Carnival Spirit will be in Acapulco this Sunday and the Lundbergs will be on
board. Last year we were there and did a tour which may be of interest to
you if you will be in Acapulco anytime in the future.
Early American Continent Settlers.
Coastal migrants or plains hunters?
The theory that watercraft - not stone implements-- is man's first tool, can
be seen as a reality, today, at the Coyuca Lagoon near Acapulco, Mexico.
Occasional piles of oyster shells here and there along shore, the use of
wooden spears to kill fish, and the use of logs converted into canoes shows
those few of us who care to look, that ancient Amerindians may well have
migrated along the coastal zones from as far away as China to as far south
as Tierra del Fuego well before any recorded history.
Most of us learned that early American inhabitants may have crossed from
Mongolia to the 'new world' by using Beringia, or the Bering Straight when
the Wisconsin Ice Cap was at it's thickest thus lowering the sea-level
enough to create a land bridge. And early man simply followed the grass
eating herds to the new world as these herds followed the opening marshes
being converted into a form of natural pasture. When the ice began to melt
and the glaciers recede, the sea rose, thus cutting off further migration.
It is believed this happened around 14,000 BP.
Last week my wife and I paid a most affordable $40 each to take a six hour
tour on an inflatable raft to explore the Coyuca Lagoon just north and
slightly east of Acapulco. Scenes of the few fishermen in their little
dugouts flashed my imagination into the past in an attempt to see if early
man could have thrived along this kind of shoreline without any tool other
than clamshells for cutting blade and logs tethered together or logs with
the innards burned out or hogged out to create simple watercraft. Scanning
the past to the present, the only real change is that the watercraft are now
made from planks rather then hogged out logs.
Since our tour with Jungle Tour Acapulco www.jungletour.com.mx I have
revisited some of my sources on this subject, such as American Dawn and
Beginner's Guide to Archaeology by Louis A. Brennan, and the most recent
soon-to-be-classic Guns Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. Any doubt that
early Americans came to this continent any time before 14,000 BP or even
28,000 BP or even 100,000 BP must be dispelled through the simple act of
observing the present inhabitants of the Coyuca Lagoon.
Time stopped a long time ago in this place, if it ever got started in the
first place. Sure, they may use machetes today as cutting tools, and they
most likely used stone flakes at certain times; but the sharp and sharpened
edge of a clamshell can do almost anything required of these people for
survival to this day. One look at the thick mantle of shrubs, bushes, fruit
trees, herbs, birds, creepy-crawly creatures on the water's edge, fish
splashing about, crab, oysters, catfish, nuts, seeds, flowers and more herbs
abound. Reach out and pick whatever you like and you have nourishment in
your belly. Slide under a palm tree and take your nap. Wake in the afternoon
and slither up to your loved one and do as many sensual slides as you want.
The Garden of Eden has not been lost. You can see it in real life at the
Coyuca Lagoon. I did. And I'm still in awe.
Wayne
For some fun in getting to know more about Mexico why not start with the
food? Check out my www.pueblaprotocol.com and go down a page where the fun
starts. (Please pass this along to anybody you think would enjoy exploring
pre conquest food in America) - Free, no come-ons, just for fun!
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