It always struck me that Seamanship did not retire during the era of the Roman Empire. After all, Caesar himself encountered superior shipping operating in the Bay of Biscay quite able to sail across the Atlantic.
And whereas we now live in a world in which adventurers have made that exact trip often in small yachts, it was hardly daunting. Where it failed then was simply that there was nothing much to go for except salted cod off the Grand Banks . That enterprise was clearly established at the time of Columbus ( John Cabot 1497 ) and surely had been operating well back into Roman times when a market had been created.
Thus the presence of ac roman shipwreck is generally good news and allows all these ideas to be advanced.
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Sword discovered off Nova Scotia’s Oak Island questions history of Americas
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-buzz/sword-discovered-off-nova-scotias-oak-island-195223301.html
An
ancient artifact discovered near Nova Scotia’s Oak Island is forcing
experts to question the history of the Americas. An eyebrow-raising new report suggests that mariners arrived to the New World more than a thousand years before Columbus.
Researchers
who’ve explored the island – rife with mystery thanks to a 230ft deep
booby-trapped shaft known as the ‘money pit’ - claim to have found
evidence that Roman ships arrived to North American during the first
century or earlier, way ahead of Columbus’ arrival in 1492.
The discoveries have been documented on the TV show ‘Curse of Oak Island.’
J.
Hutton Pulitzer, a historic investigator, claims to have evidence of a
Roman sword that was discovered submerged near the island, which is
believed to be a Roman shipwreck. He says the ancient weapon is the
“smoking gun” to his theory.
“The ceremonial sword came out of that shipwreck,” he said. “It is one incredible Roman artifact.”
He
explains that the discovery came about after a father and son were
scalloping off Oak Island. The father kept the sword for decades, and
passed it along to his wife when he died. It was then passed along to
her daughter, who gave it to her husband, who eventually brought it
forward to researchers.
Pulitzer says the complex metallic properties of the ancient weapon match those of other ancient Roman artifacts.
“The
shipwreck is still there and has not been worked,” said Pulitzer. “We
have scanned it, we know exactly where it lays, but it will be a touchy
thing for the Nova Scotia government to allow an archaeological team to
survey it. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is Roman.”
He acknowledges that it would be a huge undertaking to re-write history, but that shouldn’t be a deterrent.
“I
think anything that challenges history is very risky, very dangerous
and extremely political,” he said. “But I think the world has matured
and history may force politics to mature.”
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