[Aztlan] African Olmecs

[Diehl, Richard]

No serious scholar believes that the Olmecs were descended from African
voyagers. There are many good exposes of this fallacious idea, including
one that I authored in the book The Seventy Great Mysteries of the
Ancient World, edited by Brian Fagan, Thames and Hudson, 2001. I will be
happy to send a copy of my essay to anyone who requests it. Please
contact me off line. 

Speaking of Brian Fagan and apropos of the question of migration routes
into the Americas, Fagan, an avid small-craft sailor with experience in
crossing the Pacific, has stated that it would have been virtually
impossible for ancient travelers in small craft to navigate the
treacherous waters off the Pacific Northwest. He thus discounts that as
a probable route for migration into the New World, suggesting that the
archaeologists who propose it probably know very little about the
realities of sailing. He stated this in a recent issue (issue 26, I
think) of a magazine called Current World Archaeology. Unfortunately I
cannot find my copy to pin down the reference. For what it is worth, I
trust Brian on this and many other things.
Saludos,

Dick Diehl