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Article: ANCIENT MARINERS Strong evidence of Andean-Mexican seagoing trade as early as 600 A.D.
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- August 14, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1995 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Archeologists studying the ancient empires of Central and South
America have long noticed similarities in some pottery designs and
food crops and wondered whether mariners from the Andean coast traded
with their counterparts 2,000 miles to the north. Now, an MIT
researcher says she has strong evidence they did.
Sophisticated and unique metalworking techniques, developed in
South America as far as 1200 B.C., suddenly appeared in Western
Mexico in about 600 A.D. -- without ever being seen anywhere in
between. The only reasonable explanation, according to archeologist
Dorothy Hosler, is seaborne trade.
As far back as the Spanish conquest, it was clear that the South
American cultures had the ...