Editing Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories (section)

== Claims of transoceanic travel originating in the New World ==
=== Claims of Egyptian coca and tobacco ===
[[File:RAMmummy.jpg|right|thumb|The [[mummy]] of [[Ramesses II]]]]
Traces of [[coca]] and [[nicotine]] which are found in some Egyptian mummies have led to speculation that [[Ancient Egyptians]] may have had contact with the New World. The initial discovery was made by a German [[toxicologist]] Svetlana Balabanova after examining the mummy of a priestess named [[Henut Taui]]. Follow-up tests on the hair shaft, which were performed in order to rule out the possibility of contamination, revealed the same results.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~legneref/ethnic/mummy.htm |title=American Drugs in Egyptian Mummies |author=S A Wells |access-date=8 October 2021}}</ref>

A television show reported that examinations of numerous [[Sudan]]ese mummies which were also undertaken by Balabanova mirrored what was found in the mummy of Henut Taui.<ref name="Curseof">"Curse of the Cocaine Mummies" written and directed by Sarah Marris. (Producers: Hilary Lawson, Maureen Lemire and narrated by Hilary Kilberg). A TVF Production for Channel Four in association with the Discovery Channel, 1997.</ref> Balabanova suggested that the tobacco may be accounted for since it may have also been known in China and Europe, as indicated by analyses run on human remains from those respective regions. Balabanova proposed that such plants native to the general area may have developed independently, but have since gone extinct.<ref name="Curseof" /> Other explanations include fraud, though curator Alfred Grimm of the Egyptian Museum in [[Munich]] disputes this.<ref name="Curseof" /> Skeptical of Balabanova's findings, Rosalie David, Keeper of Egyptology at the [[Manchester Museum]], had similar tests performed on samples which were taken from the Manchester mummy collection and she reported that two of the tissue samples and one hair sample tested positive for the presence of nicotine.<ref name="Curseof" />

However, mainstream scholars remain skeptical, and they do not see the results of these tests as proof of ancient contact between Africa and the Americas, especially because there may be possible Old World sources of cocaine and nicotine.<ref>{{cite web|last=Edlin |first=Duncan |url=http://www.hallofmaat.com/precolumbian/the-stoned-age/ |title=The Stoned Age?: Did the discovery, in Egyptian mummies, of the chemicals found in cocaine and tobacco prove an ancient contact with the Americas? |website=Hall of Maat |date=October 11, 2003 |access-date=February 3, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Buckland">{{cite journal | last1 = Buckland | first1 = P.C. | last2 = Panagiotakopulu | first2 = E | title = Rameses II and the tobacco beetle | journal = Antiquity | volume = 75 | issue = 549–56| page = 2001 }}</ref> Two attempts to replicate Balabanova's findings of cocaine failed, suggesting "that either Balabanova and her associates are misinterpreting their results or that the samples of mummies tested by them have been mysteriously exposed to cocaine".<ref>Counsell, D. C., "Intoxicants in Ancient Egypt? Opium, nymphea, coca, and tobacco," in David, Ann Rosalie, ed. ''Egyptian Mummies and Modern Science'', Cambridge University Press, 2008, {{ISBN|978-0-521-86579-1}} p. 213</ref>

A re-examination of the mummy of [[Ramesses II]] in the 1970s revealed the presence of fragments of tobacco leaves in its abdomen. This finding became a popular topic in fringe literature and the media and it was seen as proof of contact between Ancient Egypt and the New World. The investigator [[Maurice Bucaille]] noted that when the mummy was unwrapped in 1886 the abdomen was left open and "it was no longer possible to attach any importance to the presence inside the abdominal cavity of whatever material was found there, since the material could have come from the surrounding environment."<ref>Bucaille, M. ''Mummies of the Pharaohs: Modern Medical Investigations'' NY: St. Martin's Press pp 186–188</ref> Following the renewed discussion of tobacco sparked by Balabanova's research and its mention in a 2000 publication by Rosalie David, a study in the journal ''[[Antiquity (journal)|Antiquity]]'' suggested that reports of both tobacco and cocaine in mummies "ignored their post-excavation histories" and pointed out that the mummy of Ramesses II had been moved five times between 1883 and 1975.<ref name="Buckland" />

=== Claims of travel in Roman times ===
[[Pomponius Mela]] writes,<ref name="Pomponius">[[Pomponius Mela]]. ''[https://archive.org/details/pomponiimalaedes00mela De situ orbis libri III]'', chapter 5.</ref> and is copied by [[Pliny the Elder]],<ref>[[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'', Book 2, chapter 67.</ref> that [[Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer (consul)|Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer]] (died 59 BCE), [[proconsul]] in [[Gaul]], received "several Indians" (''Indi'') who had been driven by a storm to the coasts of [[Germania]] as a present from a foreign king, listed by Mela, in different manuscripts, as ''rege Boorum/Boiorum/Botorum''<ref name="Podossinov2014">{{cite book|first=Alexander V. |last=Podossinov |title=The Periphery of the Classical World in Ancient Geography and Cartography|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/36855017|year=2014|publisher=Peeters Publishers|editor=Alexander V. Podossinov|isbn=978-9-04292-923-4|pages=133–145|chapter=The Indians in Northern Europe? On the Ancient Roman Notion of the Configuration of Eurasia |series=Colloquia Antiqua|volume=12}}</ref> and usually identified in recent scholarship as king of the [[Boii]],<ref name="Podossinov2014" /><ref name="Lerner2020">{{cite book|first=Jeffrey D. |last=Lerner |title=Silk Roads: From Local Realities to Global Narratives|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/94849825 |year=2020|publisher=Oxbow Books|editor1=Jeffrey D. Lerner|editor2=Yaohua Shi|isbn=978-1-78925-470-9|pages=267–284|chapter=The Case for Shipwrecked Indians in Germany }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Robert |last=Morstein-Marx |title=Julius Caesar and the Roman people|year=2021|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=173|isbn=978-1-108-83784-2}}</ref> though Tausend (1999) argued that it might be corrupted name of the [[Goths]];<ref name=Tausend1999>{{Cite journal |last1=Tausend |first1=Klaus |year=1999 |title=Inder in Germanien |journal=Orbis Terrarum |language=de |volume=5 |pages=115–125 }}</ref> Pliny identifies the king as the ruler of the [[Suebi]] instead:

<blockquote>

''Ultra Caspium sinum quidnam esset, ambiguum aliquamdiu fuit, idemne Oceanus an tellus infesta frigoribus sine ambitu ac sine fine proiecta. Sed praeter physicos Homerumque qui universum orbem mari circumfusum esse dixerunt, Cornelius Nepos ut recentior, auctoritate sic certior; testem autem rei Quintum Metellum Celerem adicit, eumque ita rettulisse commemorat: cum Galliae pro consule praeesset, Indos quosdam a rege Boiorum dono sibi datos; unde in eas terras devenissent requirendo cognosse, vi tempestatium ex Indicis aequoribus abreptos, emensosque quae intererant, tandem in Germaniae litora exisse. Restat ergo pelagus, sed reliqua lateris eiusdem adsiduo gelu durantur et ideo deserta sunt.''<ref name="Lerner2020" />
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
For a long time it was doubtful what there was beyond the Caspian bay: whether the same Ocean, or a land infested with cold, spreading out without circumference and boundless. But, in addition to the natural Philosophers and Homer, who have said that the whole universe was surrounded by sea, [[Cornelius Nepos]], as more recent in authority and hence more certain, is available. Moreover he adds Quintus Metellus Celer as a witness to the fact, and asserts that he related this account: that while he was in charge of the Gauls as proconsul, certain Indians were given to him by a king of the Boii as a gift; and that in inquiring whence they had arrived into these regions, he learned that, driven from Indian waters by the violence of tempests, they had passed over the seas which intervened and finally had come through onto the shores of Germany. Therefore, there remains the sea, but the remaining places of this same side are held in the grip of continual cold and hence are deserted.<ref name="Pomponius"/>
</blockquote>

Both Mela and Pliny listed this incident as evidence supporting the notion that all lands of the world, including northern parts of Europe and Asia, are surrounded by [[Oceanus#Geography|Oceanus]], and that it is theoretically possible to sail from India to Europe through a northern passage.<ref name="Podossinov2014" /><ref name="Lerner2020" />

Since Metellus Celer died just after his consulship, before he ever got to [[Gallia Narbonensis|Transalpine Gaul]] (in the area of present-day southern France),<ref>{{cite book|first=T. Corey |last=Brennan |title=The Praetorship in the Roman Republic|year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-511460-4|page=578|chapter=Cilicia and the Gauls in the Late Republic|volume=II}}</ref> the authors accepting the historicity of the incident either date it to 62 BCE, when Celer was governing [[Cisalpine Gaul]] (in the area of present-day northern Italy),<ref>{{cite book|first=T. Corey |last=Brennan |title=The Praetorship in the Roman Republic|year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-511460-4|page=582|chapter=Cilicia and the Gauls in the Late Republic|volume=II}}</ref><ref name="Podossinov2014" /><ref name="Lerner2020" /> or interpret texts of Mela and Pliny as garbled accounts of Celer's encounter with some Indians at an earlier date, when he served as [[Pompey]]'s legate in Asia.<ref>{{cite book|first=Frank E. |last=Romer |title=Pomponius Mela's Description of the World|year=1998|publisher=The University of Michigan Press|page=114|isbn=0-472-10773-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Duane W.|last=Roller |title=A Guide to the Geography of Pliny the Elder|year=2022|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=32–103|chapter=Book 2 - Cosmology|doi=10.1017/9781108693660.005}}</ref>

Richard Hennig suggested that the castaways mentioned by Mela and Pliny were possibly [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|American Indians]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Richard |last=Hennig |title=Terrae incognitae. Eine Zusammenstellung und kritische Bewertung der wichtigsten vorcolumbischen Entdeckungsreisen an Hand der darüber vorliegenden Originalberichte|volume=1: Altertum bis Ptolemäus|year=1944|publisher=E. J. Brill|pages=289–292|edition=2nd}}</ref> Other interpretations of the incident were also proposed. Bengtson (1954), McLaughlin (2016) and Lerner (2020) argued that Celer might have encountered actual merchants from India, who reached Europe from [[Phasis (town)|Phasis]] on the [[Black Sea]] coast.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bengtson |first1=Hermann |year=1954 |title=Q. Caecilius Metellus Celer (cos 60) und die Inder |journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte |language=de |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=229–236 |jstor=4434397}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Raoul |last=McLaughlin |title=The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes: The Ancient World Economy & the Empires of Parthia, Central Asia & Han China|year=2016|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|chapter=Caspian Routes and the Crimea }}</ref><ref name="Lerner2020" /> Other authors interpret supposed Indians as misidentified speakers of [[Finno-Ugric languages]] originating from the areas east of the [[Bothnian Bay]]<ref name=Tausend1999 /> or [[Vistula Veneti|Baltic Veneti]].<ref name="Podossinov2014" /> An article in the ''Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York'' published in 1891 suggests that the word "Indos" is so indefinite as to be subject to speculation, and that copyist errors may have changed "Jernos" (Irish) or "Iberos" (Spaniards) to Indos.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hurlbut |first1=George C. |title=Geographical Notes |journal=Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York |date=1891 |volume=23 |pages=80–111 |doi=10.2307/196577 |jstor=196577 |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/196577 |access-date=4 December 2024 |issn=1536-0407}}</ref>

=== Icelander DNA finding ===
In 2010, Sigríður Sunna Ebenesersdóttir published a genetic study showing that over 350 living Icelanders carried mitochondrial DNA of a new type, C1e, belonging to the C1 clade which was until then known only from Native American and East Asian populations. Using the [[deCODE genetics]] database, Sigríður Sunna determined that the DNA entered the Icelandic population not later than 1700, and likely several centuries earlier. However Sigríður Sunna also states that "while a Native American origin seems most likely for [this new haplogroup], an Asian or European origin cannot be ruled out".<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1002/ajpa.21419|pmid=21069749|title=A new subclade of mtDNA haplogroup C1 found in icelanders: Evidence of pre-columbian contact?|journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology|volume=144|issue=1|pages=92–9|year=2011|last1=Ebenesersdóttir|first1=Sigríður Sunna|last2=Sigurðsson|first2=Ásgeir|last3=Sánchez-Quinto|first3=Federico|last4=Lalueza-Fox|first4=Carles|last5=Stefánsson|first5=Kári|last6=Helgason|first6=Agnar}}</ref>

In 2014, a study discovered a new mtDNA subclade C1f from the remains of three people found in north-western Russia and dated to 7,500 years ago. It has not been detected in modern populations. The study proposed the hypothesis that the sister C1e and C1f subclades had split early from the most recent common ancestor of the C1 clade and had evolved independently, and that subclade C1e had a northern European origin. Iceland was settled by the Vikings in the 9th century and they had raided heavily into western Russia, where the sister subclade C1f is now known to have resided. They proposed that both subclades were brought to Iceland through the Vikings, and that C1e went extinct on mainland northern Europe due to population turnover and its small representation, and subclade C1f went extinct completely.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0087612|pmid=24503968|title=Mitochondrial Genome Sequencing in Mesolithic North East Europe Unearths a New Sub-Clade within the Broadly Distributed Human Haplogroup C1|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=9|issue=2|pages=e87612|year=2014|last1=Der Sarkissian|first1=Clio|last2=Brotherton|first2=Paul|last3=Balanovsky|first3=Oleg|last4=Templeton|first4=Jennifer E. L.|last5=Llamas|first5=Bastien|last6=Soubrier|first6=Julien|last7=Moiseyev|first7=Vyacheslav|last8=Khartanovich|first8=Valery|last9=Cooper|first9=Alan|last10=Haak|first10=Wolfgang|pmc=3913659|bibcode=2014PLoSO...987612D|doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Norse legends and sagas ===
[[File:Thorfinn Karlsefni 1918.jpg|thumb|upright|Statue of Thorfinn Karlsefni]]
In 1009, legends report that Norse explorer [[Thorfinn Karlsefni]] abducted two children from [[Markland]], an area on the North American mainland where Norse explorers visited but did not settle. The two children were then taken to Greenland, where they were baptized and taught to speak Norse.<ref>[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/17946/17946-h/17946-h.htm Eirik the Red's Saga by John Sephton] paragraph 14</ref>

In 1420, Danish geographer [[Claudius Clavus Swart]] wrote that he personally had seen "[[pygmies]]" from Greenland who were caught by Norsemen in a small skin boat. Their boat was hung in [[Nidaros Cathedral]] in [[Trondheim]] along with another, longer boat also taken from "pygmies". Clavus Swart's description fits the Inuit and two of their types of boats, the [[kayak]] and the [[umiak]].<ref name=ADE163 /><ref name=ANA /> Similarly, the Swedish clergyman [[Olaus Magnus]] wrote in 1505 that he saw in [[Oslo Cathedral]] two leather boats taken decades earlier. According to Olaus, the boats were captured from Greenland pirates by one of the [[Haakon (disambiguation)|Haakons]], which would place the event in the 14th century.<ref name=ADE163 />

In [[Ferdinand Columbus]]'s biography of his father Christopher, he says that in 1477 his father saw in [[Galway]], Ireland, two dead bodies which had washed ashore in their boat. The bodies and boat were of exotic appearance, and have been suggested to have been [[Inuit]] who had drifted off course.<ref>Seaver (1995), p. 208</ref>

=== Claims of Inuit travel to the Old World ===
It has been suggested that the Norse took other indigenous peoples to Europe as slaves over the following centuries, because they are known to have taken Scottish and Irish slaves.<ref name=ADE163>{{cite book |title= The American Discovery of Europe|last= Forbes |first= Jack D. |year= 2007 |publisher= University of Illinois Press |isbn= 978-0-252-03152-6 |page= 163|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cd8yZn7MfSQC&q=American+Discovery+of+Europe|access-date= December 20, 2011}}</ref><ref name=ANA>{{cite book |title= Africans and Native Americans: The Language of Race and the Evolution of Red-Black Peoples|last= Forbes |first= Jack D. |year= 1993|publisher= University of Illinois Press |isbn= 978-0-252-06321-3 |pages= 18–21| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=6aLAeB5QiHAC&q=Trondheim+cathedral+Inuit&pg=PA20 |access-date= December 20, 2011}}</ref>

There is also evidence of Inuit coming to Europe under their own power or as captives after 1492. In [[Scotland]], they were known as the [[Finn-men]]. A substantial body of Greenland Inuit folklore first collected in the 19th century told of journeys by boat to [[Akilineq]], depicted as a rich country across the ocean.<ref>{{cite book |title= In Order to Live Untroubled: Inuit of the Central Arctic, 1550–1940 |last= Fossett|first= Renée |year= 2001 |publisher= University of Manitoba Press|isbn= 978-0-88755-647-0 |pages= 75–77 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=yK7cac_mXGgC&q=Inuit+in+Europe+Trondheim&pg=PA80}}</ref>

=== Claims of Inca travel to Oceania ===
Peruvian historian [[José Antonio del Busto Duthurburu]] popularized the theory that [[Inca]] ruler [[Topa Inca Yupanqui]] may have led a maritime exploration voyage across the Pacific Ocean around 1465, eventually reaching [[French Polynesia]] and [[Rapa Nui]] (Easter Island). Different Spanish chroniclers of the 16th century recount stories told to them by Inca peoples, in which Yupanqui embarked on a sea voyage, eventually reaching two islands referred to as ''Nina Chumpi'' ("fire belt") and ''Hawa Chumpi'' ("outer belt", also spelled ''Avachumpi, Hahua chumpi''). According to the stories, Yupanqui returned from the expedition bringing back with him black-skinned people, gold, a chair made of brass, and the skin of a horse or an animal similar to a horse. Del Busto speculated the "black-skinned people" may have been [[Melanesians]], while the animal skin may have belonged to a Polynesian [[wild boar]] that was misidentified.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.elvirrey.com/libro/tupac-yupanqui-descubridor-de-oceania_70118589 | title=TÚPAC YUPANQUI, DESCUBRIDOR DE OCEANÍA - Librería el Virrey }}</ref> Critics have pointed out that Yupanqui's expedition—assuming it ever took place—could have reached the [[Galápagos Islands]] or some other part of the Americas instead of Oceania.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Túpac Yupanqui, descubridor de Oceanía. Nuku Hiva, Mangareva, Rapa Nui |last=del Busto Duthurburu |first=José Antonio |publisher=Ediciones Lux |year=2019 |isbn=978-612-47958-0-0 |language=Spanish}}</ref>