Comments on: How Much the Hope Diamond is Worth and Other Questions From Our Readers http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2012/02/how-much-the-hope-diamond-is-worth-and-other-questions-from-our-readers/ A new Smithsonian blog covering scenes and sightings from the Smithsonian museums and beyond. Mon, 20 May 2013 19:14:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4 By: William Fitzhugh http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2012/02/how-much-the-hope-diamond-is-worth-and-other-questions-from-our-readers/comment-page-1/#comment-9073 William Fitzhugh Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:17:08 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/?p=25895#comment-9073 Amy, They certainly had the capability to make long ocean voyages and could have reached the northwest coast. The problem is "did they?" And there we don't have proof--yet. Archaeology is full of stories where opinion has been reversed by new discoveries. Too often cultures produce similarities, but to prove contact the data have to be very specific. For instance this year a piece of cast bronze bronze was found in an Eskimo site around Bering Strait. Eskimos did not know how to cast bronze, and the piece looks like part of a horse harness buckle. So there is definite proof, in this case of hand-to-hand trade between an area far from Bering Strait where horse-riding occurred and Alaska. Amy,
They certainly had the capability to make long ocean voyages and could have reached the northwest coast. The problem is “did they?” And there we don’t have proof–yet. Archaeology is full of stories where opinion has been reversed by new discoveries. Too often cultures produce similarities, but to prove contact the data have to be very specific. For instance this year a piece of cast bronze bronze was found in an Eskimo site around Bering Strait. Eskimos did not know how to cast bronze, and the piece looks like part of a horse harness buckle. So there is definite proof, in this case of hand-to-hand trade between an area far from Bering Strait where horse-riding occurred and Alaska.

]]> By: Amy Croan http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2012/02/how-much-the-hope-diamond-is-worth-and-other-questions-from-our-readers/comment-page-1/#comment-9071 Amy Croan Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:43:21 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/?p=25895#comment-9071 Hello Mr. Fitzhugh, I just found that you took time to answer my question. Thank you! I am aware that by the year 1300, the Maori are determined to have been descended from the Polynesian peoples, but had morphed into a truly indigenous form. And that whaling migration routes from the N Pacific and S Pacific never cross. I am interested in possible contact between the NW coast and ancient whaling cultures that eventually populated Hawaii, originating centuries earlier from present day Taiwan. Weren't the whaling cultures of ancient Oceana skilled enough in seafaring and wayfinding to make that voyage? The prior Chinese global sea expeditions had the ability and later voyagers, Cook and Heyerdahl, relate similar if not the exact same place names and art/tool construction. While no definite proof exists, do you think there is still a possibility of early contact? How else would you explain these commonalities? Also, can you please change my name to Amy Croan? Thanks again! -Amy Hello Mr. Fitzhugh,

I just found that you took time to answer my question. Thank you!

I am aware that by the year 1300, the Maori are determined to have been descended from the Polynesian peoples, but had morphed into a truly indigenous form. And that whaling migration routes from the N Pacific and S Pacific never cross. I am interested in possible contact between the NW coast and ancient whaling cultures that eventually populated Hawaii, originating centuries earlier from present day Taiwan. Weren’t the whaling cultures of ancient Oceana skilled enough in seafaring and wayfinding to make that voyage? The prior Chinese global sea expeditions had the ability and later voyagers, Cook and Heyerdahl, relate similar if not the exact same place names and art/tool construction. While no definite proof exists, do you think there is still a possibility of early contact? How else would you explain these commonalities?
Also, can you please change my name to Amy Croan?
Thanks again!
-Amy

]]> By: H. Gordon Howze http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2012/02/how-much-the-hope-diamond-is-worth-and-other-questions-from-our-readers/comment-page-1/#comment-9021 H. Gordon Howze Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:55:02 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/?p=25895#comment-9021 Have Marine Scientists and Petroleum Chemists and Engineers yet figured a way to clean the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico of the heavy crude sludge which we know has to be there, so as to lessen its impact upon the flora ands fauna of the Gulf? I personally have no expertise or education that would even give me an idea about what is and isn't possible, given today's technology, and assuming thats cost was not a factor. I've thought about unmanned submarines with vacuum cleaning equipment that might be able to suck it up into storage tanks, but I have no idea whether we;ve ever developed craft that can operate at such great depths. I remember WWII movies in my youth, always showing submarines settled on the ocean bottom, running silently, to evade the enemy depth charges, but was that just Hollywood, or did they have suchc deep water capabilities, back in the 1940's. Dana Andrews would surely know . . . up scope . . . down scope, all ahead full . . . dive . . . . dive . . . . dive . . . . fire 1 . . . etc. Lots of drama, but what was the science thenl and what is it, today? Have Marine Scientists and Petroleum Chemists and Engineers yet figured a way to clean the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico of the heavy crude sludge which we know has to be there, so as to lessen its impact upon the flora ands fauna of the Gulf? I personally have no expertise or education that would even give me an idea about what is and isn’t possible, given today’s technology, and assuming thats cost was not a factor. I’ve thought about unmanned submarines with vacuum cleaning equipment that might be able to suck it up into storage tanks, but I have no idea whether we;ve ever developed craft that can operate at such great depths. I remember WWII movies in my youth, always showing submarines settled on the ocean bottom, running silently, to evade the enemy depth charges, but was that just Hollywood, or did they have suchc deep water capabilities, back in the 1940′s. Dana Andrews would surely know . . . up scope . . . down scope, all ahead full . . . dive . . . . dive . . . . dive . . . . fire 1 . . . etc. Lots of drama, but what was the science thenl and what is it, today?

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