. Furthermore, as varied as it is the Valdivia ceramic complex does not represent the entire range of pottery manufactured at 3000 B.C. in southwestern Japan. As with the early English settlement at Jamestown in Virgina, the products manufactured corresponded to the experience and training of the craftsmen brought from the mother country (Ford 1969: 183-184).

Solheim believes based on the similarities of the Valdivia and other assemblages in decoration and form with the Sa-Huynh-Kalanay complex that Nusantao voyagers from were making infrequent visits to the west coast of the Americas starting around 3000 BCE using the Kuroshio (Japan) Current.




Some examples given by Wilhelm Solheim of pottery decoration showing relationship with Sa-Huynh-Kalanay designs.

Top row: The third from the left is from Puerto Hormiga, Columbia with the rest from Valdivia, Ecuador.

Second row: The third from the left is from Barlovento, Columbia with the rest from Valdivia, Ecuador.

Third row: Valdivia; Machalilla, Ecuador; Veracruz, Mexico.

Bottom: Veracruz, Mexico.

Redrawn by Ric de Guzman in John N. Miksic, Earthenware in Southeast Asia: Proceedings of the Singapore Symposium.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Ford, J. A. A Comparison of Formative Cultures in the Americas: Diffusion or the Psychic Unity of Man, Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology Vol. 11, Washington D.C., Smithsonian Institution Press, 1969.

Miksic, John N. Earthenware in Southeast Asia: Proceedings of the Singapore Symposium, National University of Singapore Press, 2003, 20-21.

Solheim II, Wilhelm G. Archaeology and Culture in Southeast Asia: Unraveling the Nusantao, University of the Philippines Press, 2006.

The Great Maw

On Mocha Island off the coast of Chile, chicken bones were found that apparently belong to the pre-Columbian period. Chickens are not native to the Americas and must have come ultimately from Southeast Asia where they were domesticated.

This evidence is also supported by the existence of the blue egg-laying and melanotic (black-skinned) chicken, which form links between the Americas and tropical Asia. It is interesting that the domesticated chicken did not appear to be consumed nor its eggs during early times on either side of the Pacific.

One of the earliest breeds of chicken was the fighting cock. From the fighting cock, special breeds of long-crowing cocks were developed in Asia.

The trail of evidence of transpacific voyages might be obscured a great deal by the northern route which would have led to a thinning out of cultural kits. The drift factor here would loom very large.

Still we do see sometimes some very interesting correspondences. For example, the practice of making barkcloth and the specific tools used to make this cloth. Also, we find the rather unusual practice of ear elongation with disc-like ornaments. Such practices date back in southern Asia to at least the Neolithic period. Shell ear discs have been found at Duyong Cave in the Philippines with a calibrated date of 4,300 BC.

The opening to the underworld in Mesoamerican cultures discussed previously takes on an interesting form known as the double merlon or double step motif. The motif somewhat resembled a letter "U" or "V" in upright or inverted form. This resulted again in the "twin peaks" profile that we have discussed in detail. One example of this are the carved Olmec faces were both the "frowning" mouth and cleft head form inverted and upright double merlon motifs respectively.


Hacha from Oaxaca and a celt from Cardenas, Tobasco from Reilly 1989. The cleft head and mouth represent the Underworld maw. Notice the "twin peaks" appearance of the head.

The monumental heads of Easter Island often have "hats" known as pukao. What exactly the pukao represent is not known but hats, crowns, headdresses and top-knots have been suggested. They may also be a representation of the cosmic mountain.





Easter Island heads with Pukao hats. Notice second figure from left.






Indigenous-style images of Jesus and Mary with child from Easter island. They wear the bird headdress of the Make Make cult.

The hacha image shown above has its hand/feet placed symmetrically on its chest. This posture or mudra is a very common one that occurs early on on both sides of the Pacific. In this posture, the hands are placed in symmetrical fashion either on the hips or across the waist or chest. Here are some examples:



'Mother Goddess' from the Jomon period. Female figurines like this with the hands on the hips or waist are common in Jomon culture.

Figurines from the Kulli culture of Baluchistan.

Dagger hilts from Dong Son and Lang Vac.


The figure on the far left is from Mexico, the other two are from the Marquesas Islands in the Pacific (First two photos from Musee de l'Homme, and the third from the Musee d'Ethnographie).


Monumental stone statue from Raivaevae, Tubuai Group, Bishop Museum.


Statue from Behoa, Sulawesi in Indonesia from Van Heekeren 1958.

These are just a few of numerous examples. Notice that many statues using this posture are female. The symmetrical position of the hands (sometimes the arms are not visible) is key as I believe this is a symbol of duality. The same symbolism is found in the circular eyes often associated with this posture. In most cases, when legs are represented they are square, spread apart and usually in a half-squat position.

The head is disproportionately large as is the mouth, with the latter often gaping wide open representing probably the entrance to the Underworld.

The cleft head motif probably has reference to the anterior fontanelle, a "hole" or soft spot at the top of the skull that hardens as one ages. In many cultures, the anterior fontanelle was viewed as an opening through which the soul ascends to heaven. Notice the feathered plume that extends from the top of the head depicted on the Roti bronze ceremonial axe.


Roti axe head

I submit this plume represents the same thing as the pillar of the Benben Stone of Egypt and the projection at the top of the Aztec glyph for "mountain." They symbolize a volcanic plume which was associated with the Sun.

In Mesoamerican art, we often see the Underworld maw portrayed in dual form as with the Olmec "dragon" and the Mayan bicephalous serpent. This represents the polar openings related to Sun and Moon of the two sacred volcanoes of the Dragon and Bird Clan.


Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Johannessen, Carl L. 1981 Folk medicine uses of melanotic Asiatic chickens as evidence of early diffusion to the New World. Social Sciences and Medicine 73-89.

Johannessen, Carl L. and May Chen Fogg. 1982 Melanotic chicken use and Chinese traits in Guatemala. Revista de Historla de America 93:427-434. Mexico.

Langdon, Robert. 1980 When the blue egg chickens come home to roost. The Journal of Pacific History 24:24-36 and 164-192.

Ramírez, José Miguel. 1990/91. Transpacific Contacts: The Mapuche Connection. Rapa Nui Journal Vol. 4 Nº 4:53-55

Reilly, F. Kent. 1987 The Ecological Origins of Olmec Symbols of Rulership. Master’s thesis, University of Texas at Austin.

___. 1991 Olmec Iconographic Influences onthe Symbols of Maya Rulership: An Examination of Possible Sources. In Sixth Palenque Round Table, 1986, edited by Virginia M. Fields (General Editor, Merle Greene Robertson), pp. 151-166. Norman:University of Oklahoma Press.

Simoons, Frederick J. 1966 Eat Not This Flesh: Food Avoidance in the Old World. Madison:University of Wisconsin Press.

Heekeren, H.R. van. 1958. The bronze-iron age of Indonesia. 's-Gravenhage-Martinus Nijhoff, 1958.