AMERICAN Drugs in Egyptian Mummies

[Bianca]

American Drugs in Egyptian Mummies

 

S. A. Wells

www.colostate.edu

 

Abstract:

 

       The recent findings of ****, nicotine, and hashish in Egyptian mummies by Balabanova et. al. have been  criticized on grounds that: contamination of the mummies may have occurred, improper techniques may have been used, chemical decomposition may have produced the compounds in question, recent mummies of drug users were mistakenly evaluated, that no similar cases are known of such compounds in long-dead bodies, and especially that pre-Columbian transoceanic voyages are highly speculative.  These criticisms are each discussed in turn.  Balabanova et. al. are shown to have used and confirmed their findings with accepted methods.  The possibility of the compounds being byproducts of decomposition is shown to be without precedent and highly unlikely.  The possibility that the researchers made evaluations from of faked mummies of recent drug users is shown to be highly unlikely in almost all cases.  Several additional cases of identified American drugs in mummies are discussed.  Additionally, it is shown that significant evidence exists for contact with the Americas in pre-Columbian times.  It is determined that the original findings are supported by substantial evidence despite the initial criticisms.

 

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       In a one-page article appearing in Naturwissenschaften, German scientist Svetla Balabanova (1992) and two of her colleagues reported findings of ****, hashish and nicotine in Egyptian mummies.  The findings were immediately identified as improbable on the grounds that two of the substances are known to be derived only from American plants - **** from Erythroxylon coca, and nicotine from Nicotiana tabacum.  The suggestion that such compounds could have found their way to Egypt before Columbus' discovery of America seemed patently impossible.

 

       The study was done as part of an ongoing program of investigating the use of hallucinogenic substances in ancient societies.  The authors themselves were quite surprised by the findings (Discovery, 1997) but stood by their results despite being the major focus of criticism in the following volume of aturwissenschaften.  Of the nine mummies evaluated, ll showed signs of ocaine and hashish Tetrahydrocannabinol), whereas all but one sampled positive for nicotine.  It is interesting too that the concentrations of the compounds suggest uses other than that of abuse.  (For example, modern drug addicts often have concentrations of **** and nicotine in their hair 75 and 20 times higher respectively than that found in the mummy hair samples.) It is even possible that the quantities found may be high due to concentration in body tissues through time.

 

       Without question, the study has sparked an interest in various disciplines.  As Balabanova et. al. predicted, "...the results open up an entirely new field of research which unravels aspects of past human life-style far beyound [sic] basic biological reconstruction."

[Bianca]

The Criticisms

 

       The biggest criticism of the findings of Balabanova et. al. was not necessarily directed at the extraction process per se, although this was discussed.  The biggest criticism was that **** and nicotine could not possibly have been used in Egypt before the discovery of the New World, and that transatlantic journeys were not known - or at least they are highly speculative.  It is safe to say that the criticisms of the study would have been minimal or nonexistent if the findings had been made of Old World drugs.  Such findings, in fact, would not have been at all unusual as the use of stimulants were known in Egypt.  Poppy seeds and lotus plants have been identified for just this use in manuscripts (the Papyrus Ebers) and in hieroglyphs (as Balabanova et. al. show).

 

       Schafer (1993) argues that, "the detection of pharmacologically active substances in mummified material never proves their use prior to death." He argues that such compounds could have been introduced as part of the mummification process.  The suggestion is that (especially) nicotine could have been
introduced around the mummy (and subsequently absorbed into its tissue) as an insecticide (being used as a preservative) within relatively modern times.  A similar criticism was raised by Bjorn (1993) who wondered if nicotine might have been absorbed by the mummies from cigarette smoke in the museums where the mummies have been preserved.  According to Schafer, the only way to show that the compounds were taken into the bodies while they were alive would be to find different concentrations at different distances from the scalp - a procedure not undertaken by the authors.

 

       Another interesting criticism of Schafer (1993) is that Balabanova et. al. might have been the victims of faked mummies.  Apparently people (living in the not too far distant past) believed that mummies contained black tar called bitumen and that it could be ground up and used to cure various illnesses.  In fact the very word 'mummy' comes from the Persian 'mummia' meaning bitumen (Discovery, 1997).  A business seems to have developed wherein recently dead bodies where deliberately aged to appear as mummies and that some of the perpetrators of such deeds were drug abusers.

 

       The criticism that seems most popular is that the identified drugs might have been products of "necrochemical and necrobiochemical processes" (Schafer, 1993; Bjorn, 1993).  One explanation is that Egyptian priests used tropine-alkaloid-containing plants during the mummification process that subsequently underwent changes in the mummy to resemble the identified compounds.

 

       Yet another argument is that there is nothing in the literature showing that any of the three compounds have been identified in bodies that have been dead for some time.

[Bianca]

Reply to the Critics

 

Analytical Techniques and Contamination

 

       “In the study, samples were taken from nine mummies that were dated from between 1070 B.C. to 395 A.D.  The samples included hair, skin and muscle were taken from the head and abdomen.  Bone tissue was also taken from the skull.  All tissues were pulverized and dissolved in NaCl solution, homogenized, and centrifuged.  A portion of the supernatant was extracted with chloroform and dried and then dissolved in a phosphate buffer.  Samples were then measured by both radioimmunoassay (Merck; Biermann) and gas chromatography / mass spectrometry (Hewlett Packard) - hereinafter GCMS. “

 

       “This is the procedure used to produce what McPhillips (1998) considered indisputable evidence for confirming products of substance abuse in hair.  Within recent years, hair analysis has been used more commonly in this kind of screening process and the techniques employed have been optimized.  Mistakes are known to have occurred in some cases evaluating for metals, but the ability to detect drugs such as ****, nicotine, and hashish seem not have been problematic (Wilhelm, 1996).   The two possible mistakes in analyzing hair for drugs
include false positives, which are caused by environmental contamination; and false negatives, where actual compounds are lost because of such things as hair coloring or perming.  In recent years, these techniques of hair analysis have revealed the interesting findings of arsenic in the hair of Napoleon Bonaparte, and laudanum in the hair of the poet Keats. “

 

       “The procedure includes a thorough washing of the hair to remove external contaminants followed by a process of physical degradation using a variety of methods (such as digestion with enzymes or dissolution with acids, organic solvents, etc.,).  Following these preparatory procedures, the hair is then analyzed.   Antibody testing (e.g. radioimmunoassay) is a well-established procedure although there is small potential of obtaining false positive results.  These are mainly caused by the cross-reactivity of the antibody with other compounds, including minor analgesics, cold remedies and antipsychotic drugs - compounds not likely to be found in Egyptian mummies.  Because of the possible false positives, chromatography (GC-MS) is routinely utilized to confirm the results.  “

 

       “The suggestion of nicotine contamination from cigarette smoke is eliminated by the use of solvents and/or acids in the cleaning process - methods used by Balabanova et. al. and all other researchers that have documented drugs in mummies. “

 

       “The validity of Balabanova's findings seems to be vindicated at least so far as the analytical methods used in the study.  The authors' methods as well as those in the additional findings reported here (see below) have used the combination of immunological and chromatographic methods to both analyze and confirmsamples. “

[Bianca]

Faked Mummies

 

       “The argument that the mummies might have been modern fakes was investigated by David (Discovery, 1997).   David is the Keeper of Egyptology at the Manchester Museum, and undertook her own analysis of mummies, independent of Balabanova's group.   In addition, she traveled to Munich to evaluate for herself the mummies studied by Balabanova's group.   Unfortunately the mummies weren't available for filming and they were being kept isolated from further research on grounds of religious respect.   David had to resort to the museum's records.   She found that, except for the city's famous mummy of Henot Tawi (Lady of the Two Lands) the mummies were of unknown origin and some were represented only by detached heads. “

 

       “David's inability to examine the mummies herself may have kept the possibility of faked ones open; however, her evaluation of the museum's records seemed to indicate otherwise.   The mummies were preserved with packages of their viscera inside.   Some even contained images of the gods.   In addition the state of mummification itself was very good.   The isolated heads may have been fakes (evidence one way or the other is lacking) but the intact bodies examined in Balabanova's research were clearly genuine. “

[Bianca]

Chemical Changes

 

       “The argument that the identified drugs might be byproducts of decomposition is highly unlikely.

  The argument appears to resemble a 'Just So' story of biochemical evolution without the benefit of natural selection.   Schafer (1993) admits that natural decomposition or mummification has never led to the synthesis of **** or related alkaloids but leaves the possibility open anyway.   He argues that the compounds in question might theoretically have been produced by tropine-alkaloid-containing plants (such as were present in species that were utilized in the mummification process). “

 

       “The benefit of the doubt in this case clearly goes to Balabanova et. al. Until it is shown how **** could be produced in this way, the argument is hypothetical at best. “

[Bianca]

Isolated Example

 

       “The detection of drugs in human hair is a fairly recent endeavor (McPhillips, 1998; Sachs, 1998).   A few compounds were identified during the 1980's but it wasn't until the 1990s that drug screening via hair analysis became accepted and used as a possible alternative to urine sampling.   The criticism that no known cases of ****, nicotine, or hashish have been reported in human hair must, therefore be interpreted with clarification.   None of these compounds had been observed in human hair because the process had not been fully developed, nor had the application even been considered until quite recently.   Even then the claim is not true. “

 

       “Cartwell et. al. (1991) using a radioimmunoassay method detected **** metabolites in pre-Columbian mummy hair from South America.   In this study two out of eight mummies analyzed showed **** metabolites.   All samples tested were confirmed by a separate laboratory (Psychomedics Corporation, Santa Monica, California) using GC-MS.   The two mummies testing positive were from the Camarones Valley in northern Chile.   The artifacts as well as the mummies at this site were typical of Inca culture. “

 

       “Since the initial work of Balabanova et. al., other studies have revealed the same drugs (****, nicotine, and hashish) in Egyptian mummies, confirming the original results.   Nerlich et. al. (1995), in a study evaluating the tissue pathology of an Egyptian mummy dating from approximately 950 B.C., found the compounds in several of the mummy's organs.   They found the highest amounts of nicotine and **** in the mummy's stomach, and the hashish traces primarily in the lungs.   These findings were again identified using both radioimmunoassay and GSMS techniques.   Very similar results were again found in yet another study by Parsche and Nerlich (1995).   Again, the findings were obtained using the immunological and chromatographic techniques. “

 

       “David's work (Discovery, 1997) though not finding ****, did confirm the presence of nicotine.   This finding has seemed a little less threatening to conservative scholarship in that it seems possible (albeit unlikely) that a nicotine-producing plant may have existed in Africa within historic times - only becoming extinct recently. “
 

       “Such a possibility might allow for a comfortable resolution to conservative scholarship but doesn't explain the evidence of ****.   Additionally, the possibility of a native plant going extinct is unlikely.   Much more reasonable would be that an introduced species under cultivation could go extinct, yet this only begs the question of the original provenance of the species. “

 

       “In any event, considering the several confirmations of Balabanova's work (as well as that of Caldwell et. al. prior to her study) it appears that the argument against their findings based on too little evidence is quickly vanishing (if not already obviated). “

[Bianca]

Pre-Columbian Voyages to America

 

       “The major reason for the initial criticisms to Balabanova's work is the disbelief in pre-Columbian transoceanic contacts.   Egyptologist John Baines (Discovery, 1997) went so far as to state, "The idea  that the Egyptians should have traveled to America is overall absurd...and I also don't know anyone who spends time doing research in these areas, because they're not perceived to be areas that have any real meaning for the subjects.  " Another interpretation on why researchers haven't considered the subject closer is given by Kehoe (1998), "Aftermid-century, any archaeologist worried about money or career avoided looking at pre-Columbian contacts across saltwater [p. 193].." It appears that acknowledging that pre-Columbian contacts occurred was not academically acceptable.   Kehoe (1998) also gives examples of several researchers whose work has been academically marginalized because it supported these views (e.g. Stephen Jett, Carl Johannessen, Gordon Ekholm, Paul Tolstoy, and George Carter). “

 

       “Surprising at it may seem, evidence for early ocean voyages to America from the Old World is not lacking - nor is it negligibly verifiable.   Within the last two years, two periodicals, focusing on these contacts have been established.   The first, entitled Pre-Columbiana, is edited by Stephen C. Jett, Professor of Clothings and Textiles at the University of California, Davis; the second is entitled Migration and Diffusion and is edited by Professor Christine Pellek in Vienna, Italy.   There is certainly quite a bit of spurious reports of early contacts from the Old World, however, a general disregard for all of the evidence is, anymore, itself evidence of academic negligence, as these two periodicals indicate. “

 

       “A bibliography of these early contacts is given by John Sorensen (1998) in the first issue of Pre-Columbiana.   It is a good example of the kinds of evidence being uncovered by legitimate researchers and institutions.   The bibliography is itself a condensation of a two-volume work of these publications and includes titles such as: The world's oldest ship? (showing evidence for a pre-Columbian ship in America) published in Archaeology; Peruvian fabrics (showing very strong similarities between Peru and Asia) published in Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History; Robbing native American cultures: Van Sertima's Afrocentricity and the Olmecs (showing evidence for connections between Africa and the Olmecs of Middle America) published in Current Anthropology; Possible Indonesian or Southeast Asian Influences in New World textile industries (showing at least three textile-related inventions that appear in both Indonesia and the New World) published in Indonesian Textiles; and, Genes may link Ancient Eurasians, Native Americans, published in Science.”

 

       “And the list goes on and on - some evidence being better than others - but as a whole it seems pretty much irrefutable. Claims to the contrary seem to be made by individuals with a vested interest in the isolationist position. The evidence, pro and con, when evaluated objectively, would seem without question, to favor the diffusionist position (which claims that pre-Columbian contacts took place). “

[Bianca]

Considerations

 

       “The initial reaction to the findings of Balabanova et. al. were highly critical.   These criticisms were not based on a known failing in the authors' research methodology, rather they were attempts to cast doubt on an implication of the research - that **** and nicotine were brought to Egypt from the New World before Columbus.   This conclusion is not acceptable to conservative investigators of the past.   In fact it suggests a deep-rooted aversion to what Balabanova suggested might mean an unraveling of aspects of history contrary to basic reconstructions.   This aversion, according to Kehoe (1998) stems from the conviction that Indians were primitive savages destined to be overcome by the civilized world - that the acme of evolutionary success resided in the conquering race itself.   ‘Childlike savages could never have voyaged across oceans.’ “

 

       “Balabanova's findings bring yet other evidence forward that humanity is not so easily pinioned into the pre-conceived notions of primitive and advanced - even as this might be related to the presumed technology of earlier times.   The quest for discovery - to find new worlds - is not just a modern selective advantage of our species.   Perhaps it is the defining characteristic. “

 

Literature Cited:

 

Balababova, S., F. Parsche, and W. Pirsig.  1992.  First identification of drugs in Egyptian mummies.  Naturwissenschaften 79:358.

 

Bisset, N.G. and M.H. Zenk. 1993.  Responding to 'First identification of drugs in Egyptian mummies'.  Naturwissenschaften 80:244-245.

 

Bjorn, L.O. 1993.  Responding to 'First identification of drugs in Egyptian mummies'.  Naturwissenschaften80:244.

 

Cartwell, L.W. et. al. 1991.  **** metabolites in pre-Columbian mummy hair.  Journal of the Oklahoma State Medical Association 84:11-12.

 

Discovery Information. 1997.  Curse of the **** Mummies. Thirty-six page transcript of program viewed on US National TV in January 1997 and July 1999.

 

Kehoe, A.B. 1998.  The Land of Prehistory, A Critical History of American Archaeology.  Routledge, New York and London. 266 pp.

 

McIntosh, N.D.P. 1993.  Responding to 'First identification of drugs in Egyptian mummies'.  Naturwissenschaften 80:245-246.

 

McPhillips, M. et. al. 1998.  Hair analysis, new laboratory ability to test for substance use.  British Journal of Psychiatry 173: 287-290.

 

Nerlich, A.G. et. al. 1995.  Extensive pulmonary haemorrhage in an Egyptian mummy.  Virchows Archiv 127:423-429.

 

Parsche, F. 1993.  Reply to "Responding to 'First identification of drugs in Egyptian mummies'".  Naturwissenschaften 80:245-246.

 

Parsche, F. and A. Nerlich.  1995. Presence of drugs in different tissues of an Egyptian mummy. Fresenius'.  Journal of Analytical Chemistry 352:380-384.

 

Sachs, H. and P. Kintz. 1998.  Testing for drugs in hair, critical review of chromatographic procedures since 1992.  Journal of Chromatography (B) 713:147-161.

 

Schafer, T. 1993.  Responding to 'First identification of drugs in Egyptian mummies'.  Naturwissenschaften 80:243-244.

 

Sorenson, J.L. 1998.  Bibliographia Pre-Columbiana.  Pre-Columbiana 1(1&2):143-154.

 

Wells, S. A.  American Drugs in Egyptian Mummies:  A Review of the Evidence. www.colostate.edu,

       

Wilhelm, M. 1996.  Hair analysis in environmental medicine.  Zentralblatt fur Hygeine und Umweltmedizin 198: 485-501.

[Morrison]

Yes, that is true, Bianca, and, no matter how many times the so-called "scholars" try and explain it away, it is still evidence that the Egyptians, Phonicians and Mesoamericans had contacts with one another and traded together.

Phoenician and Carthaginian coins have also been found in the Americas and the Azores and, if memory serves, the ruins of a Roman vessel were also said to be found off the coast of the Americas. 

The Olmecs also clearly came from Africa, but again, the academic world is too blind to acknowledge this.

What they seem to need is foriegn "pottery." found in one place or another.  Barring that, I'm afraid we will continue to see the same antiquated information in the history textbooks.

[Bianca]

Morrison,


If they acknowledged the TRUTH, they would LOSE everything, including who they are!

Not to mention what would happen to certain religions......

But, trust me, it will happen, it will happen.  The pressure for truth will become too great for
any of them to ignore.

[Morrison]

Bianca,

In my view, conservative scientists are just as bad as conservative politicians.  Granted, one needs proof to begin rewriting history, but we actually have it in the Americas, and yet "scientists" like Ken Feder continue to repeat the same Pre-Clovis misinformation.  Not only are they too entrenched in dogma, they are too lazy to keep on the latest discoveries, too.

[Bianca]

Morrison, it's a generational 'mind-set' (my generation:  late 1930s - mid 1940s), they are still
entrenched in power with their archaic ideas: in Religion but, unfortunately, also in Politics.

You can't imagine how hard it is on a female who is progressive and grows with the times......

Anyway, they've got to retire sooner or later.  If not, I think Jerry Falwell just showed the
alternative and they'll follow him.......It's stressful on the heart, trying to stay on top........

[Jake]

How can the truth make it to the mainstream public? I don't know if it can. I firmly believe that there was travel between the area now known as Egypt, and the America's (This great article helps solidify that believe, Thank You Bianca , I had yet to hear anything of it.) But if you were to present the issue to most anyone on the street, all they would remember after "prime time" was that somebody was talking about mummies today.  A sad state of affairs, nevertheless a true state for the average person walking the planet tonight.

Jake

[Boreas]

Cheer up, Jake. We're not done yet..!

Scientific Evidence for Pre-Columbian Transoceanic Voyages to and from the Americas

John L. Sorenson and Carl L. Johannessen

Abstract

Examination of an extensive literature has revealed conclusive evidence that nearly one hundred species of plants, a majority of them cultivars, were present in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres prior to Columbus' first voyage to the Americas. The evidence comes from archaeology, historical and linguistic sources, ancient art, and conventional botanical studies. Additionally, 21 species of micro-predators and six other species of fauna were shared by the Old and New Worlds. The evidence further suggests the desirability of additional study of up to 70 other organisms as probably or possibly bi-hemispheric in pre-Columbian times. This distribution could not have been due merely to natural transfer mechanisms, nor can it be explained by early human migrations to the New World via the Bering Strait route. Well over half the plant transfers consisted of flora of American origin that spread to Eurasia or Oceania, some at surprisingly early dates.

The only plausible explanation for these findings is that a considerable number of transoceanic voyages in both directions across both major oceans were completed between the 7th millennium BC and the European age of discovery. Our growing knowledge of early maritime technology and its accomplishments gives us confidence that vessels and nautical skills capable of these long-distance travels were developed by the times indicated. These voyages put a new complexion on the extensive Old World/New World cultural parallels that have long been controversial.

The Problem

In general, scholars concerned with the ancient culture history of the Americas believe that there were no significant connections by voyaging between the Old World and the New World before 1492. To the contrary, our data from an extensive literature that hitherto has been inadequately searched demonstrate that fauna and flora were extensively shared between the Old and New Worlds before Columbus' discovery of the Americas. The only plausible explanation for this bi-hemispheric distribution is that those shared organisms moved across the oceans via intentional voyages that took place during the eight millennia or more immediately preceding Columbus' discoveries. This book presents and documents the evidence for our position. We believe students of the human past are obliged to adopt a new paradigm for the role of long-distance sea communication in history and culture.

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Exerpts;


Cultural Freight

It is obvious that cultural (as well as human genetic) features had to have been transported with the flora and fauna on transoceanic voyages. A full discussion of the significance of the biological facts must take account of concomitant cultural sharing.

Domesticated plants and animals are almost never successfully transplanted by human agency to a strange area without appropriate care being given to the specimens being moved. Cultural norms for the preservation and exploitation of new organisms must be transmitted along with the crop plants if they are to survive and flourish in their new setting. That essential knowledge comprises botanical data, agricultural practices, culinary technology, and other measures needed to ensure that the transported plants are correctly cultivated and usefully employed on the new scene.

Moreover, the skills essential for making ocean voyages generally involve navigational, astronomical, and calendrical lore—concepts that could well survive at the destination. We can be confident also that a substantial body of myth, beliefs, and ritual practices would have accompanied the voyagers. A new linguistic and artistic repertoire would also have been introduced by the newcomers.

Speculation that people arriving from abroad would automatically be killed or their cultural baggage rejected is not supported by historical cases. The notion that such would have been the fate of voyagers probably owes more to Victorian stereotypes about 'cannibals' eating Christian missionaries than to ethnographic reality. Curiosity is the response to new arrivals at least as often as hostility.

Thus, not only does our documentation of the transport of flora and fauna across the oceans open the door for further studies in biological science (for example, we have noted few of the possibly large number of weeds inadvertently transported by voyagers), it also demands reconsideration of cultural parallels that have heretofore been categorically thrown out of court by almost all scholars when treating the issue of Old World/New World contacts.

Let us examine a single geographically focused setting for inter-hemispheric contact in order to appreciate how biological facts might connect to cultural data. The data in this book show that as many as 50 species of plants definitely, or very possibly, were transferred between the American tropics and India, or vice versa, before Columbus' day. While we cannot tell how many voyages this long process involved, there must have been several score—or maybe several hundred—stretched over millennia. Given the apparent scale of biological contact, one would a priori expect substantial cultural interchange as well. For decades researchers have been spelling out data that they consider show a connection between ancient civilizations in India and Mesoamerica, although the nature, timing, and significance of the influences at play have remained vague. (We recognize that considerable cultural evidence that has been offered has been of poor quality and deserves to be ignored.)

As mentioned earlier, Tylor's 19th-century (1896) identification of striking parallels between the South Asian pachisi and the Mexican patolli board games has never had a satisfactory explanation in terms of parallel, independent invention. In the 1920s, G. Elliot Smith added more cultural parallels between the two areas (see especially his 1924 book that treated elephant symbolism; the Mexican and Buddhist 'purgatory' ordeal; the makara, or 'dragon;' and miniature ritual vehicles bearing sacred figures drawn by animals). A series of articles by Milewski (1959, 1960, 1961, 1966) pointed to many conceptual parallels between deity names in Sanskrit on the one hand, and Aztec (Náhuatl) and Zapotec names on the other. Giesing went on (1984) to compile 50 pages of names and epithets for the Hindu god, Siva/Shiva, with which names and titles for the Aztec god, Tezcatlipoca, prove to be congruent. The fire-god complexes of India (Agni) and of central Mexico (Xiuhtecuhtli) were meticulously compared by Cronk (1973), who found extensive and startlingly detailed parallels.

Kelley (1960; Moran and Kelley 1969) argued that much that was basic in Mesoamerican calendrics, cosmology, and mythology is traceable to India of the last centuries BC and to nowhere else as clearly. Durbin (1971) was sufficiently impressed with Kelley's proposals that he suggested a set of lexical links between Prakrit, Sanskrit-derived languages of India, and proto-Mayan in Central America. Mukerji (1936) claimed to demonstrate specific astronomical correlations between the Maya and Hindu calendars. Kirchoff (1964a, 1964b) laid out large blocks of material on conceptual and structural features of the calendars and mythology of Eastern and Southern Asia, also apparently in Mesoamerica. Barthel (1975a, 1975b, 1982, 1985) did a series of intricate studies of Mesoamerican codices and calendars which he believed confirm that a Hindu 'missionary' effort reached Mexico, only to be obscured by a later 're-barbarization' of the transplanted concepts. The sacred figures who hold ears of corn on temple sculptures in India do so with hands in symbolic positions, or mudra gestures, while Mesoamericanists have noted a repertoire of mudras shared by Indian and Mesoamerican art (Martí 1971; Medvedov 1982). And Compton (1997) has pointed out elaborate parallels between Aztec and Buddhist etiological myths involving the rabbit and the moon.

These studies, plus many more that could be cited, have typically been presented by diffusionists at a high level of abstraction, as though disembodied elements of 'Indian culture' or 'Mesoamerican civilization' were somehow wafted across the ocean where they lodged in the minds of the locals. Protagonists of diffusion have rarely proposed, let alone documented, plausible historical scenarios that would account for the parallels they propose. That is, they have not hypothesized actual voyages in which culturally knowledgeable persons with believable motives are supposed to have boarded specific kinds of vessels to travel along nautically feasible routes and then arrive at particular locations in the opposite hemisphere, where they significantly affected existing cultures. But the time is at hand when such plausible scenarios can be proposed.

Concrete data on biology has the potential to help relate cultural features to dates and locations. The degree of concreteness this would furnish to investigations of cultural parallels may allow researchers to formulate focused and convincing hypotheses about when, where, and how sharing took place. For example, the fact that important American crops were represented in Indian art, mentioned in texts, and found in excavations, might provide concrete chronological and material settings to relate to, say, Kelley's, Cronk's, and Barthel's hypotheses about Indian intellectual and religious influence on Mesoamerica in the late BC centuries. Yet India is only one area of influence to which the evidence points.

We emphasize that by momentarily focussing on the India/America interchange, we do not consider other origin/destination pairs non-credible. The evidence is strong for South America/Polynesia, Mesoamerica/Hawaii, several American scenes connected to Southeast (especially Indonesia) and East Asia, and Mediterranean/Mesoamerican links. But those are matters to be delineated elsewhere.

Summary Points

For now, the following summary points are apparent from our analysis of the biological data. Each bypasses old conceptions and opens up new avenues of inquiry.

    * 1. A wide variety of (mostly tropical) floral and faunal materials was carried across the oceans over a long period of time. The movements must have had significant ecological and economic impacts on the receiving areas in both hemispheres.

    * 2. A considerable number of voyages were required to accomplish these transfers. Views of nautical history quite surely must expand from what they have been.

    * 3. Travel took place across the oceans in both directions. A large number of American plants reached Asia, at least. That fact challenges not just previous interpretations of the American past, but also ideas about the history of various Old World areas.

    * 4. The evidence for transoceanic interchange of fauna and flora imply also human gene exchange and generally a more complex biological history of humankind than has been considered until now. The history of disease is a connected subject that calls for new lines of investigation in the light of our findings about the unexpected ancient distribution of microfauna.

    * 5. It has frequently been postulated—and more frequently assumed—that parallel cultural or social evolutionary processes moved societies independently in Eastern and Western Hemispheres toward the same basic form of 'civilization.' But since developments in both hemispheres must now be seen to have been significantly interconnected, theoreticians would be on weak ground to continue supposing that what transpired in the New World can serve as a separate control by which it is possible to identify general principles, or 'laws,' of evolutionary process. There have been many cultures and civilizations, but it is now apparent that there was to a considerable degree a single ecumene (Sorenson 1971) spread over much of the world in pre-Columbian times. Consequently, after five centuries of use, the expressions 'Old World' and 'New World' have outlived whatever usefulness they initially possessed, or at least their accuracy in cultural/historical discourse. We need to move on to clearer geographical, as well as cultural/historical, specification.

    * 6. The time-depth of many cultural developments is probably more remote than has been commonly thought. For example, the evidence presented above—of major plant and, by inference, also of cultural transfers between the Americas and Asia by the 3rd, or even the 4th, millennium BC—renders highly unlikely the prevailing view that civilization in Mesoamerica and the Andean zone began only in the late 2nd millennium BC. The challenge to archaeology is obvious.

    * 7. If there is to be further progress toward an honest history of humankind, greater curiosity needs to be manifested by investigators. Most of the evidence we have utilized has been around in the literature for years (illustrating A.N. Whitehead's dictum, "Everything of importance has been said before by somebody who did not discover it.") Why the importance of these data has not been grasped previously can be attributed largely to the constriction imposed on scientific and scholarly thought by dogmatic acceptance of a single paradigm for the history of human development. Scholars have seen a broadly evolutionary schema as representing the 'truth' instead of as merely a heuristic device.

    * 8. At the level of public awareness and education, the fact that we have established that ocean-spanning voyages were many and took place both early and late as well as from multiple origins to numerous destinations, casts a new light on the inherent capabilities of the world's varied peoples. The transoceanic movements that we have identified do not show 'superior' folks diffusing 'civilization' to benighted 'primitives.' Rather, we detect a poly-cultural tapestry, although still but dimly perceived. It was woven by people of courage and wit of many origins and colors. The tapestry's integration came from the fact that from time to time voyagers undertook history-changing communication with lands distant from their own.

But we do not intend that our findings spawn new dogma of any kind. Rather, we hope that intellectual curiosity and openness, disciplined by sound research and logic, will prevail among the next generation of investigators, so that they may go beyond, not only where the old paradigm of culture-history allowed, but also beyond the perspective we have reached.

See the entire report:

http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/display.php?table=transcripts&id=154