134
8 Transoceanic Trading in Two Oceans
from celts; artifacts of similar form and size occur in buried offerings at La Venta. . ..Other
classes of jade objects common to Shang and Olmec include beads, bird and animal plaques,
pendants, and figurines. . .In Shang China and later. . .shell, turquoise, or jade was put in
corpses’ mouths, and at some point in history rice was. At least in Classic Maya times,
jade and maize were put in corpses’ mouths; funerary jades in both areas were sometimes
coated with or associated with cinnabar [a heavy, reddish mercuric sulfide, HgS, that is
the principal ore of mercury]. Jade seems to have been used medicinally in both areas (pp.
609–610).
While some evidence for archaeological similarities might be dismissed as
instances of parallel evolution, the preservation of Chinese place names in America
is harder to explain:
It may be noted that the layout of Teotihuacan is reminiscent of that of the Chinese city in
emphasizing an interrupted north-south axial street and a rough gridiron layout and in being
composed largely of walled household compounds with courtyards. Unlike the Chinese city,
Teotihuacan lacked an encompassing wall . . .Relevant to the finds of the Chan Chan area,
Loayza. . .listed 95 Peruvian place names that have meaning in Chinese but not in local
languages, plus 130 Peruvian place names corresponding to Chinese place names. These are
concentrated particularly from Lima northward. Among additional traits shared by China
and Peru, the following are of especial interest: metal disks or coins put into cadavers’
mouths, tally strings (quipus), suspension bridges, great walls. . .and elaborate agricultural
terraces (p. 623).
Even these few examples suggest a significant difference between the nature of
Chinese involvement and influence and that implicit in the archaeological evidence
for Polynesian contact that we considered in Chapter 6. Chinese traders represented
sophisticated urban Chinese cultures. Their influence appears to have been predominantly artistic, cultural and technological and to have influenced developed
American urban cultures. Evidence from southern California for Spice Island contact and influence relates to boat-building and fishing and affected coastal maritime
and fishing communities. The Spice Island introduction of the melanotic chicken
was related to cock-fighting, the Chinese introduction of the melanotic chicken was
associated with a shamanic/medical complex that, as we have seen, spread along
with the chicken from a Mayan hearth. We suggest that although there is a very
considerable range of evidence for continued Chinese contact with America over
2,500 years (minus the 600-year global cold period), the sharp difference in the
backgrounds, and in the kind of contacts, interests and influence of Chinese and
Spice Island traders, weights the likelihood that Spice Islanders pursued the rare
plant trade that Sorenson and Johannessen document.
The different capacity of their watercraft perhaps highlights the differences in
Chinese and Spice Island trading emphasis and potential. Carrying possibly heavy
or fragile art objects from China to America in the second-wave period – elaborate
lacquer work, mirrors, decorated ceramics, carved jade or wood – would have been
facilitated by the development in the Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 200) of the Chinese
junk with its high poop and large watertight compartments below deck. The trading items that Spice Island mariners sailing double-outriggers might choose would
need to be more compact. Spices were an ideal trade item for traders sailing on a
double-outrigger because they represented compact wealth. The seeds and cuttings
8 Transoceanic Trading in Two Oceans
from celts; artifacts of similar form and size occur in buried offerings at La Venta. . ..Other
classes of jade objects common to Shang and Olmec include beads, bird and animal plaques,
pendants, and figurines. . .In Shang China and later. . .shell, turquoise, or jade was put in
corpses’ mouths, and at some point in history rice was. At least in Classic Maya times,
jade and maize were put in corpses’ mouths; funerary jades in both areas were sometimes
coated with or associated with cinnabar [a heavy, reddish mercuric sulfide, HgS, that is
the principal ore of mercury]. Jade seems to have been used medicinally in both areas (pp.
609–610).
While some evidence for archaeological similarities might be dismissed as
instances of parallel evolution, the preservation of Chinese place names in America
is harder to explain:
It may be noted that the layout of Teotihuacan is reminiscent of that of the Chinese city in
emphasizing an interrupted north-south axial street and a rough gridiron layout and in being
composed largely of walled household compounds with courtyards. Unlike the Chinese city,
Teotihuacan lacked an encompassing wall . . .Relevant to the finds of the Chan Chan area,
Loayza. . .listed 95 Peruvian place names that have meaning in Chinese but not in local
languages, plus 130 Peruvian place names corresponding to Chinese place names. These are
concentrated particularly from Lima northward. Among additional traits shared by China
and Peru, the following are of especial interest: metal disks or coins put into cadavers’
mouths, tally strings (quipus), suspension bridges, great walls. . .and elaborate agricultural
terraces (p. 623).
Even these few examples suggest a significant difference between the nature of
Chinese involvement and influence and that implicit in the archaeological evidence
for Polynesian contact that we considered in Chapter 6. Chinese traders represented
sophisticated urban Chinese cultures. Their influence appears to have been predominantly artistic, cultural and technological and to have influenced developed
American urban cultures. Evidence from southern California for Spice Island contact and influence relates to boat-building and fishing and affected coastal maritime
and fishing communities. The Spice Island introduction of the melanotic chicken
was related to cock-fighting, the Chinese introduction of the melanotic chicken was
associated with a shamanic/medical complex that, as we have seen, spread along
with the chicken from a Mayan hearth. We suggest that although there is a very
considerable range of evidence for continued Chinese contact with America over
2,500 years (minus the 600-year global cold period), the sharp difference in the
backgrounds, and in the kind of contacts, interests and influence of Chinese and
Spice Island traders, weights the likelihood that Spice Islanders pursued the rare
plant trade that Sorenson and Johannessen document.
The different capacity of their watercraft perhaps highlights the differences in
Chinese and Spice Island trading emphasis and potential. Carrying possibly heavy
or fragile art objects from China to America in the second-wave period – elaborate
lacquer work, mirrors, decorated ceramics, carved jade or wood – would have been
facilitated by the development in the Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 200) of the Chinese
junk with its high poop and large watertight compartments below deck. The trading items that Spice Island mariners sailing double-outriggers might choose would
need to be more compact. Spices were an ideal trade item for traders sailing on a
double-outrigger because they represented compact wealth. The seeds and cuttings