A bronze object was found in August on Cape Espenberg, which is near Kotzebue, Alaska, a coastal town along the Chukchi Sea. This part of the High Arctic has been home to the Inupiat Eskimos for eons, and their subsistence culture is still busy with berry picking, fishing, and hunting. Old ivory, stone, and wooden artifacts are commonplace and easy to find in the ancient earthen homes they left behind.
Early Native Alaskans didn’t melt metal and pour molded castings, so the recent discovery of this artifact in a 1000-year-old mizzen was shocking, especially since the leather on its one end dated 1,400 years back. Archaeologists are left scratching their heads, without any good explanation for what they found. Maybe it came from China, they think.
Recently, a Chinese coin minted between 1667 and 1671 was found along the Yukon River 150 miles northwest of Whitehorse. Old Chinese coins have been regularly found along Alaska’s southeastern seacoast, but to find one so far inland blows everyone’s mind. Added to this great mystery is a Chinese coin from the early 1400s was found at Beaver Creek, the border point between Alaska and Canada. A pig bone was also found, except there weren’t any pigs in the North until after the 1898 Gold Rush. This has thrown archaeologists for a loop as well.
I’ve always believed the Chinese discovered Alaska long before any Europeans did, and now there’s proof. It’s fact the ancient Chinese knew about Siberia, so it stands to reason they would have been told about another land just across the Bering Strait, which is only 53 miles wide. I think they started exploring and trading in Alaska long ago. Would-be experts will call me crazy, but I have more proof than they do. How in hell else did these artifacts get to the Far North?
Early Native Alaskans didn’t melt metal and pour molded castings, so the recent discovery of this artifact in a 1000-year-old mizzen was shocking, especially since the leather on its one end dated 1,400 years back. Archaeologists are left scratching their heads, without any good explanation for what they found. Maybe it came from China, they think.
Recently, a Chinese coin minted between 1667 and 1671 was found along the Yukon River 150 miles northwest of Whitehorse. Old Chinese coins have been regularly found along Alaska’s southeastern seacoast, but to find one so far inland blows everyone’s mind. Added to this great mystery is a Chinese coin from the early 1400s was found at Beaver Creek, the border point between Alaska and Canada. A pig bone was also found, except there weren’t any pigs in the North until after the 1898 Gold Rush. This has thrown archaeologists for a loop as well.
I’ve always believed the Chinese discovered Alaska long before any Europeans did, and now there’s proof. It’s fact the ancient Chinese knew about Siberia, so it stands to reason they would have been told about another land just across the Bering Strait, which is only 53 miles wide. I think they started exploring and trading in Alaska long ago. Would-be experts will call me crazy, but I have more proof than they do. How in hell else did these artifacts get to the Far North?
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