Trade was taking place between East Asia and the New World hundreds of years before Christopher Columbus arrived in the area in 1492.
This is according to a series of bronze artefacts found at the ‘Rising Whale’ site in Cape Espenberg, Alaska.
Archaeologists discovered what they believe to be a bronze and leather buckle and a bronze whistle, dating to around A.D. 600.
Archaeologists discovered what they believe to be a bronze and leather buckle, dating to around A.D. 600
Trade was taking place between East Asia and the New World hundreds of years before Christopher Columbus (left) arrived in 1492. The discovery was made after archaeologists found what they believe to be a bronze and leather buckle (right), dating to around A.D. 600
Bronze-working had not been developed at this time in Alaska, and researchers instead believe the artefacts were created in China, Korea or Yakutia.
‘We’re seeing the interactions, indirect as they are, with these so-called ‘high civilisations’ of China, Korea or Yakutia,’ Owen Mason, a research associate at the University of Colorado, told LiveScience.
‘Native copper and meteoritic iron were hammered into a variety objects by late prehistoric inhabitants of arctic and subarctic North America,’ reports the research team on the website Arctic Research Consortium.
‘[But] there is no evidence for the smelting, casting, or alloying of metals in the Western Hemisphere north of Mexico prior to the arrival of Europeans.
Bronze-working had not been developed at this time in Alaska, and researchers believe the artefacts were created in China, Korea or Yakutia
THE BIRNIRK CULTURE
Researchers believe those who lived at the Rising Whale site may be part of what scientists call the ‘Birnirk’ culture.
They are believed to have lived in small family dwellings containing either an entrance that led to a single room with sleeping platforms.
Birnirk settlements were small, with only a few families living in a settlement at a time. They were talented seal hunters, known for their use of innovative equipment, such as ice scratchers to lure seals over frozen waters.
They were also known for their use of ground slate weapons, including knives, blades, arrows, and spears.
Researchers believe those who lived at the Rising Whale site may be part of what scientists call the ‘Birnirk’ culture.
The latest discovery of bronze artefacts backs up earlier evidence for trade between Alaska and other civilisations prior to 1492. Inside the house, tests on obsidian items – created by volcanic glass – had previously suggested they came from the Anadyr River valley in Russia.
LiveScience notes that (continue reading)