In article <91fbd267-47ce-4d05-b9aa-67b2494b1a29
@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, jrkrideau@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
says...
> On Jun 28, 10:44=A0am, SolomonW <Solom...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> > In article <MPG.22d0f7936ffbd233989681@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, Solom...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > says...
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > > The one convincing piece of evidence for pre-Hispanic contact has
bee=
n
> > > the humble sweet potato, which is of tropical American origin but
wid=
ely
> > > cultivated across the Pacific islands. Until a few years ago it was
> > > assumed that this was the result of Spanish transmission, dating to
t=
he
> > > early colonial period, but archaeological discoveries in the Cook
> > > Islands show this to be wrong: excavations at Mangaia yielded
carboni=
sed
> > > remains of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) dating to AD1000, five
> > > centuries before Europeans entered the Pacific Ocean.
> >
> > > This does not mean that such contact existed only that one possible
> > > explanation is contact.
> >
> > >http://www.bioedonline.org/picks/news.cfm?art=3D3336
> >
> > Oops I meant to include this article too!
> >
> > http://climate.uvic.ca/people/caavis/SPotato_V2.pdf-
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> >
> > - Show quoted text -
>=20
> Thanks. That's a rather interesting paper. So far we seem to have
> chickens in South America and sweet potatos in Polynesia before
> Europeans arrived.
>=20
> John Kane Kingston ON Canada
>=20
The sweet potato without human being might be able to cross the ocean
by=20
either drift or inside a bird. It does not sound convincing but it is a=20
possibility. The other possibility is that an American Indian lost at=20
sea took it to the Pacific Island.
However chickens do not swim and they can not fly the distance. If the=20
chicken came to Chile from a Pacific Island someone had to bring it
from=20
the Pacific.=20
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0703993104v2
If so then the Polynesians must have had contact with the natives of=20
South America before Columbus bring the chicken and they brought back=20
from South America, the sweet potato.
