10 Years After

Son of a Son of a Sailor

This afternoon I had my midterm in Dialectology. It consisted of choosing one of two essay questions. The first was to discuss the various levels of dialect. The second was to write an essay about the History of English in America. I chose the later and wrote three pages in which I attempted to cram in as much of what I remembered as possible. I included not just socio-historic information but also sought to use as much jargon as we have covered in class so far. It took all but the last few minutes of class to write. My only concern was that I was the first to finish. Sometimes that just means I was succint. On the other hand, sometimes that can mean you didn't write enough. I think it was the former and not the later.... at least I hope so.

Last night I went to the seminar on Pre-Columbian Exploration in the New World. It was nice. I had a few complaints, such as how much time the speaker spent on remarking how mind blowing his premise was and seemingly way too much time talking about various boats. Maybe that something particular to the few classes that were forced to attend. However, his evidence that boats in the ancient world and in 15th century China dwarfed Christopher Columbus' vessels seemed reduced inimportance when he then commented that large vessels weren't necessary the best oceanic ships due to the impact of large waves bowing the ship and, also, the need for smaller craft to explore coatal/tidewater areas.

The best part was his abundance of botanical evidence either through actual crops in unlike areas (such as sweet potatoes in Polynesia) or depicted in art (such as thes statues holding corn in India dating from Pre-Columbian contact.) He also backed this view with some talk of biological evidence such as intestinal parasites (particular tropical worms that would not have been able to survive a artic crossing but that have been found in Pre-Columbian bodies) as well as mitochondrial DNA evidence. This later was fascinating because this evidence seems to indicate that the South Americans are genetically related to Siberians whereas the North American indigenous population is not. Some view this as propping up the claim that perhaps North America was populated by a ice-bridge across the Northern parts of the Atlantic.

Saving the best part for last, I was astonded to the linguistic evidence he presented. I was already aware that Madagascar uses a Polynesian language. However, he spoke of cliff writing which has been suggested to be some form of semitic writing and that some linguistics have linked the Polyneisan, African and New World languages as possibly being one (proto)family.

I'm sure the linguistic claims, like the other areas, are controversial issues. Still, I would like to look into them further. A quick look around ETSU's Web Site doesn't yield any information on the event and I happened upon a flyer for it while in the Admin building looking for a clas schedule for next term. Here is a page that referrences the speaker, Dr Stephen Jett, in a discussion of the theory that China discovered and mapped the western coast of the United States in 1421.

The event was billed as a seminar but it turned out to be much more of a presentation with Q&A at the end. Several people brought up oddities that have been linked to the theory that people in ancient times (pre-Norse even) contacted the new world. The speaker commented on likely reasons for there not being abundant archeological evidence. However, he did state that there was one confirmed artifact. I believe he stated it was a supposed Roman era porcelin head that was found in a sealed Pre-Columbian pyramid tomb in Central America. Several people asked about "The Lost Tribe of Israel" theory of transatlantic voyage or Noah's ark as being some collosally big ship actual able to hold multiple numbers of every land species. The speaker dismissed both.