Man, Past and PresentKeane, A. H. (Augustus Henry)
History
Man, Past and Present
Keane, A. H. (Augustus Henry)
Anthropology; Ethnology
This view has been emphasised afresh by Fewkes[777], though of recent
years it has met with vigorous opposition. At the conclusion of his
article "Die melanesische Bogenkultur und ihre Verwandten[778]" Graebner
attempts to trace the cultural connection of South America with
South-east Asia rather than with the South Seas, the main links being
represented by head-hunting, certain types of skin-drum and of basket,
and in particular three types of crutch-handled paddle. According to him
the spread of culture has taken place by the land route and Behring
Strait, not across the Pacific by way of the South Seas, a view to which
he adheres in his later work. An ingenious and detailed attempt has also
been made by Pater Schmidt[779] to trace the various cultures determined
for Oceania and Africa in South America. Apart from the great linguistic
groups usually adopted as the basis of classification, Schmidt would
divide the South American Indians according to their stage of economic
development into collectors, cultivators, and civilised peoples of the
Andean highlands. Though this series may have the appearance of
evolution, in point of fact "each group is composed of peoples differing
absolutely in language and race, who brought with them to South America
in historically distinct migrations at all events the fundamentals of
their respective cultures.... As we pass in review the cultural elements
of the separate groups, their weapons, implements, dwellings, their
sociology, mythology, and religion we discover the innate similarity of
these groups to the culture-zones of the Old World in all essential
features[780]." The author proceeds to work out his theory in great
detail; the earlier cultures he too considers have travelled by the
enormously lengthy land route by way of North America, only the "free
patrilineal culture" (Polynesia and Indonesia) having reached the west
coast directly by sea[781].
W. H. Holmes[782] draws attention to analogies between American and
foreign archaeological remains, for example the stone gouge of New
England and Europe. He hints at influences coming from the Mediterranean
and even from Africa. "Even more remarkable and diversified are the
correspondences between the architectural remains of Yucatan and those
of Cambodia and Java in the far East. On the Pacific side of the
American continent strange coincidences occur in like degree, seeming to
indicate that the broad Pacific has not proved a complete bar to
intercourse of peoples of the opposing continents ... it seems highly
probable considering the nature of the archaeological evidence, that the
Western World has not been always and wholly beyond the reach of members
of the white, Polynesian, and perhaps even the black races."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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