Chinese Archaeology In My Suberb

[seanliddelow]

As I am a community newspaper paperboy, I get the paper early on Friday night. In this particular issue I saw an article about Chinese buildings and artefacts in my suburb of Helena Valley. Having read the book 1421 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1421_Hypothesis) about a Chinese fleet that sailed across the world before the Europeans, I was naturally interested and I have now applied to help them out with archaeology and other similiar matters. The site may also be astro observatory with a possible chinese grave.

This discovery may change Australian history forever:thumbsup:
Also has anyone read the book before?

Sean

[renormalised]

Sounds very interesting. Yes I have read the book. What might come as a surprise to you is that there had been both Egyptian and Phoenician colonies out here, especially along the east coast, around 1500-2000BC. The Phoenician had mines out here, mainly copper and gold, plus they also mined gemstones in as far as where Emerald is now. They've found Egyptian and Phoenician artifacts along the northern coats of WA, mainly small statues and such.

There may have even been Mongol incursions here, much later on, of course. They were already in Java around 1256. Funny, for a people that were mainly land bound, they had a fairly sophisticated navy.

[renormalised]

Something else you maybe unaware of....a group of Irish monks had sailed over to the actual east coast of North America about 100-150 years before the Vikings had done so.

As a matter of fact, the first people to colonise North America weren't Indians. People had sailed across to the east coast by at least 15000BC. Their culture (proto Clovis point peoples) were very similar to the people of Western Europe of the time.

[renormalised]

Hope you manage to confirm a Chinese presence here...that would be very interesting to find out:D

[DavidU]

Fascinating , I hope you can turn up something.
I would love to be involved.

[seanliddelow]

I think those theorys may be true as well:thumbsup:

[seanliddelow]

A quote from the article "We believe we have found the remains of a chinese ancient star watching platform" :D

It will make a great talk for my Astronomy club meetings:thumbsup:

[renormalised]

They're not theories...they've been known about for quite some time, 30 years or more.

[seanliddelow]

The location of the supposed obervatory is secretive at the moment but I think I have a vague idea of were it may be as I live in the area.

[GrampianStars]

Sailing people of Western Europe !! Dubious at best ... :shrug:
"Paleo-Indians are agreed to have originated from Central Asia, crossing the Beringia land bridge between eastern Siberia and present-day Alaska. Dates for Paleo-Indian migration out of Beringia are a matter of current debate. Estimates range from 40,000 to around 16,500 years ago
http://online.sfsu.edu/rapidviz/523_infodesign_posters/523_human_origins_eugene_wong.pdf

[KenGee]

Carl any chance you can give a link to a website about both Egyptian and Phoenician colonies in Australia.

[Varangian]

I'm sorry, but as a professional, practicing archaeologist specialising in hunter-gatherer archaeology (Aboriginal archaeology) I have to state that there is no firm evidence to support the premise that Phoenicians or Egyptians ever made landfall on this continent. Please note that these claims are not supported by the general professional archaeology community. There have been reports of Egyptian cultural heritage material being excavated up your way (e.g the Gympie Pyramid) but these have always been uncovered as hoaxes. Until some clear and unequivocal data presents itself one should view these sorts of claims with trepidation. Thank you.

[GrahamL]

I'd never heard of this before !
I've been reading a relative of my wifes book recently
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Thomson
and am struck by how even in the 1930's australia in
the north was an untouched and incedibly brutal place even for
indigenous people, the idea that visitors to this land a thousand or more years back could colonise, thrive, travel , and be up for a little gold and gemstone mining as well is a bit of an ask.

[KenGee]

John you are correct i must confess I wanted the link so I could have a laugh, some of these crappot ( correct spelling) sites are very funny.
anybody interested in the reality of the 1421 business should read http://www.1421exposed.com/

[Varangian]

I'm very sorry if I came off a bit harshly, but we do try to protect the archaeological record in this country where possible. We work hard to provide accurate (as scientifically possible) data to both the academic and general communities and it is difficult to even debate such claims when I know there is no worthwhile data to support them. As an archaeologist I do not want these hypotheses to become widely accepted until such data becomes apparent. There is certainly no professional museum in Australia exhibiting Phoenician or Egyptian artefacts that were excavated in the course of archaeological fieldwork in this country. :)

[Rob_K]

Hear, hear, well said John.

Cheers -

[AstralTraveller]

Not at all. Many areas of knowledge are subject to rumours, misinterpretations, sensationalism and outright fabrications which can trip up the unwary or uninformed. Thanks to the information age such stories tend to take on a life of their own. The 'Mars as big as the Moon' story comes around like clockwork. Sometimes someone who actually knows what they are talking about needs to stand up and state the facts plainly and clearly. That stops the story (or at least cuts off one of its heads) and educates the rest of us ignorant lay people so they we know the real situation next time the story comes around. So don't be sorry and thanks.

[allan gould]

John
Excellent to see a professional stand up for the science and factually dismiss these nutter ideas that can so easily take hold in an ignorant population of bystanders that only want to indulge in a bit of gossip or sensationalism.
Allan

[sjastro]

I recall reading in Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Torres Strait Islanders practised a form of mummification very similar to 21st dynasty techniques used in Egypt.

Is there any validity to this statement?

Regards

Steven

[Tandum]

This probably kicked off the pharaoh story (http://secretvisitors.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/ptolemy-iv-coin-found-in-queensland-part-1/).

When I was working in cairns in the early 90's, there was a story floating around that a farmer dug up some ancient Chinese coins while digging fence posts. All I can find now is this one from Darwin (http://nqminersden.com/chinese-coins/).

Looks like these coins where all brought here a lot later than when they where cast.

[Varangian]

Hi Steven, personally I have no idea. I could ask a colleague who specialises in the archaeology of Melanesia. Regards, John.