The Torc and the Valknut

The chaining of Prometheus was part of the overall conflict between Zeus and the gods versus the Titans.

According to Hesiod, when the gods overthrew the Titans the forests were set ablaze and the oceans "seethed and boiled." Homer states that Zeus "had also thrust great Cronos down beneath earth and the restless sea" banishing him to Tartaros, the Underworld.

In Greek myth, when volcanoes erupt they reveal the Titans or Giants imprisoned by Zeus beneath the earth.

The conflict in many ways parallels that between the good and bad angels in Hebrew lore with the Titans playing the role of teachers who lead humanity toward their downfall.

In Northern Europe we sometimes find the division of the banks of a river in a manner similar to that found in Austronesia. At Skelbæk, on the Kongeå in Denmark, for example, bronze age mounds are found on one side of the river while homes and agriculture are found on the other.

Torsten Pedersen also believes that the European root for "brother" is related to the word for "to bear, carry," and might be related to relationships that existed on opposite sides of a river i.e., someone who bears something across the river. This could be something in exchange for a spouse or even the spouse him/herself. Linguistic links between Austronesian and Indo-European have long been recognized although at one time they were considered genetic relationships.

Franz Bopp, often called the "father of Indo-European," and Sir William Jones, the person who first suggested a link between European languages and Sanskrit, were two early researchers who thought the Malayo-Polynesian languages and European ones were genetically related. Pedersen's research shows that these links do indeed seem valid but as borrowings rather than inheritance.

Another interesting parallel that we find in these regions separated by half the globe involves the grisly practice of human sacrifice. As noted earlier, this ritual often pops up when we see signs of sharp social stratification. In many cases it is involved directly with funerary rites and in latter times often occurs in state or community rituals.

An artifact linked with this practice is the neck ring or torc. On the island of Nias they make elaborate neck rings, which like the ancient European ones, were plaited with fiber and metal, in this case with coconut fiber and brass.

Traditionally the neck rings or kalabubu were worn only by those who had killed one of the enemy. Tacticus mentioned that the Chatti wore 'iron collars' until they had killed someone in battle.

Oppenheimer following Frazer notes that in Scandinavia the torcs were used for ritual killings. In offerings to Odin, the victims were hung and then stabbed with a spear.

Frazer notes a similar custom in the Philippines in a fertility ritual were the victim is hung and then finished off with a spear to the side. The analogy to the Crucifixion is striking.

The torcs found on peat bog mummies at Lindow, Borromese and Tolland were fashioned into triple knots resembling the valknut motif.


Celtic god Cerunnos wearing and holding neck ring on Gundestrap Cauldron


Ancestor image with neck ring from Nias (EITE)

Although the symbolism of the valknut is not well-known it is believed that it may represent death and it has been connected with the Nornir, the three sisters of fate who weave the destinies of humans. The valknut motif is often represented by three interlinked triangles or by knots forming triangular lattices.

The triangular form is similar to the method of three-way weaving found widely distributed in Austronesia and used for extensively for a variety of purposes from constructing homes to making stick maps. The sipa or takraw a wicker ball used from Thailand to the Philippines is a good example of the three-node weaving pattern. Having twenty nodes with six great circles and eighty triangulated surfaces, the sipa maximizes compression when using tensile materials.

Bunkminster Fuller believed three-way weaving was conceived in Austronesia as a means of imparting tensile strength to flexible wooden structures. In comparision to grid-pattern weaving and structures that tend to collapse, the three-node structure has much greater "bend."

Knots as symbols were used commonly in Austronesia particularly in divination. As noted earlier knots were also used to keep records, and the trigrams created by the legendary Fu Hsi may have originated in knots used to keep weather records by the Dong Yi.

The sipa or takraw three-node wicker ball

The Fenrir wolf bound in a valknut

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

The Labyrinth

Among theories used to explain the non-Indo-European influence on northern European languages is that the people known in archaeological circles as the Battle Axe Culture were the primary source.

The battle axe is an important symbol in early Europe. The double axe or double hammer is the stone weapon of Thor known as Mjolnir. As in Southeast Asia, the crash of the stone axe causes lightning and thunder.

In earlier times, the double stone axe appears as the weapon of Pelasgian and Etruscan deities. In Crete and Lydia, the double axe is known as the labrys and again is associated with lightning and possibly with the maze known as the labyrinth. The latter link is surmised mainly through the similar looking words, labrys and labyrinth.

The double axe in Aegean art is often connected with animal sacrifice and it may be that the labyrinth link is related to the divinatory sacrifice.

The labyrinth is often compared to entrails, which were used for divination in Mesopotamia. The mask of the Minotaur in the Ritual of the Labyrinth appears covered with intestines. A similar feature is found in representations of the Sumerian god Humbaba, who we linked earlier with volcanic eruptions.


Humbaba with furrowed face thought to represent intestines


Face of Humbaba

The face of Humbaba was itself used for divination purposes in Mesopotamia. The pattern on both the Minotaur mask and the face of Humbaba has been described as "unicursal" (having one path) in a manner similar to that of the Cretan Labyrinth.

The appearance also resembles that of the divinatory livers portrayed in Mesopotamian art.

In Sumerian texts, the seventh Sumerian king Enmeduranki learned the art of liver divination from the seventh sage or abgal/apkallu (fish-man) named Utu'abzu. As you may remember, the abgal were said to have come from Dilmun across the Indian Ocean in Greek texts.

The Book of Enoch states that the art of signs and other mystic arts were taught to humanity by the "fallen angels" led by Azâzêl"

Enoch 8

"1 And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all

2 colouring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they

3 were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semjâzâ taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, 'Armârôs the resolving of enchantments, Barâqîjâl (taught) astrology, Kôkabêl the constellations, Êzêqêêl the knowledge of the clouds, Araqiêl the signs of the earth, Shamsiêl the signs of the sun, and Sariêl the course of the moon. And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven..."

Azazel was eventually chained in the wilderness for causing the "fall" of humanity. In the book of Leviticus, there are instructions to send a scapegoat carrying the sins of Israel into the wilderness for "Azazel." This has been interpreted by some as the same Azazel of Enoch although others think that it refers to a description of the place where the goat is sent.

The goat is none other than the scapegoat carrying the sins of the world and transferring them to Azazel.

In Greek mythology, Prometheus steals the fire of the forge of Hephaestus, which was believed to have been located under one or all of the volcanoes known to the Greeks. He gives the gift of fire to humanity which again causes the latter's downfall. As punishment, Prometheus is chained to a mountain where every day an eagle comes to devour his regenerating liver.

The appearance of the liver here in the punishment of Prometheus is interesting. The liver is considered in many cultures as the center of the body and the source of desire and "fire."

For stealing the fire of the forge of Hephaestus, whose own name might be derived from hepar "liver," Prometheus receives the reciprocal punishment of having his own liver, the internal source of fire, devoured daily.

The divinatory sacrifice can thus be seen as the opening of the body, which is the earth in microcosm, with the double axe. The liver, intestines and other entrails are the source of the fire. They represent the ultimate source in microcosm, or the answer revealed by that ultimate source.

And this source is, of course, the volcano deity who provides the fire for Hephaestus's underworld forge.

The battle axe also has another association of interest. The Roman fasces used by the lictors of the Etruscan kings of Rome and later by the imperial lictors consisted of a model battle axe bound to a bundle of reeds or sticks. This reminds us of the nation concept as related to the bamboo as found in the word "bansa" and its cognates.

The Roman fasces, used as a symbol of power by the Etruscans and thousands of years later by the Italian nationalists known as the Fascists

Reed bundles with ring and bandlet at top symbolizing Ishtar (Venus) and the Uruk city-state

In Sumer, a bundle of reeds was the symbol of Innana/Ishtar and also the heraldic emblem of the city-state of Uruk, the home of Gilgamesh.

Returning to the imagery of the labyrinth, if we look at the liver as representing the fiery center of the earth, then the intestines would stand for part of the path to the surface. The opening at the surface is represented by the mouth -- the symbol of the volcano and the entrance to the Underworld. Escaping the labyrinth may be looked at as escaping the clutches of fate symbolized by the Minotaur's mask and the face of Humbaba.

In the New Hebrides (Malekula), the mystic initiate must draw half of a labyrinth belonging to the female ghost Lehevhev before admission into the order. We also find survivals of the labyrinth design in Austronesia for which the meaning is apparently lost, at least to the vast majority of the people.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

For more information on the labyrinth, see The Ritual of the Labyrinth,
Ta Hiera Laburinthou by John Opsopaus. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/HL/

Folk Language

The reconstructed Proto-Germanic language contains a large body of words that do not belong to other branches of the Indo-European language family. Linguists have suggested that these words were borrowed from one or more languages spoken by peoples who inhabited northern Europe before the Proto-Germanic expansion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Indo-European_roots_of_Germanic

There are many words in Germanic languages whose roots are difficult to identify. Some believe that the lack of clear cognates among other Indo-European languages is indicative of a mixed origin for the Germanic languages.

One group of these words has to do with ships and the sea; words like keel, oar, rudder, and steer are shared by almost every Germanic language (or at least by the Scandinavian ones), but
cognates for these specific words and senses are not found in other branches of Indo-European. This likely reflects the land-locked nature of the Indo-European homeland. Another group of these words deals with war and weapons; words like sword, shield, helm, and bow are all found in almost every Germanic language, but again, not with these meanings among other ndo-European languages (knight is in this class as well, but does not usually have a military meaning).

-- Wikipedia

The other word senses that occur in this group are names of animals, parts of the body and objects in nature.

While many of these words have been contested as having plausible Indo-European etymologies, others simply do not fit into the sound system of reconstructed Proto-Germanic. For example, those words with initial p-, since Proto-Germanic lacked this sound.

Some of these words are shared with a few other Indo-European languages found or originating in Northern Europe. There have been four major theories to account for this linguistic borrowing:

Theo Vennemann suggests that the loans in Northern European and Greek come from an Afro-Asiatic language he calls Atlantic, and from Vasconic, the ancestor of the modern Basque language.

Hans Krahe uses the term "Old European" to identify the source of ancient European river names.

Hans Kuhn identifies a Nordwestblock language from Northwest European placenames and from words in Celtic, Italic and Germanic which violate Indo-European root rules. He also uses the term "Old European," or the ar-/ur- language for a wider substratum source.

Peter Schrijver refers to a "language of geminates" in words from Celtic, Italic, Germanic and Finnic with roots of a certain form. A language of bird names is also associated with this substrate.

Torsten Pedersen has given a new theory that these influences may come instead, at least partly, from an Austronesian source. Again, he sees many of the words involved as related to the "waterfront" including words for fish hooks, fishing poles, bailers and the like.

Some researchers have referred to the substrate language as Folkish under the presumption that the word "folk" is also one of the borrowed words.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

The warm "Maritime Phase" of the Arctic

The earliest shell mounds of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition period in Europe agree well with the dating of the third and last rapid-rise Sundaland flood.

In the latter part of the 19th century, the Marquis of Nadaillac commented on what he thought were clear similarities between the shell mound cultures of the Americas and those of Neolithic Europe.

http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/Prehistoric/00000014.htm

"I cannot close this account of the kitchen-middings, without
calling attention to two very interesting facts. The importance of
these mounds bears witness alike to the number of the inhabitants who dwelt near them, and the long duration of their sojourn. Worsaae sets back the initial date of the most ancient of the shell-mounds of the New World more than three thousand years. This is however a delicate question, on which in the present state of our knowledge it is difficult to hazard a serious opinion. It is easier to come to a conclusion on other points: the close resemblance, for instance, between the kitchen-middings of America and those of Europe. In both continents we find the early inhabitants fed almost entirely on fish; their weapons, tools, and pottery were almost identical in character; and in both cases the characteristic animals of Quaternary times had disappeared, and the use of metals still remained unknown. Are these remarkable coincidences the result of chance, or must we not rather suppose that people of the same origin occupied at the same epoch both sides of the Atlantic?"

It has been rather popular to theorize on pre-Columbian passages from Europe to the Americas. More recently, we have seen the theory that the Paleo-Indian Clovis culture originated in Europe. However, rarely do we hear of the possibility of pre-Columbian journeys from the Americas to Europe.

I would say that these definitely occured and Austronesians played a part in these journeys.

Shell mounds from late Mesolithic Maglemose culture, Denmark

Maglemose cultural artifacts including bifid canoe and fish hooks


On left and right, renderings of boat-shaped burials from Slätteröd, Sweden and Batan Island, Philippines (from Chris Ballard et al.), a Maglemose boat-shaped burial in center (http://cientual.com/7tesis/Paginas/C12/Ritos.htm)

The use of boat burial or boat-shaped burials were common in both Scandinavia and Southeast Asia. The Niah caves have examples of very early boat burials and also cave art showing what are apparently bifid boats. These are Neolithic burials and the artwork is positioned over the high water mark of the last major sea flood.

Another common cultural feature is found in the types of bailers used in both regions to empty water from boats. Pedersen has noted a similarity between the Proto-Oceanic and Danish words for this device:

*asu "scoop or ladle out; ladle, bailer," Proto-Oceanic
øse "bailer, scoop," Danish

The "Oceanic" bailer from Hornell. Similar bailers are also found in Pacific coast Amerindian culture

We will study next the linguistic evidence that links the Nusantao with these far-ranging similarities.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Ballard C.; Bradley R.; Myhre L.N.; Wilson M. "The ship as symbol in the prehistory of Scandinavia and Southeast Asia," World Archaeology, December 2003 2004, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 385-403(19).

Hornell, James. Water Transport: Origins and Early Evolution (1946, repr. 1970).

Thunderstones

A widespread belief in Southeast Asia associates the stone axe with the thunderbolt or with the teeth of a dragon that causes thunderstorms. In fact, ideas linking thunder with stone axes is rather widespread being found among Amerindians, West Africans, Northern Europeans and others.

However, a number of researchers have noted that the association with thunder is particularly linked with the battle or sacrificial axe consisting of a curved blade -- the round axe, the double axe and the throwing axe (tomahawk).

Earlier I mentioned the development of curved blades in Asia in relation to the Neolithic, which brought the technology needed to make good symmetrical curved weapons. Some early examples of these blades are the semi-lunar knife of Neolithic Asia and the crescent-shaped flint "sickle" of late Neolithic Denmark.

In China, were the battle axe was one of the first symbols of regal authority it was known by the name yuet ?. The name was the same used to describe the non-Chinese people of South China. Later the name Yuet was used specifically for the Vietnamese who pronounced it as Viet.


Jade axe or yuet from China

The stone battle axe was followed by the bronze axe of the same form. The ceremonial nature of the bronze axe is often connected with sacrifice. However, the myths regarding thunder refer usually only to stone axes and in certain areas specifically to those made of flint. This may indicate the Neolithic age and dispersion of the belief.


Bronze ceremonial axe from Roti, Indonesia


Bronze ceremonial axes from Scandinavia, top, and Irian Jaya, bottom.

The thunderstone was widely seen as having healing properties and as protecting against lightning. The god or king who wielded the battle axe was linked with thunder and thus with rain. In the case of the king, the battle axe represented the king as a controller of rain according to Frazer's notion of the "King of Nature."

In numerous cultures, we find that thunder is associated either with a dog or a bird. The thunder dog and thunder bird are totems that represent the sky as opposed to the dragon/serpent totem which generally represents the water. These emblems, of course, relate back to our original story of the two battling volcanoes.

Tala, the Morning Star, who descends to earth has as his totem, the dog. There is something similar to this elsewhere in the region where the Kimat, the dog of the Tinguian supreme thunder-god Kadaklan, is the personification of lightning. Tala's father Manalastas has the rooster totem. The descent of the star is viewed in the same sense as lightning and thunder and thus one can see a model for the thunder dog and thunder bird.

In his research, Torsten Pedersen has noted the resemblance of western words for the double axe such as pelekus in Europe with those in Austronesia, i.e. palakul of the Philippines. These words may stem from a root of the form *b/p-l-g.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Ship types

In studying the remains of the Old Gokstad ship of Denmark, Hornell comments:

In Europe, the type of boat characterized by frames lashed to cleats on the inner side fo the skin is unknown elsewhere than from the Scandinavian region. In the countries bordering the Mediterranean the earliest plank-built boats of which we have any knowledge, those from Ancient Egypt, were actually built without frames....Neither is there trace nor suggestion of the use of inserted frames lashed to cleats among the constructional descriptions of any of the many types of boat design found in the Indian Ocean.

Cleats of the same shape with a central perforation were arranged in vertical rows in both the orembai and Gokstad ships. The frames were lashed to the cleats with cords.

(James Hornell, Water Transport: Origins and Early Evolution)

The lashed-lug construction using U-shaped frames is found also in the present-day lepa or lepa-lepa of the Badjau people of the Philippines and Borneo, the 10th century Butuan barangay ship, and in early Spanish descriptions of ships among Waray speakers of the central Philippines.

Hornell also mentions a variation of this type of construction using continuous ridges rather than cleats that was found in Fiji, Tonga and Samoa.

Another important feature found in the orembai is the double-hull bifid construction. Boats of the type abound in the Arctic region and are found as far as Scandinavia.


Bifid boats depicted on Swedish petroglyphs

Menzies has studied a number of ships that he calls "junks" and connects with Zheng He's treasure voyages. We will discuss a few of those at this time.

Firstly, the Pandanan ship mentioned earlier is described as a junk, although Dr. Dizon who carried out the investigation of the wreck describes it distinctly as "Southeast Asian." For example, unlike junks of the time, this ship was constructed entirely of wood joints and had no iron nails.

On the Pacific coast of North America, Menzies mentions two interesting "wrecks." The first was found off the beach at Neahkahnie, Oregon. It consisted mainly of a teak pulley and beeswax. According to Menzies the pulley has been radiocarbon dated to 1410. However, others claim a 1993 test found a date of 1595.

Since the rest of the ship has not been found, it cannot be classified as a junk and some experts believe it may have been a wayward Spanish galleon. However, tests of beeswax associated with the find date as early as 1500 i.e. before the start of the galleon trade in 1565.

Interestingly, pollen studies conducted by the University of Oregon show that old beeswax discoveries off the coast of Oregon are associated with holley found in the island of northern Luzon in the Philippines. At least some of this beeswax dates from the galleon trade times and is in the form of European-style candles.

The other site of interest is the so-called "Sacramento junk." This wreck is of particular interest to me since I live in Sacramento. However, the supposed ship is actually nearly 200 miles to the north of the city along the Sacramento River.

The first indications of a possible wreck came when drillers found a piece of metal near a Sacramento River channel in the 1930s. The metal, which no longer exists, was analyzed and described as possibly being a chunk of Chinese armor.

Subsequent drilling has turned up pieces of wood and apparently some grains of rice and many black seeds. Radiocarbon dating suggests the wood ranges from as early as 1100 AD to as late as 1450 AD.

The excavator John Furry also found what he believed were pottery pieces that possibly held the black seeds. He claimed that magnetic scanning of the site displayed the outline of the ship.

Maybe somewhat indicating that the zeal of the skeptics can match Menzies', each of these items has been, rather speculatively, explained away. The pottery pieces have been explained as something created by the drill, the rice and black seeds as probably something stored by a squirrel or other animal and the wood as a tree that had fallen in the water. No tests have been done apparently to analyze what type of wood was involved.

One has to wonder though exactly what Nusantao or Chinese sailors would have been doing this far up river around Sacramento.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

The Harpoon/Spear and the Underworld

Earlier we mentioned the ornamental motif on the end of Old Bering Sea harpoons which may have represented an entrance to the Underworld inviting prey to join their ancestors through self-sacrifice. In the Pacific Northwest we also find that the whale is said to offer itself in willing sacrifice.

Okladnikov suugests that throughout the Pacific littoral we find "a specific kind of inventory including harpoons of the toggling type with a socket and barbs at their base and unique slate points unknown in Siberia and, in general, to the north of the Amur river and the Chinese wall."

S.I. Rudenko stated that the distribution of toggling harpoon heads in both the northern and southern parts of the western Pacific matched that of ancient shell mounds.

The spear overtook the bow and arrow among many southern peoples particularly after the development of the iron point.

The connection between the spear and harpoon and the Underworld is rather widespread. In the Philippines, ceremonial spears are used to frighten away malevolent anitos or spirits from the land of the dead. In ancient Egypt, the deceased Pharaoh carried a harpoon for protection in the Underworld.

The lord of the dead is often associated with a spear or harpoon. Osiris is said to "preside over the harpoon" and Hades is said to carry a two-pronged fishing spear.
Neith, the counterpart of Wepwawet, the original Egyptian lord of the dead, often is shown holding a harpoon.

The ceremonial spear is often used in sacrificial rites and is particularly linked with the idea of self-sacrifice. In the Pacific island of Rotuma, a myth exists of a malevolent ruler who possessed invincible spear-throwing ability. He could only be defeated if someone offered to sacrifice themselve to the spear. In the end, a warrior volunteered so that his family could 'live in peace.'

In the New Testament, Christ is finally dispatched with a spear. In later Christian lore, this weapon became associated with supernatural powers. The story reminds us of the legend of Odin whose self-sacrifice involves impaling himself to the World-Tree with his spear Gungnir, made of wood from the same tree (the ash tree). The ash tree spear also occurs in Greek myth were Chiron offers one as a gift to Peleus for his wedding to the nymph Thetis. An ash tree spear was also the weapon of Hector in the Iliad.

Gungnir is portrayed with U-shaped prongs around the main point. This is similar in some respects to the decoration shown below on a spear-head from Mindanao.


A spear head from Mindanao, Philippines on the left, and the Gungnir spear motif

The ornaments on the Mindanao spear are of the mythical rooster-like bird the Sarimanok. This bird is often associated with the local concept that the human soul is transformed into a beautiful bird, the Sarinamok, at death.

In both cases, I believe the ornamentation, which serves no real practical purpose, represents the opening of the Underworld often thought of as the gaping mouth of a reptilian or bird-like creature.

Torsten Pedersen's article on distribution of "spear" and "arrow" words

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Back to the Northern Seas

James Hornell, one of the leading experts on the history of seafaring in the 20th century suggested that a "South Seas" culture had managed to migrate throughout much of the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions during what he calls the "Maritime Phase" starting around 4,000 BC.

At this time, the weather was much warmer in the far northern regions than it is today. Hornell identified this culture based on the following similarities:

Ship construction with tongue and groove method, no nails (at least by Neolithic).

Ships had dual bifid ends and a double dugout and plank-built construction (Bronze Age possibly Mesolithic/Neolithic transition.

Vessels had high upturned ends (Bronze Age)

Hook-shaped thole pins were used instead of oar-ports (historical period)

The use of the "Oceanic" bailer (historical period)

The practice of ship burial (Bronze Age)

Funerary sacrifice rituals (Bronze Age)

The primary release bow and arrow (historical period)

Similar totemic prow design (Bronze Age)

The "ship of the dead" and serpent motifs (Bronze Age)

In some areas, the lashing of the frame to the hull with flexible cleats (possibly Mesolithic-Neolithic transition, Bronze Age)

The raising of megaliths (Neolithic, Bronze Age)

As can be seen, not all this evidence found by Hornell can necessarily be dated all the way back to 4,000 BC. Some other important links can be added this list to include:

Shellfish collection and building of shell mounds (Mesolithic-Neolithic transition)

Use of tattoos (Neolithic)

Long bow (Neolithic)

Composite, circular fish hooks, composite bows (from horn bow), Neolithic

Toggling harpoons, sometimes of a very specific morphology

Communal longhouses

Semi-subterranean dwellings

Sea mammal hunting

Quadrangular stone adzes

Use of jade and/or nephrite

Similar motifs, myths and folklore

In some areas particularly in northern Europe, evidence suggesting linguistic contact

Some of the earliest examples of this south to north transition, as we have already discussed, may date back to pre-Austronesian Jomon times. There is evidence though that these contacts did not vanish after the warm Maritime Phase mentioned by Hornell. Enough knowledge was retained of the northern areas within the Nusantao network to maintain links, and for periodic waves of contact or migration in both directions.

We will discuss some elements of this northern maritime culture in detail starting with the bow and arrow.

In the Churning of the Milky Ocean myth, one of the products of the sea is the Dhanu, or long bow. This becomes in particular the weapon of the god Visnu.

In China, the "Yi" part of the ethnonym "Dong Yi" has been suggested to consist of a combination of the script signs ? meaning "large" or "great" and ? meaning "bow." Thus, 'Eastern people of the great bow."

The long bow is particularly popular among forest or maritime people. Most bows in Southeast Asia and the Pacific are long bows. One of the most famous long bows is the Yumi of Japan, a composite wooden bow more than 2 meters (6 feet) long.

There are some interesting similarities between bows in Southeast Asia and the Pacific with those of Japan, the Arctic and the Pacific Northwest. Some of these similarities may relate directly to developments of the pure horn bow.

Pure horn bows occur infrequently in Asia but were rather regular on the island of Java. Horn bows are generally cut from water buffalo horn because of their length and compressibility. The pure horn bow may have given rise both to the reflex bow and the composite bow.

The horn bow is always strung in the opposite direction of the natural curve as this is the only way to create sufficient tension. A bow strung like this is called a reflex bow. Although wooden and composite bows do not require this type of construction, a number of such reflex bows are found including those found among the Pacific Northwest Indians and the Andaman Islanders. Archery historican C.J. Longman thinks this may be a survival of a practice used previously in making pure horn bows.

Longman also believes the pure horn bow led to the eventual development of the composite bow. Because of the difficulty in stringing bows using the reverse curve, they tend to be strung continuously leading to quick wear-and-tear. He believed the archer would try to mend the bows artifically:

He would then restore them to their natural shape by running a thong along the back of the bow (the concave side when it is unstrung), which would be secured by being seized tightly at intervals along the bow, with transverse lashings. His thong would probably be made of animal sinew, and he would now find his bow restored to its former power, or perhaps something more. This picture of the actual course of events in the evolution of the composite bow is, of course, imaginary, and no doubt the ultimate result was, in fact, arrived at after many experiments and failures. Here, however, we have the groundwork of the weapon and the lines which are followed, in all the best types, the three main factors being:--

(1) Horn, being a compressible material for the belly.
(2) Wood as a stiffener, especially for the centre, and (as we shall see subsequently) for the ears.
(3) Sinews, an elastic stretchable material for the back.

No doubt it was a bow roughly made of these materials which ousted the primitive wooden bow throughout Asia, and spread through the lands of the Tschutshis of Eastern Siberia to the Eskimo of North America.

Another morphological pecularity of the long bow that might give an indication of common origin is the widespread occurence of a groove at the end of the bow. In the vast majority of cases, the groove serves no practical purpose and even weakens the weapon.

However, Longman mentions that Tongans and South American Indians bind an arrow in the groove -- a practical usage.

The long bow tends to be used by peoples who still use the primary release. This type of release is the most natural one in which one holds the arrow between the thumb and the forefinger. One can often distinguish primary release arrows as they tend to have bulbous or scored ends that make griping easier. Primary release arrows are rather the rule in the Pacific and much of Southeast Asia.

The arrows of this region are also distinguished by the composite use of bamboo shafts and hardwood foreshafts.

The maritime cultures of the north probably used the bow often during sea hunting expeditions. Toggling harpoon arrowheads were used for this purpose attached to a retrieving line.

Knobbed primary release arrows, Pacific Northwest Indian

New Hebrides long bow

Japanese long bow


Philippine projectile weapons from Krieger, including 1) Ayta single-piece long bow, polished palmwood, Sambali, 2) Ayta single-piece, grooved heavy long bow, palmwood, Bisaya, 3) Bagobo palmwood bow bound in rattan, 4) Moro palmwood bow with cord of bamboo splint.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento


References

Krieger, Herbert W., "The Collection of Primitive Weapons and Armor of the Philippine Islands in the United States National Museum," Smithsonian Institution; United States National Museum, Bulletin 137 (1926).

Longman, C.J. and Col. H. Walrond, Badminton Library of Sports: Archery. New York, F. Ungar Pub. Co., 1967.

Plants across the Pacific

Paleobotany, the study of plant diffusion, offers more evidence that cultural contacts were taking place across the Pacific before Columbus. These contacts would have provided information that could explain some controversy regarding early maps that supposedly show parts or all of the "New World" before they were "discovered."

The dispersal of the banana across the Pacific was mentioned earlier in this blog. A list of 36 plants of American origin has been compiled, mostly by Thor Heyerdahl, that supposedly were diffused into the Pacific and/or Asia in pre-Columbian times.

Firm evidence for all 36 plants is lacking but about seven stand out as good candidates:

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas)
Bottle gourd (Lagenaria)
Chili pepper (Capsicum)
Cotton (Gossypium)
Papaya (Carica)
Pineapple (Ananas)
Soapberry (Sapindus)

Of these seven, the sweet potato and bottle gourd are considered as established examples although there is argument on whether the diffusion was brought about by humans or by natural dispersal.

The sweet potato in particular has been the subject of continuing controversy and debate among scholars. The strongest evidence for a human diffusion of sweet potato cultivation comes in the very similar words used for the plant in the Pacific and in South America.

The words are of the "kumara" form. The two main arguments against the linguistic evidence are that the supposed cognates to this word in South America do not occur along the coast, and that Pacific varities of kumara appear related more to current Mexican rather than Ecuadorian or Peruvian varieties.

However, there is no doubt that the kumara cultivation praticed over wide areas of Pacific is related as are the words for the sweet potato. In other words, someone started cultivating sweet potatoes either independently or by transmission and then spread the practice around so that it stretched from eastern Polynesia to New Guinea. There is also some evidence that sweet potatoes may have been found in the Marianas and the Philippines in pre-Columbian times. Pigafetta mentions them in both places during Magellan's voyage around the world.

That the sweet potato would become such an important cultigen independently on both sides of the Pacific and also have a coincidentaly similar name seems rather unlikely to me. If we assume that Austronesians had contact with both Incans and Mesoamericans, it could be that the actual name and species were borrowed from separate but still American sources.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Jon Hather & P.V.Kirch, "Prehistoric sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) from
Mangaia Island, Central Polynesia". Antiquity 65:887-93 (1981).

Some interesting internet discussion on the subject between Yuri Kuchinsky and Ross Clark can be found at: http://www.trends.net/~yuku/tran/8p2.htm

Abstract from 21st Annual Northeast Conference on Andean Archaeology and Ethnohistory
http://www.pitt.edu/~neandean/abstracts.html

Trans-Pacific Contact in the Ecuadorian Gulf of Guayaquil? Richard Scaglion (Univ. Pittsburgh) & Maria - Auxiliadora Cordero (Univ. Pittsburgh) Recent research in the Cook Islands has established that the sweet potato, a new world cultivar, was introduced into Polynesia by AD 1000. But how did it get there? Although several methods of dispersal without human agency are plausible, what seems to have
sparked the imagination of many researchers is the possibility of trans-Pacific contact. One of the stronger lines of evidence suggestive of possible human agency in the diffusion of the sweet potato from the new world into Polynesia is the often-mentioned resemblance in certain terms for the cultivar: the word cumar, similar to the Polynesian kumara, has been reported from the highlands of Ecuador.


This paper reviews literature establishing that cumar (in the form comal and/or cumal) was a term used by the Caari people of Ecuador, who were sweet potato cultivators. It further weighs evidence suggesting that Pre-Inkan Caari territory stretched from the Andes to the Ecuadorian coast on the eastern margins of the Gulf of Guayaquil, thus contradicting Brand's (1971:363) dictum that "What is absolutely
definite, is that nowhere on the Ecuadorian or Peruvian coast was there a people cultivating any kind of sweet potato under a name even remotely resembling cumar or cumara." Implications of this finding are discussed, and possible evidence for trans-Pacific contact is reconsidered.

Maps of the Sea Kings V

The other interesting medieval map is known as the portalano or portolan map.

The portolano first appears in full form in the early 14th century as a sailor's guide for navigating the Mediterranean. Although there are theories of a long period of development of these types of maps, the first hard evidence dates only to the work Lo Compasso da Navigare of 1296.

The usage of the portolano is extremely similar to the type of navigation documented among various Austronesian peoples. To understand this we will give a brief overview of the types of navigation discussed.

In early times, most peoples navigated by sailing within sight of the coastline. If they crossed bodies of water, there had to be some visible landmark, like a mountaintop, to use as a target.

However, some early peoples developed the ability to sail to destinations that were not visible.

Among such peoples who have been studied we find they often remarkable ability to orient themselves. That is they can point out the compass directions or the direction of their home without any reference aids. How they do this is not well-understood.

Using one's home port as a reference along with such orientation capability, one can confidently sail beyond the sight of land. This can be done because one can always point back to one's home and sail in that direction if needed.

When learning navigation one thinks of other destinations in terms of their compass direction from the home port/reference.



In the graphic above, we can think of Island A as the home reference. The navigator will then memorize the directions for Island B as a line AB, and for Island C as a line AC.

When sailing to these points, the navigator uses a type of dead reckoning by always looking back at the home reference -- Island A. There is a widespread proverb among Austronesian speakers that deals with many subjects including preserving the past and can also be generalized to navigation. In essence it says:

To know where you are going and where you are, you must first know where you came from

Thus, the navigator judges his deviation from the true course by referring back to the home reference. But what if the navigator having reached Island B from his home port now wants to travel directly to Island C?

In such a case, the direction from his home reference is no long valid except as a new reference. We will call this by the Micronesian name etak. Island B now becomes the new home reference and Island A is the etak. To obtain the course to Island C, the navigator completes the triangle with the line BC. Generally this is done all within the mind of the navigator. Of course it requires an ability to visualize geometric relationships.


The etak island is used to complete the triangle and the bearing stars provide the right wind direction

In practical terms, the navigator applied the course to a wind compass. The wind compass was simply a linking of prevailing winds with certain stars (a star compass).

Now moving to the portolano map, it displayed a number of circles, some resembling compasses with rhumb lines radiating outward like spokes from a wheel.

Portolano map of Piri Reis, 3.3 mb

From the image above of 16th century Turkish Admiral Piri Ibn Haji Mehmed, we can see the circles with the projecting rhumb lines.

These circles basically represented wind compasses! Unlike the coastal navigation of previous times, the navigator now sailed on courses using the wind compass linked with the newly-invented magnetic compass. In Austronesia, the wind compass was used with the star compass rather than a magnetic one.

When a navigator wished to travel to a certain destination, a line was drawn from the point of departure, the home reference, to the destination. The rhumb line that ran most closely parallel with this penciled line was selected. The navigator refers back to the circle for the compass direction and then uses this for guidance with the magnetic compass.

The different circles simply represent different etak that the navigator must choose from.

In the Austronesian method, when one sails past known areas, new etak are created. Thus, when Tupaia sailed to Batavia with Captain Cook's he probably created new etak at selected stops as he ventured thousands of miles into unknown territory where it was documented he could always point accurately to his home island/reference.

More than one commentator has noted that the portalano appeared suddenly in the Venetian and Genoese sphere. Did this represent a sudden innovation, or possibly a transfer of information? The charts arise during the same period of map evolution witnessed far to the east in China.

In China, new information appears to be incorporated into a grid system that had been developing for centuries. In Europe, new navigating charts appear using a previously unknown wind compass system.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Maps of the Sea Kings IV

The "Mongol Atlas" of Chu Ssu-Pen made during the Yuan dynasty is the first map to show Africa with a rather accurate triangular shape.

Maps in the European and Muslim world up to this time and for about a century afterward displayed Africa with its lower half pointing toward the East.


Section of Mongol Atlas of 1320, notice correct orientation of Africa


Section of Vesconte Atlas of 1320 with bottom half of Africa pointing toward the East

Where did the Chinese geographer get his information on Africa? The voyages of Zheng He did not start until nearly a century after Chu Ssu-Pen's atlas was published.

He did not get his information from Europeans or Muslims since his maps do not show similar morphology. The other people dealing in trade with Africa were the Nusantao merchants of Sanfotsi and Toupo. Interestingly, Chu Ssu-Pen actually mentions informants in his notes:

Regarding the foreign countries of the barbarians southeast of the South Sea, and northwest of Mongolia, there is no means of investigating them because of their great distance, although they are continually sending tribute to the court. Those who speak of them are unable to say anything definite, while those who say something definite cannot be trusted; hence I am compelled to omit them here.

The author states here that he rejects information of areas southeast of the South Sea (South China Sea) and northwest of Mongolia. However, what about informants from other areas?

If we believe Galvão then a map existed as early as 1428 showing the Straits of Magellan in South America. Gavin Menzies explains this as coming from the master chart of Zheng He whom he claims circumnavigated the globe on his treasure voyages.

Again much of the evidence Menzies uses to support this idea is identical with that used by Heyerdahl in his "American Indians in the Pacific" theory. Actually, Heyerdahl suggested that it was bearded trans-Atlantic "Nordics" from America rather than Amerindians who made the Pacific voyages.

A great deal of this evidence can easily be shown to predate the Ming period. For example, the ruins at Ponape in Micronesia mentioned at Menzies site are dated more than a millennium before Zheng He's voyages.

However there is one interesting bit of Ming period evidence cited by Menzies. The discovery of a junk in the Philippines off North Pandanan Island by Dr. Eusebio Dizon uncovered a store of metates in the hold. Zhu Di coins date this junk to about 1421.

A metate "mortar" -- corn was ground into the central hole

Metates are grinding stones used in pre-Columbian America. The metates found in the junk were similar to those used in South America. We should note that the Chinese name Lusung may be a transliteration of a local word in the Philippines meaning "mortar" as in "mortar and pestle."

While I can't trace specifically how Nusantao traders would have come to know about the Straits of Magellan, it might be helpful to follow what I call the "tumbaga trail." As mentioned earlier, tumbaga is a copper alloy, usually copper and gold. The word "tumbaga" in nearly the precise same form is found in the Philippines and in different areas of the Americas.

From Peru, tumbaga spread into Argentina and Chile and northward into Columbia. It was found in Mexico, in the Caribbean and in other areas of the Americas. However, it was not always found with the name "tumbaga" or its derivatives.

This expansion of metallurgy was undoubtedly due to the spread of indigenous cultures and empires. However, if we believe in rather regular Nusantao contacts with the Pacific coast of the "New World," we can expect that, like any good explorer/merchant, they would have expanded their "tree" of contacts thoroughly.

It is interesting to note that none of the maps suggested by Menzies to show the Americas, with the possible exception of Kublai Khan chart, are found in China. We take here that the Kublai Khan chart mentioned is based on the idea that a map found in 1911 in the Balkans came from a source map produced in Samarkand. It is therefore speculative that this chart came from Kublai Khan's court.

Such a scenario would make sense from the Nusantao perspective we have suggested here. For China to get involved in the spice trade, it makes no sense to sail eastward around the world to get to the Indian Ocean. However, for Europe sailing westward to this region was a viable alternative to sailing around the continent of Africa, especially from the point of view of trade winds and currents.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Evidence on Pandanan junk and metates presented by Dr. Eusebio Dizon at Royal Geographical Society on March 15th, 2002.

The Mongol Atlas (Kuang Ku Tu), http://www.henry-davis.com/MAPS/LMwebpages/227mono.html

Maps of the Sea Kings III

When Hinduism and Buddhism spread throughout Asia, there was little disruption to the old spice routes. These religions were not strongly exclusive especially in the form they took moving eastward. They lived alongside other religions as in Japan were Shintoism was the state religion or in China were Confucianism was the "religion" of the state.

Nor were they connected centrally in a political or economic way with any place or government. Islam was different in its outlook toward other religions and toward the state in general. Techically, Muslims were required in many ways to favor other Muslims, and in theory, all Muslims pledged their allegiance to the caliphate.

If we look at the 10th century records, the empire of Zabag, which I believe represented the core of the Dragon and Bird Clan during this period, we could say that it was in a golden age. Maybe never before had it attained such power and wealth. Still, there is no real indication despite all this wealth of a strong move toward urbanization.

There is mention in Chinese texts of a brick wall linked with the capital of the empire, but this may have referred to the king's residence instead. About the only mention of opulence mentioned with connection to the island empires is the royal palace.

Still, we often see in excavations of this period, rich burials loaded with pricely Sung dynasty celadons, gold and other precious items.

Often empires reach their height just before the fall. This is the nature of cycles.

For all its great size and wealth, Zabag/Sanfotsi, still had problems to deal with. Not only with the expansion of Islam, but in a powerful neighbor to the south -- the kingdom of Toupo/Wakwak.

The thousand strong fleet of Toupo demonstrates the type of naval power this empire could project across the South China Sea and Indian Ocean. If the people of Zabag had become fat through success, then their empire must have been very attractive to the mighty fleets of Toupo.

Indeed, according to the annals of the Sung Dynasty, the nation of Sanfotsi (Zabag) sent an emissary in 992 AD to the Chinese emperor with news that his country had been invaded by Toupo and was seekng assistance. Apparently that invasion was not completely successful but it may have been the beginning of a gradual decline for the empire of the Clove Route.

The sending of the emissary to China occured about 150 years before contact was made between Prester John and the kingdoms of Europe. In the most popular of the letters of Prester John, we read of a peculiar mention of certain Templars who were thought to be conspiring with the Muslims:

There are Frenchmen among you, of your lineage and from our retinue, who hold with the Saracens. You confide in them and trust in them that they should and will help you, but they are false and treacherous...may you be brave and of great courage and, pray, do not forget to put to death those treacherous Templars.

Note that Prester John here mentions Templars in his own "retinue." Not only that, but the historical records show that at least two letters brought to the Holy Roman and Byzantine emperors were brought by emissaries of Prester John himself. And in 1177, Philippus the physician of Pope Alexander III claimed to have met with Prester John's ambassadors who had a letter for him to deliver to the Pope.

The connection with the Templars is of particular importance. As we related, when the Templar order ended in other parts of Europe it continued in Portugal under a new name: the Knights of the Order of Christ. Prince Henry the Navigator was grand master of this order.

Antonio Galvão mentions a map found in 1528 that was made 120 years earlier, or in 1408. The map was found in the abbey of Alcobaza, which belonged to the French Cistercian Order of Saint Bernard de Clairvaux. This order wrote the Rule for the original Poor Knights of Christ, aka the Templars. The Templar oath has also been found in the archives of the Alcobaza.

I would submit that the maps found by Don Pedro in 1428 and by Don Fernando in 1528 both had Templar origins and that the information was linked directly to their contacts with Prester John, i.e., the ruler of Sanfotsi/Zabag.

When Don Pedro and his brother Prince Henry the Navigator set up their School of Navigation in Portugal they had several goals including gaining spices and gold in the East Indies and seeking an ally against the Muslims in the legendary "Christian" king Prester John.

They initially saw Prester John in the Christian emperor of Ethiopia possibly as he was the only powerful Christian king outside of Europe. However, this did not prevent them from continuing east towards the lands where the spices originated.

From the testimony of the Chinese and Muslim historical texts, we find that Sanfotsi/Zabag had declined markedly at the time of these early Portuguese explorations. Near the end of the Yuan dynasty, the kingdom was know as Lusung.

By this time, key areas in Africa and along the Strait of Malacca were in or falling into Muslim hands. For Lusung, it may have seemed the only hope was adding new elements into the game. The two obvious choices would have been China and Christian Europe. Much of India had already been lost to Islamic advances and the south had all it could handle holding its own.

It was during this time that we see the new maps coming into play. However, if these maps really had the origins I suggest, the result may have not been quite what the Nusantao thalassocracy had desired. The Chinese used their new geographical knowledge mainly for tribute missions. They showed no interest in getting into direct competition as long as they received presents for the emperor. The Muslim admiral Zheng He was perfect for this job.

Indeed, they showed more interest in conquering Lusung than in attempting to gain control of the spice routes. In 1404, Ming emperor Yung Lo sent Zheng He with 60 ships to reduce Lusung, but the latter failed after three attempts. Four years later, Zheng He would set out on the first of his tribute voyages.

The Europeans on the other hand were more than willing to take on the Islamic empire for the spice routes. However, here again the results may have not been what the Nusantao desired. The carnage was great and the contest eventually led to the genocidal conquests of the Americas.

A magnitude 5 eruption of Mt. Pinatubu in 1450, give or take 50 years, probably was the beginning of the end for Lusung as a major power. Muslim Malays had control of much of insular Southeast Asia and the Christians of Europe were not far off.

To a great extent, this result though, I believe, had been expected centuries before. Indeed, it had become part of their prophetic belief.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Laufer, Berthold, “The Relations of the Chinese to the Philippines,” Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection, Vol. 50, Pt. 2, Publication No. 1734, p. 258.

Some articles on Austronesian influence in West Africa (authors have some different conclusions than myself)

Roger Blench's Article on West Africa, especially Indo-Pacific cultigens

Modern recreation of Cinnamon Route and West African voyages

Maps of the Sea Kings II

When Magellan approached the Moluccas during his global navigation, he deliberately turned northward and then headed westward sailing at a latitude of 13 degrees North according to the journals of Pigafetta and Albo. At that time navigation involved attaining the same latitude as one's destination well east or west of the target and then sailing along that latitude as one's course.

Why did Magellan choose to sail so far north of the Moluccas? In Magellan's Voyage around the World, author Charles E. Nowell notes that a copy of a book possessed by Magellan offers the answer. The explorer's copy of Duarte Barbosa's geography labels, in Magellan's own writing, the region north of the Moluccas and south of China as "Tarsis and Ofir."

He was referring to the Biblical lands of Tarshish and Ophir to which Solomon and Hiram were said to have sent trade missions. Pigafetta states that Magellan turned north to reach the port of Gaticara, which is the far eastern trading port of Cattigara mentioned by the ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy. Evidently Magellan thought that Cattigara and Ophir were one and the same.

While sailing on this course, the ships reached Limasawa in the Central Philippines where Black Henry was able to converse with the locals.

If we study the history of maps, we can note that a significant evolution occurs in the 14th century starting with the Yuan dynasty maps of Chu Ssu-Pen. These culminate in the spectacular Kangnido map from Korea.


Kangnido map showing Africa, Asia and Europe, Korea, 1402

Not long after this we hear of the map discovered by Don Pedro of Portugal during his world travels. The same map credited with lauching the great age of European exploration.

So the development of these maps takes place well before the voyage of Zheng He.

When looking at the activities of the Nusantao in the centuries leading up to this period, we know they were very active in trading off Africa. The Muslim writer Buzurg ibn Shahriyar in his Marvels of the Indies mentions an unsuccessful naval invasion by the Wakwak in the year 945 off the southern coast of Africa.

The Wakwak nation appears to be the same one known to the Chinese as Toupo located to the southeast of southern China and Sanfotsi.

According to Shahriyar, the invading fleet consisted of 1,000 ships and the journey to Sofala in present-day Mozambique took about one year. So we can see that the Wakwak were able to muster a huge fleet of ships even larger than those mentioned 460 years later during Zheng He's first treasure voyage.

Ibn al-Wardi states that the Wakwak were known for their large ships, so we might expect that some vessels in the thousand ship fleet were of the kind mentioned by Manguin. These would have been up to 200 feet long carrying as many as 1,000 people. Much larger than the 87 foot long Santa Maria of Columbus, but smaller than the massive 450 foot mahogany and teak treasure ship of Zheng He.

A few centuries later, in 1154, the Arab geographer Idrisi wrote in Kitab Rujjar about trade missions from Zabag and Komr to Africa:

"...the people of the isles of Zabag come to the land of Zanj on small and large ships...for they understand one another's languages."

"The residents of Zabag go to the land of Sofala (near Beira, Mozambique) and export the iron from there supplying it to all the lands of India. No iron is comparable to theirs in quality and sharpness."

"The people of Komr (Khmer) and the merchants of the land of the Mihraj (ruler of Zabag) come among them (the Zanj) and are well received and trade with them."

-- Idrisi

Zabag had a massive trading empire that dealt with, among other things, the movement of spices. Here is is what the geographer al-Mas'udi has to say about Zabag in the 10th century:

"In the sea of Champa (eastern South China Sea) is the empire of Maharaja, the king of the islands, who rules over an empire without limit and has innumerable troops. Even the most rapid vessels could not complete in two years a tour round the isles which are under his possesssion. The territories of this king produce all sorts of spices and aromatics, and no other sovereign of the world gets as much wealth from the soil."

(Mas'udi, 943)

Note that Shahriyar mentions the one year voyage from Wakwak to Sofala, while Mas'udi says the circuit of the empire of Zabag took more than two years. This gives an indication of the area involved.

However, it was in the centuries to come that the ancient Nusantao trade routes came under pressure from Muslim expansion. I believe this was the first real threat to these routes in their long history. Not only the Clove Route, but even the Cinnamon Route to the south was increasingly coming under control of new Islamic kingdoms and empires.

It was during this time that we hear of the first missions of Prester John to Europe, at a time when the Christian kingdoms too were in great crisis. Not long after these missions, the invasions of Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan brought relief to Europe. Although Europe itself was threatened for a period, they never were subjected to the same destruction as the Muslim empires.

However, Genghis' conquests did not so completely alter the situation along the spice routes. They had no effect on Islamic expansion in Africa and only minor consequences for India and Southeast Asia.

The Samudera Darussalam house of Aceh was the first powerful Muslim empire of Southeast Asia. Apparently Aceh was site of Islam's entrance into this region. The Samudera empire gained influence over Malacca and some believe it Islamized the kingdom of Patani in Thailand.

It was during this period of unprecedented foreign influence of a militaristic persuasion, that we see the great development of navigation and map-making in many lands.

In the next blog, we will examine why the Nusantao would have liked other parties to become involved in the spice routes "crisis."

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento


References

Henry the Black, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_the_Black

The Kingdom of Prester John, http://asiapacificuniverse.com/pkm/presterjohn.htm

The Kangnido Map, http://www.henry-davis.com/MAPS/LMwebpages/236.html

Maps of the Sea Kings

From http://www.seridanmulu.com/. Many longhouses are of great size. One Salish longhouse in the Pacific Northwest, for example, was 1,250 feet long.

Lombok longhouse

Sarawak longhouse on high piles

Longhouses built over water

The works of Thor Heyerdahl and Gavin Menzies contain much valuable information on relationships across the Pacific, although in my view both authors ignored the most obvious explanation for these relationships.

Menzies brings up a subject first tackled by Charles Hapgood in Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings. Both Menzies and Hapgood tend to get dismissed by the scholarly establishment, but as one who has studied ancient astronomy, I found many of their contentions compelling. Menzies did quite a lot of work in breaking down the key data traced by Hapgood.

He concludes that the sudden appearance of accurate maps in the 15th century originated from Chinese attempts to provide directions for countries bringing tribute. In Europe, one such map connected with Don Pedro, Prince of Portugal, is suggested to be the source of all or most of the latter maps used in early Portuguese and European exploration.

The following passages from Antonio Galvão are key:

In the year 1428, Don Pedro, the king's eldest son, who was a great traveller, went into England, France, and Germany, and thence into the Holy Land and other places, and came home by Italy, through Rome and Venice. He is said to have brought a map of the world home with him, in which all parts of the earth were described, by which the enterprizes of Don Henry for discovery were much assisted. In this map the Straits of Magellan are called the Dragons-tail, and the Cape of Good Hope the Front of Africa, and so of the rest.

I was informed by Francis de Sosa Tavares, that in the year 1528, Don Fernando, the king's eldest son, shewed him a map which had been made 120 years before, and was found in the study of Alcobaza, which exhibited all the navigation of the East Indies, with the cape of Bona Sperança, as in our latter maps; by which it appears that there was as much discovered, or more, in ancient times as now.

The royal family of Portugal had strong Templar links. After the destruction of the order in France, the Templars in Portugal were cleared by the king and their name was changed to the Knights of the Order of Christ. Prince Henry the Navigator was an established member of this order.

Quite possibly, Don Pedro obtained this map from these Templar remnants during his trips to the Holy Land. It is interesting to note that the map sets out "all the navigation of the East Indies," something that became an immediate goal of Portuguese and other early European explorers.

When Magellan set out on his circumnavigation of the globe, he brought with him an indentured and baptized servant he had obtained in Malacca. Apparently Enrique, or "Black Henry" as he is known, was not Muslim as it is unlikely that a Muslim would have sold to Christians.

When Magellan reached the central Philippines on his approach to the Moluccas, Enrique encountered some of Bisayan-speaking natives with whom he was able to speak. At that point, Enrique acts as translator for Magellan till the latter's death at the hands of Raja Lapu-lapu.

It is often said that Enrique spoke to the Bisayans in Malay, which could have been known locally as a trade language. However, Magellan and probably many other members of his crew had spent many years exploring the East Indies before their voyage. Like other explorers of his time, they likely had better than a passing knowledge of Malay.

Could it be that Enrique understood the indigenous local language and that the landing in the Central Philippines was not a mistake? We know from earlier records that there was indeed a colony of workers from the Philippines in Malacca under contract of the Sultan. Did Magellan obtain Enrique for some special knowledge he possessed? Although Enrique is thought to have been only 12 to 18 years old when he joined Magellan, this would not have precluded him from indigenous navigational lore.

A note from the 1800s shows how Santa Cruz boys (Solomon Islands) had already acquired considerable skills from any perspective:

...teaching the names of various stars to his younger companions, and [I] was surprised at the number he knew by name. Moreover, at any time of night or day, in whatsover direction we might happen to be steering, these boys, even the youngest of the three, a lad of ten or twelve, would be able to point to where his home lay; This I have found them able to do many hundreds of miles to the south of the Santa Cruz group"

W.Coote (1882) Wanderings, South and East, London:Sampson Low.

Now getting back to the map of Don Pedro, I have commented earlier on my views that the king known to the West as Prester John was indeed a Nusantao monarch of the "Indies." His missions to the emperors of Europe were probably linked with a concern for the spice trade and possibly more spiritually-linked matters as we have been discussing.

The map found by Don Pedro contained information on navigating to the East Indies and on the Cape of Good Hope, both of which likely would have been known to the kings of Sanfotsi/Zabag (Prester John's realm). Of course, the East Indies would have been their own turf, but also we know from Muslim accounts that they sailed frequently to eastern Africa, and especially to southeast Africa. Now how they would have known of the Straits of Magellan off the southern tip of South America is another matter.

One might wonder as to whether Austronesians had maps of their own to give to others. Generally speaking, the Austronesians did not make maps in the true sense. There are some examples of stick maps and astronomical domes used for teaching. However, the Austronesian usually memorized maps in the same way they memorized prodigious genealogies.

The Tahitian priest Tupaia, although not strictly a navigator, was said to have given accurate positions for hundreds of islands across the South Seas spanning a distance greater than the Atlantic Ocean! He did this all from memory and the information was sufficient to allow his European friends to draw accurate exploration charts.

The Austronesian memorized positions of stars and their relationships with geographical positions. The navigator could relay the latitude of a particular place by giving its zenith star, the star that passes directly overhead in that location when at its zenith (highest point in the sky).

The navigator always knew the compass direction from any point to any destination and the distance involved. Using right angled trigonometry one could use this information to ascertain geographic longitude in a grid system.

So whether or not Austronesian navigators ever viewed things in the light of Cartesian grids, they had knowledge that was accurate and could easily be converted into such a system.

The Portuguese voyages of exploration had as their aim, the East Indies, and I submit this was not entirely accidental. There were folk from the East that helped bring this result along, and it happened during a time of great crisis for the ancient Nusantao maritime networks.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

References

Forster, J.R. (1777) Observations made during a Voyage round the World (in the Resolution 1771-5), London (For information on Tupaia).

Hapgood, Charles. Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings: Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age; 1966; 1997 Paperback Reprint Edition, Adventures Unlimited Press.

Gavin Menzies site with references on medieval maps: http://www.1421.tv/pages/evidence/content.asp?EvidenceID=9

Turtle Island

Ainu totem pole collection in British Columbia

Totem pole, Alaska

The cultures of the Pacific Northwest Coast and Austronesia shared many similarities. They both used communal longhouses, built similiar war canoes and possessed complex dual clan systems.

Gavin Menzies claims these were features were brought by the Chinese admiral Zheng He, while Thor Heyerdahl invokes "Aryans" who came from the West possibly from the Canary Islands. These theories have gained much publicity but the Austronesians and indigenous Americans are rarely considered as more than passive recipients in such scenarios. This view ignores the well-accepted ancient seafaring prehistory of this region.


Haida war canoe with totem prow, similar to those of Pacific islands, http://www.sd91.bc.ca/webquests/firstnations/

The importance of the clan is evidenced by the frequent appearance of the totem in indigenous art. Much effort was put into learning long oral genealogies. In some cases on both sides of the Pacific these genealogies could take many days or even weeks to recite.

Oral records have some advantages over written ones. There are cases of oral traditions that survive written ones as with the Maya to the south. While written genealogies in the pre-modern era were limited to the elite and usually only to royalty, we have many instances of ancient oral genealogies among the common people.

To aid in the memorization of oral traditions, we find the use of devices like string records on both sides of the Pacific. The use of knot language make much sense for people who traveled extensively on the sea. The totem pole also records, at times, large amounts of information in the form of symbolic records. At times, these special symbols are known only to a small group of people such as the makers of the pole. In order to understand the meaning of the symbols, one has to consult these initiates.

The importance of clan identity was often shown through the wearing of special emblems on one's person. Especially important in our context are ear ornaments. The use of ear discs and related earlobe extension, often bearing clan ensignia, apparently was widespread.


Kalinga woman with ear disc and shell ear disc from Duyong Cave with calibrated date of 4,300 BC (Philippines)

These types of ear ornaments were also worn in Peru by the Orejones "Long-Ears." In Easter Island, people with extended ear-lobes were associated with the large stone heads carved out of volcanic rock.

The practice of making stepped pyramids has been mentioned earlier. Ancient shell mounds have been found along the Pacific coast of America including Mexico. As we have noted, shell and earthen mounds in Asia eventually became used for burial and ritual purposes probably signifying a link between the mound and the sacred mountain. The tops of these mounds were flattened as ritual platforms or to support homes. Here are a few examples of stepped pyramids in the region under consideration:


From top to bottom and left to right: Candi Sukuh, Indonesia; Borobodur, Java; Papara temple and burial place, Tahiti; Chimu temple/burial place, Peru; temple, Peru; royal tomb, Tonga.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

The Survival of Motifs

The motifs carried by the Nusantao have persisted thousands of years into modern times. In many cases, these motifs are propagated by people who have little idea of their origin or intended meaning.

Take, for example, the various representations of the divine volcano in the form of a mound-like dome topped with a pillar or similar motif. In the following image you will see from top to bottom and left to right, the Sanchi stupa in India, the U.S. Capitol dome, the Vatican, the Bagan Pagoda in Myanmar, the stupas of Borobodur and the Blue Mosque of Amman.



The number of interlinked motifs pertaining to the sacred mountain argues against independent invention, at least in all of the known cases. A random survey of some of the more commonly-found motifs at different distribution nodes shown in the table below suggests coincidence is unlikely as a blanket explanation. This is particularly true when we consider that many of the locations did not have local volcanoes. In half the examples below, the sacred mountain is not considered part of the local geography.

Distribution of Sacred Mountain Motifs

Location	Motifs
Egypt	!@#$%=+?>
Mesopotamia	!@#$%*=+-?>
India	!@#$*=+->
Java	!@#$&*=+->
Philippines	!@#%^&*=+-?>
China	$&*+->
Hawai'i	!&*=+-
Mesoamerica	!@#$%^=+?>

! Opening in cosmic mountain to Underworld
@ "Twin peaks" or "double merlon" motif
# Dual mountain openings to Underworld
$ Truncated pyramid as model of sacred mountain
% Sun rising from or residing in sacred mountain
^ Sun and Moon associated with dual sacred mountains
& Sacred mountain considered local
* "Water of life" associated with sacred mountain
= Cosmic tree of flower associated with sacred mountain
+ Sacred mountain viewed as fiery or as a volcano
- Sacred mountain linked with great heavenly war
? Venus linked with fiery mountain
> Sacred mountain viewed as divided into regions or layers


A list of large Holocene (post-Ice Age) period eruptions can be found at the Smithsonian Volcanism site. Of particular interest to me is the corrected radiocarbon date for a Pinatubo eruption at 3,550 BC with a 500 year margin of error. This event registers at magnitude 6 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) making it a very powerful eruption at the same level as the 1991 eruptive episode.

The last eruption of near-by Mt. Arayat has not been dated by radiometric means. It is known to have been a Neolithic event as the volcanic strata associated with the episode contains no post-Neolithic artifacts. The boundaries of the Neolithic period for this region are not precisely known.

According to the legend, the great eruptions occured near the time when rice was first introduced into the area. The oldest regional dating for rice is about 3,000 BC, while in near-by Taiwan the dates are at 4,500 BC. Again these dates have significant margins of error. All evidence agrees though with a primarily Neolithic period expansion as suggested by Solheim with regard to the Nusantao.

That the motif-carrying Nusantao venturing over the Pacific revered their ancestors and were strongly clan-oriented might be indicated by the distribution of totem pole-making.

Totem poles carved from trees as pictographic clan records are found among Amerindians of the Pacific Northwest coast, the Ainu of northern Japan, the tribes of Borneo, the Maori of New Zealand, the Asmat of New Guinea, the Malagasy of Madagascar and among various peoples in West Africa.

Haida Totem Pole, Pacific Northwest Coast

Ifugao Totem Pole, Philippines

Maori Totem Pole

Totem Pole, Borneo

The totem pole served as a clan monument to revered ancestors especially recent ones. It was not worshipped neither was it meant as a substitute for oral genealogies.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

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.