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Re: maize in ancient India: transpacific links (cont.)

Joe Bernstein (joe@sfbooks.com) wrote:
: Um, just in case anyone familiar with my record from sci.archaeology is
: waiting for me to jump in and take Mr. Kuchinsky to task, sorry, folks. 
: It's true that I've seen no site report mention signs of <Zea> spp. in
: stratigraphic context.  But most site reports I've read have neglected
: periods A.D. - and all of Mr. Kuchinsky's claimed sculptures date after
: Christ, as indeed they would have to given the history of sculpture in
: South Asia - most site reports I've read have lacked palynological
: analyses, and finally, my own reading of them was focused strictly on
: periods up to (or presumed to be up to) 200 B.C.

Joe,

Thank you for this useful background information.

: Nor do I have time at the moment to dig up his references in the libraries,
: even if I had the proper background in post-Maurya art history and such.

: I would appreciate it, however, if any more threads spawn from this, if
the : phrase "ancient India" would be reserved to the period prior to
A.D. 1000. : In current usage, "ancient India" isn't even considered
appropriate that : late - I've gotten answers ranging from 300 B.C. to
A.D. 300 as to the : proper cutoff - but at one time "ancient India" was
taken to mean anything : up to 1000 and I'm willing to cut some slack. 
However, I was pretty : flabbergasted to open Mr. Kuchinsky's first post
on the subject and find : the "ancient" sculpture in question dated no
earlier than the 12th century. : I think this other post (the one this is
a followup to), by citing older : sculptures alleged to depict maize as
well, explains the reference.  Still, : though... 

Just to clarify this, Johannessen certainly says that maize in India goes
back to before 1000 ce. Yet, these temples from a later period that he
studied in great detail contain the best stone carvings of maize,
apparently. There're many more such temples from what I understand, many 
of them yet to be investigated. 

Best,

Yuri.

--
            =O=    Yuri Kuchinsky in Toronto    =O=
  --- a webpage like any other...  http://www.io.org/~yuku ---
 
We should always be disposed to believe that that which 
appears white is really black, if the hierarchy of the 
Church so decides       ===      St. Ignatius of Loyola
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