https://www.ancient-origins.net/unexplained-phenomena/beothuk-0014219
A Beothuk woman named Demasduit ( Public Domain ).
Background: An 1807 map of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, Canada. ( Public Domain )
Indeed, although very much in retrospect, there were numerous pieces of evidence readily available that pointed to the two narratives possibly being associated, even if the key element were missing. However unlikely and counter-intuitive, it appears that key is in the much-disputed continuing existence of the Beothuk (Beothuk) People of Newfoundland Island - without them neither of the mysteries would have been resolved.
Origins of the Beothuk People
The journey of discovery began quite by accident, when a Beothuk person observed some unusual artifacts at museums in China that seemed to be the analogues of artifacts of the Beothuk People. The resulting investigation led to all known information about the Beothuk people being sifted and evaluated, with the conclusion being that the Beothuk People had Chinese origin.
Right: Beothuk symbols on poles, Newfoundland Island.
Left: Symbols on poles. Confucian museum. Beijing. (Author provided)
The considerable skepticism about the Chinese voyages seemed to be primarily because the idea of massive Chinese ships, as suggested by Menzies and Hudson was thoroughly doubted. Unfortunately, one could not appeal to China because that country has retained no information as to the design of such massive ships - no models, no sketches, no descriptions.
Curious genetic and ancestral stories of the Beothuk People led to an informal survey that revealed mtDNA of Celtic, Norse, and other Scandinavian/Baltic origin, leading to speculation that all of the people were descendants of the Norse from the time of the Viking Sagas. However, that speculation was disabused by research reports to the effect that (a) Newfoundland Island had had several waves of occupation, and (b) there is a genetic discontinuity between the maternal lineages of the various occupation groups. Moreover, historical reports indicate that whoever was on the island were substantially, or completely, killed off by some blight or combination thereof (plague, typhus, smallpox) between 1402 and 1404, which meant that as of that later date the island was effectively empty. If that were true, then it meant that the Norse ancestors of the contemporary Beothuk must have colonized at least part of the island sometime after 1404 AD.
Beothuk drawings by Shanawdithit (the last known member of the Beothuk people) representing a variety of subjects. ( Library and Archives Canada )
That led to a consideration of the story of the disappearance of the people of Greenland in the early 15th Century. There is no record of the people of Greenland going east, as some experts have speculated. According to Catholic Church records, there had been as many as 5000 people in Greenland circa 1409. That's a lot of people to account for.
In a pastoral letter from the Holy See addressed to the Bishops of Skalholt and Holar in Iceland, dated September 20, 1448, concern was expressed that Greenland had been raided by a “Fleet of heathens” some 30 years previously, and that all of the people had been taken. It is not immediately clear how the Pope acquired that information. Related to that was another piece of information: tributes began to arrive at Rome sometime in the early-1400s, from “ Vinland.” Clearly, a vector of communication existed from the “far western lands' to Rome.
Recent research suggests that there was no violent confrontation in Greenland. Indeed, everything points to a peaceful, organized departure of the people. The conclusion was that the people of Greenland, all 5000 of them, along with their priests and other religious people (monks and nuns), peacefully departed their homes sometime after 1409 and before about 1420.
The Mystery of the Beothuk Language
The language of the Beothuk has been something of an enduring mystery. William Cormack is the only person whose report we have who actually spoke with the Beothuk. Cormack said that the Beothuk language had all of the sounds of Scandinavian languages, maybe Swedish. Additionally, J. T. Mullock , Roman Catholic Bishop of St. John's, Newfoundland, said that many people thought that the Beothuk had “Northmen” ancestry.
Top: Beothuk carved bone artifacts.
Bottom: Beothuk iron projectile point (probably an arrow point), bone harpoon, and bone harpoon with iron blade.
Because Newfoundland Island was empty of people, say from around 1404, and because the people of Greenland departed their homes around 1418, and because a large number of people from Newfoundland Island has Norse ancestry from the forests of the island, it seemed reasonable to conclude that the Beothuk people were the descendants of the “missing” Norse of Greenland. The notion of a fleet of ships, as per the Pope's letter, was, to say the least, intriguing.
More on Beothuk Ancestry
The investigation has now arrived at the point where two phenomena seem to be supported: The Beothuk people had Chinese ancestry and the Beothuk people had Norse ancestry.
The local people in that remote and isolated geography, although having a high degree of illiteracy, had a rich oral tradition. For many generations these people, the European ancestors of whom came to the area around the mid-1700s or earlier, told stories of enormous ships that had been on the nearby ocean bottom since before their arrival. As late as 1890, people could easily see one massive ship in a sheltered harbor of relatively shallow water, and the mast of that ship - enormous, much larger than anything that they had ever seen or could imagine - protruded from the ocean surface. Moreover, at that time, they could see “dishes” and “jugs” on the ocean bottom near the ship.
Zheng He's Treasure Ship. Model at Hong Kong Science Museum.
( Mike Peel / CC BY SA 4.0 )
The subsequent generation (circa 1930) contained a story that two teen boys had attempted to measure the ship and, being creative with fishing cords, estimated that one ship was about 400 ft. (130 meters) long.
After several months of searching with Google Earth, during 2017, two almost identical ships were located, each being about 450 ft. (150 meters) in length. Since then, several other equally large ships, seemingly intact, have been found resting on the ocean bottom. The only ships that fit the circumstances are those of the Chinese of the early 1400s. No European or American ship of the dimensions of the ships that were found would be constructed until after the mid-1800s.
At that point it is possible to suggest, at least, that the enormous fleet that had taken the people from Greenland had been a Chinese fleet. If that fleet brought the people of Greenland to Newfoundland Island sometime around 1418, that would explain the Norse and Chinese ancestry of the Beothuk People.
This great article continues at: https://www.ancient-origins.net/unexplained-phenomena/beothuk-0014219 with pics and a vid.
Recommend this post and follow The birth of modern Man
No comments:
Post a Comment