Subject:      Olmec origins (transpacific contacts?)
From:         yuku@io.org (Yuri Kuchinsky)
Date:         1996/08/07
Newsgroups:   alt.mythology,alt.archaeology,sci.archaeology

ARTICLE 1 OF 11 in the thread

Jeffrey L Baker wrote:

*****************
The Olmecs did not suddenly appear out of nowhere. Coe and Diehl's
excavations at San Lorenzo demonstrated that over 25 years ago. More
recent work at La Venta has provided evidence of the Gulf Coast
roots of Olmec dating back to before 2000 B.C. The Olmecs did not
suddenly appear, but were the gradual result of a thousand years of
in situ cultural evolution.
*****************

Jeffrey,

The following quote appears in THE ATLAS OF WORLD MYTHOLOGY, 1989,
v. 2, by Joseph Campbell. (p. 260)

      Coming suddenly to light within a few decades from the
      depths of time, a civilization totally unknown to us has
      emerged, with its compelling evidence and its mysteries,
      with its style and its gods, forcing us to recognize it
      as being the earliest of all those that man has built on
      the American continent, and perhaps as the "mother
      civilization" of the New World.
                              Jacques Soustelle


Also this, by Campbell:

      One of the most remarkable aspects of the Olmec
      phenomenon is the very wide diffusion of the evidences
      of its influence. (p. 265)

He quotes Ignacio Bernal:

      If we observe on a map the areas occupied by the Olmec
      world, we see that they cover most of Mesoamerica. (p.
      266)

And this from Campbell:

      Evidence of an earlier occupation of a number of the
      Olmec jungle sites from possibly c. 1500 b.c. has
      suggested to some that a local formative development may
      have anteceded the abrupt appearance in the area of both
      great and small stone monuments in a sculptural style
      fully achieved. No signs, however, have yet been found
      of formative beginnings of any kind. (p. 265)


*****************
Joseph Needham is a highly regarded scholar when it comes to Chinese
technology and history. He is not a highly regarded scholar in the
study of precolumbian New World culture. The single biggest
failing of all hyperdiffusionist claims is the complete absence of
old world artifacts in precolumbian new world contexts.
*****************

It is not unusual to see generalists such as Campbell and Needham
being attacked for precisely the thing that makes their work so
interesting: their desire to learn and to teach others about what
different yet adjacent disciplines can offer if the insights of a
number of them are combined. Jeffrey, do you see any value at all in
reading respected scholars who venture into adjacent disciplines?

*****************
Do your homework and find a better source than Needham.
*****************

OK.

All the best,

Yuri.