Re: The lowly sweet potato may unlock America's past, How the root vegetable found it's way across the Pacific

On Mar 26, 10:16 pm, "benli...@xxxxxxxxxx" <benli...@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
On Mar 27, 12:37 pm, Jack Linthicum <jacklinthi...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:



On Mar 26, 7:15 pm, George <gbl...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

One of the first things you need to be able to work metal is metal.

How about a controlled heat, a method of identifying ores and
extracting the metal
Stone hammers and stone anvils will work metal

IIRC the Pacific islands have very little in removable situations.
Deep in the interior of New Guinea is a rich copper and gold deposit,
but there is little on even the volcanic islands and none on the coral
atolls.

New Guinea was the end of the Pacific Pottery horizon.
New Zealand has clays and identifiable metal deposits that were only
accessed when the European arrived

So in your opinion the Polynesians wouldn't bother to trade for
pottery and metal tools with the South Americans ?
Not how ceramics and metal were sought after when the Europeans
arrived with such treasures?

What do you heat with? The Rapa Nui people used up all their trees and
couldn't make boats.

?? What is the relevance of this to the question of trading metal or
ceramic artefacts?



In the book The Blue of Capricorn the Westerner sees his female
companion as a an anti-innovator. He notices here arranging shells in
a pattern asks here to do a different one and she refuses. The life is
in a pattern, something that has been lost by the contact with the
outside. I would guess that there is almost no innovation after the
various groups reached into the Pacific.

"The Black and the White is arguably one of the most important
fictional stories of the Pacific: A French man who escaped the
wretchedness of his nation to discover that his adopted culture was
heartbreakingly shallow. It is one of those few stories that will
leave you thinking, and you may very well read again and again."

I would suggest looking at some archaeology and ethnography rather
than "guessing" on the basis of light fiction or jacket blurbs.

Ross Clark

Did you miss the author? Eugene Bur***? He died at age 46 so the
public knows little about him. Teamed with William Lederer on several
books.


On The Blue of Capricorn

A rare valuable and accurate view of the Pacific, March 8, 2002

This book has many factual chapters about the Pacific Region, and five
tales that are representative of some elements of the area. The Black
and the White is arguably one of the most important fictional stories
of the Pacific: A French man who escaped the wretchedness of his
nation to discover that his adopted culture was heartbreakingly
shallow. It is one of those few stories that will leave you thinking,
and you may very well read again and again. It was a great loss when
Bur*** died at a relatively young age.


Terrific overview of Pacific cultures and Geography, April 4, 1999

A great example of a excellent book that could become a classic
without being confused with world literature. A strait forward
discription of the South Seas and their peoples and geography(how
coral attols and volcanic islands are formed) without being dry, but
rather using it to help the reader better understand the stories he
has to tell. Anyone who loves the South Seas and the stories of Jack
London and Somerset Maugham will love this book. It is the #1 book I
have everyone read that comes to visit me. I always receive five
thumbs up.
.