Re: A China-Sumer connection?

a.manansala_at_attbi.com
Date: 03/05/05 

Date: 5 Mar 2005 09:58:22 -0800

phippsmartin@hotmail.com wrote:
> Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> > phippsmartin@hotmail.com wrote:
> >
>

> > What peoples are you
> > talking about? You cannot put modern names to them; the best you
can
> do
> > is identify archeological horizons that might be associated with
the
> > ancestors of this or that group.
>
> PKM actually refered to "Austranesians" from "Indonesia". I didn't
> want to be pretentious and start using the same terminology, although
I
> suppose I could have said "ancesters of modern Malays (and Turks)".
>
> Hypothetically, we could argue for the following contacts.
>
> Chinese - Austranesian - Sumerian/Indian - Turk/Azeri - Chinese
>

That would be "Austronesian."

Although there's too much to cram into a single posting. The
archaeological evidence as I started to explain is related to the shell
mound cultures in both regions.

Oyster factories are not indications of shell mound cultures.

These mounds were purposely built by people who consumed shellfish as a
primary food source. Oyster factories dump shells for people who
periodically eat oysters throughout the world.

The mounds were built often along the water's edge to extend
settlements and as burial mounds and ritual platforms. They were an
integral part of the community itself.

When coastal settlements began popping up all over Southeast Asia
during times of rapid rise in sea levels, we see that they were mostly
of the shell mound and related sand dune type.

They had developed fairly advanced fishing and sea mammal hunting
techniques. They made perforated earthenware spindle whorls for net
manufacture and disc-like earthenware net sinkers. They used stone
celts of a rectangular cross-section and round axes. They also used
shells naturally for a lot of things.

The earliest cultures had edge-grinding techiques that eventually were
used to make fully-polished tools. They also developed hard-firing
techiques used to make pottery and glass beads, and also it seems
eventually bronze.

This is just an overview, of course.

Probably most importantly these people were skilled maritime navigators
and merchants. They trade involved jade/nephrite, shells and shell
tools, obsidian, wood and probably also regionally perishables like
rice and sugarcane.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
http://sambali.blogspot.com/

Relevant Pages