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The first Native American to arrive in Europe may have been a woman brought to Iceland by the Vikings more than 1,000 years ago, a study by Spanish and Icelandic researchers suggests.
If this is Discovery Channel, they must be among the last...well, right along with New York's Columbus Day Parade organising committee...to express anything less than complete certainty as to the validity of a Norse settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows.
The findings boost widely-accepted theories, based on Icelandic medieval texts and a reputed Viking settlement in Newfoundland in Canada, that the Vikings reached the American continent several centuries before Christopher Columbus traveled to the "New World."
Originally posted by 727Sky
Thanks for the replies and knowledge added to the thread.
It is true that disease could decimate or wipe out a given population however that certainly was not the normal result of contact. To many explorers all the way back to the dawn of man, went, made contact, established trade routes and trading centers which were established and prospered until what was traded gave out or wars killed the trade..
Originally posted by muzzleflash
Originally posted by 727Sky
Thanks for the replies and knowledge added to the thread.
It is true that disease could decimate or wipe out a given population however that certainly was not the normal result of contact. To many explorers all the way back to the dawn of man, went, made contact, established trade routes and trading centers which were established and prospered until what was traded gave out or wars killed the trade..
Correct.
Disease always has been a problem but far too often our contemporary view of history is clouded by the misconception that medicine was non-existent and disease was rampant.
This is untrue as any scholar of history knows, for medical knowledge was far more advanced than the modern pharmaceutical corporations brainwashed us to believe. Disease typically only really took hold after a series of factors were met.
War, mass murder, cannibalism, etc, these atrocious acts are some of our main causative factors leading to many of our historical mass disease pandemics.
I think you ought to investigate this theory of yours a little more. Life, as has been cited by Hobbes, was "nasty brutish and short." Look at the diseases we have eliminated as common...smallpox, leprosy...how many of your pals have fleas and lice? Romanticising the past is cheap entertainment.
Originally posted by TheMagus
don't forget Hygiene , or rather the lack thereof, for which europe under xtianity, held the crown.
those earlier explorers, be they phoenician, chinese, polynesian, viking or irish/briton, were much healthier and Cleaner people.
and this is not mentioning the pollution of rivers, etc. with their waste, giving away unwashed clothing and bedcloths, etc., which borders on being a conscious bio and chem warfare policy, which we can still perceive as ongoing to this day.
Originally posted by JohnnyCanuck
Originally posted by TheMagus
don't forget Hygiene , or rather the lack thereof, for which europe under xtianity, held the crown.
those earlier explorers, be they phoenician, chinese, polynesian, viking or irish/briton, were much healthier and Cleaner people.
and this is not mentioning the pollution of rivers, etc. with their waste, giving away unwashed clothing and bedcloths, etc., which borders on being a conscious bio and chem warfare policy, which we can still perceive as ongoing to this day.
I think you ought to investigate this theory of yours a little more. Life, as has been cited by Hobbes, was "nasty brutish and short." Look at the diseases we have eliminated as common...smallpox, leprosy...how many of your pals have fleas and lice? Romanticising the past is cheap entertainment.
Originally posted by muzzleflash
Life wasn't always "nasty, brutish, and short", that only applies to specific periods. For example the Dark Ages of Europe, would be an excellent case for such a description.
No. Flame away, but it's an absurd contention and not worth my time to rebut beyond that which I have already stated. You want to dig out facts and figures about infant mortality, physical stature, nutrition, poverty, disease and pestilence to support your theory that health and quality of life for the non-elite was better in antiquity - go nuts.
Originally posted by muzzleflash
If you disagree and believe otherwise, please cite examples and information to disprove my assertion.
Originally posted by JohnnyCanuck
No. Flame away, but it's an absurd contention and not worth my time to rebut beyond that which I have already stated. You want to dig out facts and figures about infant mortality, physical stature, nutrition, poverty, disease and pestilence to support your theory that health and quality of life for the non-elite was better in antiquity - go nuts.
Originally posted by muzzleflash
If you disagree and believe otherwise, please cite examples and information to disprove my assertion.
The Romans get points for water and sewers, but that's not to say that they were healthier than us.
Edit to suggest that this become it's own thread, so as not to derail the topic at hand.edit on 24-7-2013 by JohnnyCanuck because: ...just because, eh?
I would not agree that "almost everything we assumed about history is actually incorrect", but I will attest to a healthy process of inquiry and re-evaluation. This thread...in fact the current paradigm shifts about the peopling and exploration of the Americas...is a great indication of that academic thrust. True, it is a slow process, but if we are going to change the shape of our knowledge, it is essential to be right.
Originally posted by muzzleflash
It all reveals to me the real story and that is about how almost everything we assumed about history is actually incorrect, and that questioning these notions and looking into varied aspects can reveal the true complexity and diversity we are dealing with here.