Some PaleoBabble readers may be familiar with the longstanding controversy over whether certain “inscriptions” found in the United States were written thousands of years ago by ancient Semitic peoples from the Mediterranean (Phoenicians, Canaanites, Hebrews, etc.). Obviously, they would have been here long before any European and by means of more primitive technology (the term being relative to the 15th and 16th centuries). This idea got wide exposure through the 1976 book by Barry Fell (a Harvard zoologist) entitled American B.C. and is still promoted with enthusiasm by the popular research publication Ancient American Magazine.Today Dr. Fell’s work continues through the Epigraphic Society that he founded.
While I’m not opposed in principle to ancient seafarers (like the Phoenicians) being able to cross the Atlantic, I don’t know of any actual evidence for it. To my knowledge, no proposed “American Canaanite” inscription has ever persuaded any scholars who work in the field of Semitic epigraphy. If readers know of any, pass it on, as I enjoy Semitic epigraphy and have an interest in this issue. I just like things to be data-driven. And people in Semitic epigraphy and other relevant fields have looked at this material. Fell’s work (and that of others) did get the attention of specialists in epigraphy and anthropology. Here are two reviews (one, two) of books promoting such contact. Perhaps less surprisingly, there is some evidence of fakery with respect to certain inscriptions offered as proof of ancient trans-Atlantic sea travel. One of more famous inscriptions is known as the Bat Creek Inscription. It was shown conclusively to be a fake after getting serious attention for many years.
The Polynesians crossed the Pacific in canoes and they couldn’t read or write. The idea that none of the Mediterranean people who were literate for thousands of years and built ships much larger than Columbus and traded with India couldn’t have crossed the Atlantic is a joke. Even the Polynesians are denied. They made it all the way to Easter island but no further. Every piece of evidence is declared a forgery. The evidence for these voyages will always be slim and should therefore be taken seriously. Don’t just declare them a fake. They should be proven to be fake.
could you read the post more closely? I said I’m not opposed to such journeys, but I’m not interested in fabricated inscriptions.
The silly magazine “Ancient American” is mere puerile bait for those seking “explanations” about nutsy ideas which are money makers for the promoters. Here’s a sample of the background of the ever name-changing editor of said magazine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Collin . This guy is just as bad as Sitchin and the current unctuous Hukster-in-chief Simcha Jacobovici http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simcha_Jacobovici . It is time to revise “there’s a sucker born every minute” to “There’s a sucker born every ten seconds.”
yeah, their content sure looks that way.