I saw this on HuffPost today. A group of scientists found this Chinese coin from Emperor Yongle on the island of Manda off Kenya. It is made of copper and silver with a square in the middle. Would this be considered a "cash coin" ... They say the discovery of this coin proves Chinese trade/sailing was far more advanced than European counterpart, in terms of interaction with East Africa. I just thought I'd share this with yous guys. Here's an image:
Finding one ancient coin in a particular location doesn't prove anything, in fact. I'm not saying the Chinese couldn't have been trading in East Africa during that time period, but one would need corroborating archeological evidence to actually prove it. Without corroborating evidence, it's just as legitimate to conjecture that someone lost that coin in Kenya centuries later.
Yea, I didn't say it proved anything, just saw that a chinese coin was found in kenya ... academics can miss common sense things while buried (literally in this case) in complex, detailed experiments (in this case excavations). I know this from first hand experience. The thing that these people use as proof is finding items of similar age at the same level of the dig and in the same condition. I'm sure some sort of radioactive dating techniques can be used as well, in general. edit: I am NOT an archaeologist...lol
I'm frequently astonished at the presumptions researchers make in the papers I read, and I'm talking about lengthy, erudite treatises - not just internet news flashes. I've seen elaborate theories built on one little assumption that could have just as easily gone one way as another. When it comes to archeology, it seems more honest to speak of possibilities than empirical realities.
I wasn't accusing you of trying to prove anything - just commenting on the article. It left off by saying they found other items at the dig from earlier time periods - that's the stuff I'd really like to know about.
Oh, I knew that John Anthony. You don't strike me as that type of poster. It was more an addendum to my original post where I should've added that I don't believe most of the garbage posted on MSM.
