Editing Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories (section)

== Claims of East Asian contact ==

=== Claims of contact with Ecuador ===
A 2013 genetic study suggested the possibility of contact between [[Ecuador]] and [[East Asia]], that would have happened no earlier than 6,000 years ago (4000 BC) via either a trans-oceanic or a late-stage coastal migration that did not leave genetic imprints in North America.<ref name=decoupling>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1371/journal.pgen.1003460|pmid = 23593040|pmc = 3623769|title = Continent-Wide Decoupling of Y-Chromosomal Genetic Variation from Language and Geography in Native South Americans|journal = PLOS Genetics|volume = 9|issue = 4|pages = e1003460|year = 2013|last1 = Roewer|first1 = Lutz|last2 = Nothnagel|first2 = Michael|last3 = Gusmão|first3 = Leonor|last4 = Gomes|first4 = Veronica|last5 = González|first5 = Miguel|last6 = Corach|first6 = Daniel|last7 = Sala|first7 = Andrea|last8 = Alechine|first8 = Evguenia|last9 = Palha|first9 = Teresinha|last10 = Santos|first10 = Ney|last11 = Ribeiro-Dos-Santos|first11 = Andrea|last12 = Geppert|first12 = Maria|last13 = Willuweit|first13 = Sascha|last14 = Nagy|first14 = Marion|last15 = Zweynert|first15 = Sarah|last16 = Baeta|first16 = Miriam|last17 = Núñez|first17 = Carolina|last18 = Martínez-Jarreta|first18 = Begoña|last19 = González-Andrade|first19 = Fabricio|last20 = Fagundes De Carvalho|first20 = Elizeu|last21 = Da Silva|first21 = Dayse Aparecida|last22 = Builes|first22 = Juan José|last23 = Turbón|first23 = Daniel|last24 = Lopez Parra|first24 = Ana Maria|last25 = Arroyo-Pardo|first25 = Eduardo|last26 = Toscanini|first26 = Ulises|last27 = Borjas|first27 = Lisbeth|last28 = Barletta|first28 = Claudia|last29 = Ewart|first29 = Elizabeth|last30 = Santos|first30 = Sidney|display-authors = 29 | doi-access=free }}</ref> Further research did not support this but was rather "a case of a rare founding lineage that has been lost elsewhere by drift."<ref name="Kivisild">{{cite journal |last1=Kivisild |first1=Toomas |title=The study of human Y chromosome variation through ancient DNA |journal=Human Genetics |date=1 May 2017 |volume=136 |issue=5 |pages=529–546 |doi=10.1007/s00439-017-1773-z |pmid=28260210 |pmc=5418327 |language=en |issn=1432-1203}}</ref>

=== Claims of Chinese contact ===
[[File:Olmec mask at Met.jpg|thumb|right|upright|A jade [[Olmecs|Olmec]] mask from [[Central America]]. Gordon Ekholm, an archaeologist and curator at the [[American Museum of Natural History]], suggested that the Olmec art style might have originated in [[Bronze Age]] China.<ref>Pool, p. 92, who cites Gordon Ekholm (1964) "Transpacific Contacts" in ''Prehistoric Man in the New World'' JD Jennings and E. Norbeck, eds., Chicago: University of Chicago, pp. 489–510.</ref>]]
Some researchers have argued that the [[Olmec]] civilization came into existence with the help of Chinese refugees, particularly at the end of the [[Shang dynasty]].<ref>This theory is mentioned in the history book [[The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community]] (1963) by [[William Hardy McNeill|William H. McNeill]]</ref> In 1975, [[Betty Meggers]] of the [[Smithsonian Institution]] argued that the Olmec civilization originated around 1200 BCE due to Shang Chinese influences.<ref>Meggers.</ref> In a 1996 book, Mike Xu, with the aid of Chen Hanping, claimed that [[celt (tool)|celts]] from [[La Venta]] bear Chinese characters.<ref>Xu, ''Origin of the Olmec civilization''.</ref><ref>[http://www.chinese.tcu.edu/www_chinese3_tcu_edu.htm Dr. Mike Xu's Transpacific website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010802024552/http://www.chinese.tcu.edu/www_chinese3_tcu_edu.htm |date=August 2, 2001 }}, comparing Olmec and Chinese Shang period artifacts.</ref> These claims are unsupported by mainstream Mesoamerican researchers.<ref>David C. Grove (1976) "Olmec origins and transpacific diffusion: reply to Meggers" [https://www.academia.edu/1553330/Olmec_origins_and_transpacific_diffusion_reply_to_Meggers]</ref>

Other claims of early Chinese contact with North America have been made. In 1882, approximately 30 brass coins, perhaps strung together, were reportedly found in the area of the [[Cassiar Gold Rush]], apparently near [[Dease Creek]], an area which was dominated by Chinese gold miners. A contemporary account states:<ref>{{cite journal|last=Dean|first=James|journal=[[The American Naturalist]]|date=January 1884|pages=98–99|volume=18|issue=1|jstor=2450831|doi=10.1086/273578|title=Anthropology|doi-access=free}}</ref><blockquote>In the summer of 1882 a miner found on De Foe (Deorse?) creek, Cassiar district, Br. Columbia, thirty Chinese coins in the auriferous sand, twenty-five feet below the surface. They appeared to have been strung, but on taking them up the miner let them drop apart. The earth above and around them was as compact as any in the neighborhood. One of these coins I examined at the store of Chu Chong in Victoria. Neither in metal nor markings did it resemble the modern coins, but in its figures looked more like an Aztec calendar. So far as I can make out the markings, this is a Chinese chronological cycle of sixty years, invented by [[Yellow Emperor|Emperor Huungti]], 2637 BCE, and circulated in this form to make his people remember it.</blockquote>

Grant Keddie, curator of archeology at the [[Royal B.C. Museum]], identified these as good luck temple tokens which were minted in the 19th century. He believed that claims that these were very old made them notorious and he wrote that "The temple coins were shown to many people and different versions of stories pertaining to their discovery and age spread around the province to be put into print and changed frequently by many authors in the last 100 years."<ref name="Question">{{cite journal |last1=Keddie |first1=Grant |title=The Question of Asiatic Objects on the North Pacific Coast of North America: Historic or Prehistoric? |journal=Contributions to Human History |date=1990 |issue=3 |url=http://staff.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Asiatic-Objects.pdf |access-date=February 8, 2020 |publisher=Royal British Columbia Museum |issn=0832-8609}}</ref>

A group of Chinese Buddhist missionaries led by [[Hui Shen]] before 500 CE claimed to have visited a location called [[Fusang]]. Although Chinese mapmakers placed this territory on the Asian coast, others have suggested as early as the 1800s<ref>Anonymous (1892). "The Land of Fu-Sang,' ''Science'' 20:148; reprinted in [[William R. Corliss]], ed. (1978) ''Ancient Man: A Handbook of Puzzling Artifacts'', Glen Arm, Maryland: Sourcebook Project, {{ISBN|0-915554-03-8}} p. 767</ref> that Fusang might have been in North America, due to perceived similarities between portions of the California coast and Fusang as depicted by Asian sources.<ref>{{cite book |last=Feder |first=Kenneth L. |title=Frauds, Myths and Mysteries |edition=Third |publisher=Mayfield |year=1999 |pages=103–104 |isbn=978-0-7674-0459-4 }}</ref>

In his debunked [[Pseudohistory|pseudohistorical]] book ''1421: The Year China Discovered the World'', British author [[Gavin Menzies]] claimed that the [[Ming treasure voyages|treasure fleets]] of [[Ming dynasty|Ming]] admiral [[Zheng He]] arrived in America in 1421.<ref name="GM">[[Gavin Menzies|Menzies, Gavin]]. ''[[1421: The Year China Discovered the World]]'' (Transworld Publishers, 2003).</ref> The consensus among professional historians is that Zheng He only reached the eastern coast of Africa, and they dismiss Menzies's claims as entirely without evidence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://1421exposed.com/|title=The 1421 myth exposed|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180318191709/http://1421exposed.com/|archive-date=March 18, 2018|url-status=dead|access-date=March 22, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Zheng He in the Americas and Other Unlikely Tales of Exploration and Discovery |url=http://www.csicop.org/sb/2004-09/tales.html |access-date=March 22, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070317044419/http://www.csicop.org/sb/2004-09/tales.html |archive-date = March 17, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asianreviewofbooks.com:80/arb/article.php?article=201|title=1421: The Year China Discovered the World by Gavin Menzies|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030705160338/http://www.asianreviewofbooks.com/arb/article.php?article=201|archive-date=July 5, 2003|url-status=dead|access-date=March 22, 2007}}</ref><ref name="finlay2004">{{cite journal |last=Finlay |first=Robert |url=http://www.michaelsheiser.com/PaleoBabble/1421.pdf |title=How Not to (Re)Write World History: Gavin Menzies and the Chinese Discovery of America |journal=[[Journal of World History]] |volume=15 |issue=2 |year=2004 |doi=10.1353/jwh.2004.0018 |pages=229–242 |s2cid=144478854 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109021554/http://www.michaelsheiser.com/PaleoBabble/1421.pdf |archive-date=November 9, 2013 }}</ref>

In 1973 and 1975, [[doughnut]]-shaped stones that resembled stone anchors which were used by Chinese fishermen were discovered off the coast of California. These stones (sometimes called the ''Palos Verdes stones'') were initially thought to be up to 1,500 years old and therefore, they were thought to be proof of pre-Columbian contact by Chinese sailors. Later geological investigations showed that they were made of a local rock which is known as [[Monterey Formation|Monterey shale]], and it is currently believed that they were used by Chinese settlers who fished off the coast during the 19th century.<ref>[[Kenneth L. Feder|Feder, Kenneth L.]] (2010). ''Encyclopedia of Dubious Archaeology: From Atlantis to the Walam Olum''. Westport, CN: Greenwood. p. 209. {{ISBN|978-0-313-37919-2}}</ref>

=== Claims of Japanese contact ===
[[Image:Otokichi.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Otokichi]], a Japanese castaway in America in 1834, depicted here in 1849]]
Archaeologist Emilio Estrada and co-workers wrote that pottery which was associated with the [[Valdivia culture]] of coastal Ecuador and dated to 3000–1500 BCE exhibited similarities to pottery which was produced during the [[Jōmon period]] in Japan, arguing that contact between the two cultures might explain the similarities.<ref>{{cite journal | pmid = 17782632 | doi=10.1126/science.135.3501.371 | volume=135 | issue=3501 | title=Possible Transpacific Contact on the Coast of Ecuador | journal=Science | pages=371–2 | last1 = Estrada | first1 = E | last2 = Meggers | first2 = BJ | last3 = Evans | first3 = C| year=1962 |author-link2=Betty Meggers | bibcode=1962Sci...135..371E | s2cid=33126483 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | title=A Transpacific Contact in 3000BC | author1=Evans, Clifford | author2= Meggers, Betty | journal=Scientific American |date=January 1966 | volume=214 | issue=1 | pages=28| doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0166-28 | bibcode=1966SciAm.214a..28M }}</ref> Chronological and other problems have led most archaeologists to dismiss this idea as implausible.<ref>Valdivia, Jomon Fishermen, and the Nature of the North Pacific: Some Nautical Problems with Meggers, Evans, and Estrada's (1965) Transoceanic Contact Thesis Gordon F. McEwan, D. Bruce Dickson American Antiquity, Vol. 43, No. 3 (July 1978), pp. 362–371.</ref><ref>''Prehistory of the Americas'' By Stuart J. Fiedel pp 188–189.</ref> The suggestion has been made that the resemblances (which are not complete) are simply due to the limited number of designs possible when incising clay.

Alaskan anthropologist Nancy Yaw Davis claims that the [[Zuni people]] of [[New Mexico]] exhibit linguistic and cultural similarities to the Japanese.<ref name="Zuni">Davis, Nancy Yaw (200). ''The Zuni Enigma''. W. W. Norton & Company. {{ISBN|978-0-393-32230-9}}</ref> The [[Zuni language]] is a [[language isolate|linguistic isolate]], and Davis contends that the culture appears to differ from that of the surrounding natives in terms of blood type, [[endemic disease]], and religion. Davis speculates that [[Buddhist]] priests or restless peasants from Japan may have crossed the Pacific in the 13th century, traveled to the [[American Southwest]], and influenced Zuni society.<ref name="Zuni" />

In the 1890s, lawyer and politician [[James Wickersham]]<ref>Wickersham, James (1892). "Origin of the Indians--The Polynesian Route." ''American Antiquarian'', 16:323-335, partly reprinted in [[William R. Corliss]], ed. (1978) ''Ancient Man: A Handbook of Puzzling Artifacts'', Glen Arm, Maryland: Sourcebook Project, {{ISBN|0-915554-03-8}} pp. 705–709</ref> argued that pre-Columbian contact between Japanese sailors and Native Americans was highly probable, given that from the early 17th century to the mid-19th century several dozen Japanese ships are known to have been carried from Asia to North America along the powerful [[Kuroshio Current]]s. Japanese ships landed at places between the [[Aleutian Islands]] in the north and Mexico in the south, carrying a total of 293 people in the 23 cases where head-counts were given in historical records. In most cases, the Japanese sailors gradually made their way home on merchant vessels. In 1834, a dismasted, rudderless Japanese ship was wrecked near [[Cape Flattery]] in the [[Pacific Northwest]]. Three survivors of the ship were enslaved by [[Makah people|Makahs]] for a period before being rescued by members of the [[Hudson's Bay Company]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.historylink.org/File/9065|title=Japanese Castaways of 1834: The Three Kichis |website=www.historylink.org|access-date=January 30, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://kuow.org/post/japanese-retrace-path-history-making-castaways-180-years-later|title=Japanese Retrace Path Of History-Making Castaways, 180 Years Later|last=Banse|first=Tom|access-date=January 30, 2018|language=en}}</ref> Another Japanese ship went ashore in about 1850 near the mouth of the [[Columbia River]], Wickersham writes, and the sailors were assimilated into the local Native American population. While admitting there is no definitive proof of pre-Columbian contact between Japanese and North Americans, Wickersham thought it implausible that such contacts as outlined above would have started only after Europeans arrived in North America and began documenting them.