Routledge Traveling Prehistoric Seas: Critical Thinking on Ancient Transoceanic Voyages

About the Author Alice Beck Kehoe is emeritus professor of anthropology from Marquette University, USA, and Honorary Fellow at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA. A specialist on Native America, the history of archaeology, and archaeology of gender, she is author of numerous articles and over a dozen books on those topics. Unafraid of controversial topics, she has examined numerous debates in her fields, among them the role of shamanism and the authenticity of the Kensington Runestone. Product Description Until recently the theory that people could have traversed large expanses of ocean in prehistoric times was considered pseudoscience. But recent discoveries in places as disparate as Australia, Labrador, Crete, California, and Chile open the possibility that ancient oceans were highways, not barriers, and that ancient people possessed the means and motives to traverse them. In this brief, thought-provoking, but controversial book Alice Kehoe considers the existing evidence in her reassessment of ancient sailing. Her book-critically analyzes the growing body of evidence on prehistoric sailing to help scholars and students evaluate a highly controversial hypothesis;-examines evidence from archaeology, anthropology, botany, art, mythology, linguistics, maritime technology, architecture, paleopathology, and other disciplines;-presents her evidence in student-accessible language to allow instructors to use this work for teaching critical thinking skills. Review "Professor emerita of anthropology, Kehoe, eschews frauds, mysteries, myths and the fantastic as a good scientist and looks at the data regarding pre-Columbia transoceanic contacts of peoples worldwide using basic scientific logic and principles of evaluation in order to assess the possibilities, plausibilities and probabilities of a selection of better-attested-to contacts." ― PhotoView"In this thought-provoking book, Kehoe stresses that her goal is to teach critical thinking on scientific issues. For those interested in transoceanic, pre-Columbian contact from the 'Old World' to the Americas, this volume is a must. It includes a historical perspective and provides an evaluation of many cases that various scholars have proposed over the decades. Summing Up: Essential. All public and academic levels/libraries."― J. B. Richardson III, University of Pittsburgh