Archeology: Evidence scant for ancient Muslims in America

Columbus Post-Dispatch ^ | Saturday November 1, 2014 | Bradley Lepper

[SunkenCiv]

Francaviglia does not dispute that Muslims could have beaten Columbus to the New World. They certainly possessed the technological expertise to have done so; but, so far, there is no reliable evidence that they did. There are, however, very good reasons for thinking that they didn't.

Arab maps were the best in the world, but none of the existing early maps demonstrates any knowledge of the Americas. Arabs also were prolific writers. Francaviglia thinks it’s virtually impossible that Arab explorers discovered the Americas and made no mention of the fact.

Why then is the supposed pre-Columbian Muslim discovery of America being promoted in many recent books and on websites? Francaviglia argues that the authors “are employing a geographically expansionist and historically revisionist premise to ‘prove’ that Islam is a truly global, rather than simply a regional, religion.” Francaviglia suggests that such an agenda could even be used to support Islamic State’s goal of establishing or, if these claims of Muslims in ancient America are true, re-establishing a worldwide caliphate.

It would not be the first time that history was fabricated in the service of a political or religious agenda. Valor and confidence to face the future can be found in the grandeur of the past — even an imagined past.

[SunkenCiv]

• Cave Skeleton Is European, 1,300 Years Old (West Virginia)

  07/14/2003 6:39:10 PM PDT · by blam · 56 replies · 766+ views

  Sunday Gazette Mail ^ | 9-29-2002 | Rick Steelhammer

  Cave skeleton is European, 1,300 years old. Sunday September 29, 2002 By Rick Steelhammer STAFF WRITER MORGANTOWN — The man who first advanced the theory that markings carved on in a Wyoming County cave are actually characters from an ancient Irish alphabet has found human remains at the site, which tests indicate are European in origin and date back to A.D. 710, he maintains. Robert Pyle of Morgantown says that a DNA analysis of material from the skeleton’s teeth roots was conducted by Brigham Young University. That analysis, he says, shows that the skeleton’s DNA, when compared to samples from...

[SunkenCiv]

https://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/departments/default.aspx?mode=reading

Go East, Young Man: Imagining the American West as the Orient. Richard V. Francaviglia. 2011, Utah State UP, 978-0-87421-809-1, $36.95 hb, $30, el.
Historical geographer Richard Francaviglia builds a case for looking beyond orientalism in this publication. His detailed study showcases the American West, where Middle Eastern motifs are seen in the physical landscape, ranging from Camelback Mountain in Arizona to Pyramid Lake in Nevada; in the built environment, notably the Moorish architectural styles found in Santa Fe, New Mexico; in popular culture and advertisement, from Hollywood films to fruit-box labels depicting desert shaykhs and biblical figures; and much more. Dividing his handsomely illustrated book into two parts that frame the Frontier West and the Modern West as “the Orient,” Francaviglia shows Middle Eastern themes resonating in the lore of the region in surprisingly subtle and nuanced ways. The multiple meanings and constructions of the Orient found here, as with other Middle Eastern representations in the American context, require further research and refined interpretation along the lines of this valuable work. —Jonathan Friedlander (MA12)

[SunkenCiv]

Walt Disney’s Frontierland as an Allegorical Map of the American West
Richard Francaviglia
The Western Historical Quarterly
Vol. 30, No. 2 (Summer, 1999), pp. 155-182
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/970490?uid=2&uid=4&sid=21104486803351

[SunkenCiv]

Pseudoscience
PRE-COLUMBIAN MUSLIMS IN OHIO?
http://apps.ohiohistory.org/ohioarchaeology/category/pseudoscience/

[SunkenCiv]

“Far Beyond the Western Sea of the Arabs...”: Reinterpreting Claims about Pre-Columbian Muslims in the Americas
Richard V. Francaviglia
http://www.maneyonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/0082288414Z.00000000033?journalCode=tin

[SunkenCiv]

[Telepathic Intruder]

I tend to disagree. Human sacrifice among the Aztecs seems to follow traditional Muslim doctrine.

[gingerbread]

Yeah right. Next thing we’ll hear is that the MUSLIMS invented the INTERNET. Let’s face it, the Muslims have stopped contributing, to make life easier for the world, since the 12th century. So, they invented the “O”, the zero. That’s it. After that, they rested on their laurels and let the white Europeans do the inventing.

[clearcarbon]

"Muslims could have beaten Columbus to the New World. They certainly possessed the technological expertise to have done so; but, so far, there is no reliable evidence that they did."

The aborigines must have gotten pretty serious about evicting them.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Well, er, ah ...no.

The transferred knowledge of the “zero” from India THROUGH the Arabic lands TO the European writers and thinkers of the day.

[berdie]

After 9/11 I tried to read up on the Muslim culture and history. Truthfully, I had never given it much thought prior to that time.

The thing that seemed to be constant in everything I read was that the Muslims were pretty advanced in the early days, but their religion actually stopped progress.

That seems to hold true today. They act like they live in the 7th century. I guess the more advanced live more in the modern world. But the general populace don’t. It amazes me...they do horrendous 7th century things like beheadings, stonings, etc and post them on the modern internet. Sort of a conflicting message.

[sauron]

The short truth of the matter is this: Islamic culture did experience a spurt of creativity on two occasions:

1. When it absorbed Spain. It gained knowledge, culture, art, etc.

2. When it absorped the Byzantine (eastern Roman) Empire. Same thing: Knowledge of medicine, art, architecture, engineering, the lot.

Note that the Golden Age was short-lived, once they cemented themselves into power, the poor downtrodden Spaniards and Byzantines couldn't flourish anymore. And the Muslim overlord culture quickly began to fade.

As for numbers? They're HINDI. Not Arabic.

As for astronomy? Big Frackin' Deal, they had clear skies that Europe didn't have, and so they did...well, what? They named the dots of light. WHOOPEE! It was the Europeans who invented the LENS and the TELESCOPE.

As for medicine? GALEN and Greek culture got that off to a start. Hippocrates, too.

For some reason, we like to trip all over ourselves congratulating this camel-shagging barbarians for accomplishments which were, in fact, WESTERN.

[Netz]

Why would anyone research this absurdity?

Pres. Obama started this whole “Islam as the cradle of Western Civilization” and “We owe everything to Islam” and “Let's all bow down to Muhammad” thing. He even gave orders for NASA to incorporate Islam into the space program (what is left of it).
Remember, a few years ago, when one of the House members interrupted the President's speech by yelling, “you lie”!?

Well, now it looks pretty accurate, eh?

thing

[Squeako]

Everything they claim to have invented was stolen through conquest. If not the case, why would they have suddenly stopped and gone back to reading nothing but the Koran and Hadith and chopping heads?

[Netz]

1. When it absorbed Spain. It gained knowledge, culture, art, etc.

2. When it absorped the Byzantine (eastern Roman) Empire. Same thing: Knowledge of medicine, art, architecture, engineering, the lot.

“ABSORBED” = CONQUER BY FORCE

[Cronos]

The zero was devised around the time of Christ by Hindu Indians . Aryabhatta invented it along with decimalization in 498 AD. The Moslems didn’t invent it

[Cronos]

Well. No they were not pretty advanced. Their empires were. Precisely because until the 12th century and Timur e Langs genocide of Assyrian Christians, near genocide of Georgians and Armenians and Zoroastrians and Buddhists and Hindus there were majority non Moslem. As the % of Moslems increased, society’s culture decreased. Example the birthplace of Islam, the Arabian peninsula was a sh t hole already by the 9th century with Christians and Jews kicked out of this “pure” land

[Vendome]

The difference is that when ole Chris Discovered America it stayed discovered.

So maybe the Tards were here, probably weren’t.

Chris gets the award.

[onedoug]

muslims are always claiming credit for stuff they couldn’t have done, but claim it’s islamic anyway. The proverbial thieves of history.

[PIF]

” It was the Europeans who invented the LENS and the TELESCOPE.”

Actually the lens and the telescope predate both the muslims and the Europeans. Many lens finds come from pre-dynastic Egypt - much of this seems to be for eyeglasses or eye pieces to correct astigmatism, near and far sightedness.

There is evidence in classical literature that the Romans knew and used telescopes.

The reason we do not find these in well known museums is either they are in an unrelated, obscure museum, or are classified as jewelry, or never put on display.

This is a classic case of “since they didn’t invent it, they could not have had it. Therefore, the object in question is something else”. Pre-European/muslim lens exist by the thousands.