Hey Jabrosky...

[Steerpike]

I have a question for you, since you are up on African history.

The short story I am currently working on is set among the Olmecs of Mesoamerica. They were there as a civilization as early as around 1500 BCE. Some Olmec carving have been interpreted as having African features, and people have surmised that perhaps people from Africa journeyed to the new world around that time and had contact with some of the inhabitants of Mesoamerica. Some people have gone to far as to try to demonstrate how it could be done given ocean currents and the like.

For my story, I am assuming this is the case. It is a fantasy story, so to some extent it doesn't matter if it really happened, but at the same time if Africans really did visit the new world around that time I want the story to line up with whatever facts or speculation currently exists.

Do you know anything about whether peoples of Africa actually made that trip?

 

[Jabrosky]

I admit that I haven't reviewed this particular claim in great detail, but I doubt it. I don't think the Olmec statues resemble West Africans any more than they do Native Mesoamericans, some of whom actually do have full lips and wide noses (and there are also Africans who don't have those features). One other problem I have with the African Olmec claim is that West Africans during the time period in question had begun to make iron tools, but none of the Native American civilizations ever used iron or any other metal tools. If Africans really had substantial contact with Mesoamericans, you'd expect a lot more iron tools turning up in Mesoamerican archaeological sites.

I would like to imagine that ancient people traveled around a lot more around the world than traditionally believed, but this particular scenario doesn't have very good evidence in favor for it. It would make for good fantasy though.

As a matter of fact, I actually wanted to write a story about New Kingdom Egyptians discovering the Americas for NaNoWriMo last year, but it never got beyond the planning stage.

 

[Steerpike]

Thanks for the information.

I do think some ancient peoples traveled more than is traditionally thought, and had a greater awareness of the world and other people on it than I was taught in school.

I suppose this makes my task easier. In the alternate history of my story, the Africans have been to Mesoamerica, though not in any large numbers. It doesn't sound like there is a lot of evidence I have to worry about being consistent with. If there isn't much evidence they ever made the trip, I can feel free to just make it all up.