Nov. 6, 2012

    Yeah! Obama was re-elected - the USA dodged a bullet with this close election...

   But anyway, in regards to the likelihood of sea-faring migration along the coast of North and South America, and the South Pacific, I believe it makes complete sense. As it is mentioned several times in the reading packet, it is just too bad that there is not more evidence to fully flesh out the theory. Of course no one should just blindly believe everything they read, but the way all these cultures are, including traditions, technology, appearance, etc., it just makes sense that there would be a common origin and migratory path. To think that people braved the open ocean without the modern technology we take for granted is amazing. Of course, even today, people travel across open ocean in very basic watercraft with minimal amounts of equipment. But think about it - no coast guard or navy to come to the rescue in an emergency!
   Perhaps it is because I grew up on the coast and really would never want to live away from the ocean, I see a certain nobility in the fact that the sea-faring travelers did not leave behind much in the way of physical evidence. They lived in relative harmony with their environment; they felt no need to erect enormous temples or destroy the landscape with mining or huge scale farming. It goes back to my preferred way of looking at the correct way for humans to interact with the natural environment: "Take only pictures, Leave only footprints." But unfortunetly, the early sea-farers could not take pictures, and did not provide future generations with written records. There were cave inscriptions and decorations, and pottery, but nothing can substitute a written account of how everything happened. It would be amazing to know exactly how the migrations happened and what was going on with the people who were a part of it.
   Maybe as time goes on, more marine archaelogy work will be done along the coastlines and some evidence will be found that will tie it all together. I can see why people would devote so much time and energy into the pursuit of this knowledge. I mean, do you realize that in this modern time, we know more about the surface of Mars than we do about how people migrated from Eurasia to the Americas? But, as we know, for so long there has been a lack of resources and energy devoted to anything not centered around Western Europe. But times are changing, and the human species will be richer as more connections with our past become clear.