Nancy Yaw Davis
The Zuni Enigma
A Native American People's Possible Japanese Connection Did a group of thirteenth-century Japanese merge with the people, language, and religion of the Zuni tribe?
For many years, anthropologists have understood the Zuni in the American Southwest to occupy a special place in Native American culture and ethnography. Their language, religion, and blood type are startlingly different from all other tribes. Most puzzling, the Zuni appear to have much in common with the people of Japan.
In a book with groundbreaking implications, Dr. Nancy Yaw Davis examines the evidence underscoring the Zuni enigma and suggests the circumstances that may have led Japanese on a religious questsearching for the legendary "middle world" of Buddhismacross the Pacific to the American Southwest more than seven hundred years ago. 72 b/w illustrations, 17 maps.
"A stunning and carefully supported argument that should stir useful discussion.... [An] exciting, groundbreaking work."Booklist
Nancy Yaw Davis holds an M.A. from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Washington. She lives in Anchorage, Alaska.
Seems like the history books when I was in school talked about a land bridge over the Bering Strait and that the American continent was originally settled by nomadic tribes from Asia. Seems like the theory said the tribes were pushed further south as subsequent waves came in and displaced them. I can't see all the hoopla, but I guess folks will rationalize their claims with anything handy.