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Polynesians steering by the stars met Native Americans long before Europeans arrived (www.science.org)

submitted 1 year ago by swope@kbin.social to c/science@kbin.social

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Study of modern DNA shakes up ideas of when and where contact happened.

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[–] Itty53@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I read an article, a recent one, about a kind of tree being "discovered" by some European research team. Within the article, it said the people who lived in that particular forest had known about that kind of tree for ages. They had multiple names for it, uses, etc.

Yet without any irony at all ... They attributed the "discovery" to this European researcher.

[–] Hank@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean yeah the researcher discovered it in the name of science and probably took all measures to properly categorize the species and name it and stuff.

[–] Itty53@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I mean yeah, you just said it... the researcher didn't discover a thing, they categorized it.

Which doesn't sound nearly as noble and cool does it?

Also, nothing is done "in the name of science". Science is a process of observation, not a philosophy or ideology. It isn't a religion or a monarchy. You would no sooner do something "in the name of addition" than you would for science.

[–] Hank@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

You're such a joy to talk to.

[–] Saganastic@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's the same reason much of our knowledge of some ancient European and African cultures comes from the romans: they were the first, and in many cases only society to save written accounts of those cultures. By taking a written account of something and publishing that account, it becomes available to the rest of humanity. That said, it is still important to honor the original native names and note that something was previously known by the natives of the area prior to its formal documentation.

[–] Z4rK@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The Kon-Tiki expedition in 1947 proved that you could cross this Ocean by the means available to these Polynesians, and that they could very well have traveled to/from South America.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kon-Tiki_expedition

The film Kon-Tiki from 2012 describes the journey: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kon-Tiki_(2012_film)

[–] keeb420@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

its amazing how they were able to reach these small remote islands like that. in craft most people today wouldnt take out on a calm lake they travelled between distant specs of lands by stars and birds. if they were able to reach hawaii or easter island it really shouldnt be a stretch they could reach the west coast of the americas.

[–] tissek@ttrpg.network 2 points 1 year ago

Stefan Milo published a video not too long ago where he interviewed Andrés Moreno-Estrada (mentioned in the article) and Alexander Ioannidis on this topic. It's a good easy to follow along video covering the topic.

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