SC - Re: Peanuts, Sweet Potatoes, Etc.

[Decker, Terry D.]

><< Query:  "Accepted theory" by whom?  Where cited? 
> Query:  "At least 2 centuries before their arrival in Europe"  What 
> date would that make it?  The 1500s or earlier? >>
>
>History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat (Translated by Anthea Bell); pg.
>65.
>
>"The sweet potatoe comes from the equatorial forests of America. A widely
>traveled tuber, it reached Polynesia two thousand years ago, and helps to
>clarify the problem of contacts between the Pacific Islands and the north
>coast of South America. It is an additional proof that Melano-Polynesian
>migrations took place in ancient times. Until quite recently it was thought
>that the sweet potato was introduced into Africa at the beginning of the
>slave trade. We now have to put that date back several centuries, without
>knowing how or why it got there. Perhaps across the Pacific, as the intrepid
>Polynesian canoeists made their return journey from the coasts of Ecuador or
>Columbia to the archipelagos, then on to either Malaysia and South-est Asia
>or to East Africa by way of Madagascar. Maize, groundnuts, peppers and
>cassava are thought to have accompanied  the sweet potato. The coconut palm,
> the banana tree and the taro ( a huge root known to the Romans) are also
>believed to have travelled in the canoes, together with agricultural
>techniques which are remarkably similar in all tropical regions (including
>hoeing, brush fires, terrace cultivation and long fallow periods,
>.......etc."
>
>Ras

The concept doesn't bother me, but the specifics do.  The specifics are
probably part of on-going scholarly warfare in Archeology, and I expect
I will be reading the book just to see who Toussaint-Samat is citing.
Let me state some of my reservations for your consideration.  

Are we sure that the "sweet potato" being referred to here is Ipomoea
batatas (sweet potato) and not a member of the Dioscoreacea (yam)?
Ipomoea is indigenous to South America.  Dioscoreacea is found across
the warm regions of Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

What is the evidence for the sweet potato arriving in Polynesia 2000
years ago? 

If the Polynesians spread all of these plants, why not sugar cane?
There is supposedly evidence that cane has been in use in Polynesia for
8,000 years.  To my knowledge, the question is still open as to whether
sugar originated in the Indus Valley or in Polynesia and how it
migrated.

What evidence is there for pushing back the date of arrival of the sweet
potato in Africa?  Does this evidence stand by itself or does it require
the support of weaker evidence or supposition?  For that matter, what is
the evidence of a Portuguese introduction of these plants (says I having
quoted authority, but not found the source)?

The existence of certain plants and the similarities in agriculture in
both the New and Old Worlds were once used to support the idea of
Atlantis.  Since we are discussing a similar chain of evidence, what
additional archeological/anthropological evidence supports the
Polynesian spread theory?  Without the supporting evidence, these
transfers could have been done by Barry Fell's Phoenicians or Charles
Hapgood's Sea Kings or be naturally occurring.

As I said, I need to read the book.  Maybe it will provide me some of
the answers.

Bear



 
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