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Re: sweet potato once again
Peter van Rossum (pmv100@psu.edu)
Mon, 27 Jan 1997 13:18:05 GMT
In article <E4Mpo9.3ML.0.queen@torfree.net> bg364@torfree.net (Yuri Kuchinsky) writes:
>David H. Kelley, AN ESSAY ON PRE-COLUMBIAN CONTACTS BETWEEN THE
>AMERICAS AND OTHER AREAS, in RACE, DISCOURSE, AND THE ORIGIN OF THE
>AMERICAS, Smithsonian, 1995
>[begin quote]
>
>The spread of the sweet potato into Oceania from S. America with its
>name (probably in two different movements, with two versions of the
>name) is perhaps the most widely accepted case of pre-Columbian
>diffusion beyond continental limits. It is particularly interesting
>because the Polynesian god of the sweet potato is *Lono, who is
>supposed to have brought it in his belt, the Rainbow. The double-
>headed rainbow serpent appears as the belt of the principal Moche
>deity on the north coast of Peru, and parallels with myths of *Lono
>are widespread in Amazonia. Tying together mythological evidence
>with the botanical evidence is largely work for the future, but it
>may throw considerable light on the contexts in which such
>borrowings occurred. (p. 117)
>
>So you see, Peter, the case for human-assisted trans-Pacific diffusion in
>pre-Columbian times, already very strong, is further strengthened by the
>obvious links in mythology. Your theory fades away rather quickly when we
>see that the Spanish could never have brought mythological connections
>from Polynesia to America.
>Yuri.
Hey, this is neat. I'll have to try to get my hands on the Kelley
article. Thanks for finding this article I hadn't seen it before.
If this pans out then I may need to revise my position regarding the
sweet potato. Of course it would tend to indicate the people
bringing the sweet potatos would have been South Americans, not
Polynesians as many have concluded. Just goes to show that
even from overly heated discussion some interesting information
can still pass.
Peter van Rossum
PMV100@PSU.EDU
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