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A Shang-Olmec connection ?
Scott Holmes (sholmes@PACIFICNET.NET)
Mon, 28 Oct 1996 16:47:24 -0800
two cultures_. It seems that one Han Ping Chen, a scholar of ancient
Chinese, has identified markings on Olmec artifacts as Shang dynasty
symbols. The articles states that he was asked to examine an index of
markings by Mike Xu, a professor of Chinese history at the University
of Central Oklahoma. According to the article, Chen had no previous
interest in the "Mesoamericanists' war" between "diffusionists" and
"nativists" and had to be urged by collegues to even look at the markings.
His examination convinced him to visit an Olmec exhibit at the National
Gallery of Art in Washington DC.
The exhibit includes "15 male figures made of serpentine or jade, each
about 6 inches tall. Facing them were a taller sandstone figure and six
upright, polished jade blades called celts." One phrase the article
cites is translated as "Ruler and chieftains establish the foundation
of a kingdom". The article also states that Chen speculated that:
"After the Shang army was routed and the emperor killed, ...some loyalists
might have sailed down the Yellow River and taken to the ocean. There,
perhaps, they drifted with a current which skirts Japan's coast, heads
for California, then peters out near Ecuador."
I thought I'd post this both to see what the people of Anthro-L might
have to say about this and also to contribute an example journalistic
mention of things anthropological.
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Scott Holmes <sholmes@pacificnet.net> Informix Applications
4GL -- SQL -- New Era
http://www.pacificnet.net/~sholmes
---- There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, ----
---- Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. ----
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