Metal artefacts – armour, weapons and implements found in wake of Treasure Fleet
New Zealand and Australia
–Banks peninsula – (C Bell) – soldiers buried in armour.
-‘Spanish helmet’ (Robin Watt).
-New Zealand – Moriori artifacts, as well as metal items of unknown origin in vaults of Otago Museum, New Zealand, that were ‘by law’ not allowed to be exhibited. The museum has never explained why. http://www.celticnz.co.nz/hot_mail3.htm (Dave Bell)
– Moeraki Beach – 3 small sections of Chinese wrapped steel sword – the end section of the blade clearly shows the wrapped form of construction, ie hard outer cutting edge and soft inner shock absorber; a horse stirrup (?); a buckle inscribed with a verified authentic Chinese symbol.
To view these articles please click here.
– Queensland – A reader describes a cannon found buried in sand in north Queensland, origin unknown, which was small, less than a metre long, and its bore was about 5 inches in diameter. Up until the 1950s the cannon was fired at 1 pm every day, but it has since been removed. It was not of English origin and was believed to be Portuguese, though some think it could have been Chinese. Does anyone know anything else about this find?
–Australia – Fraser Island cannon (Brett Green evidence)
Gympie Pyramid site – the latest find is a strange horseshoe under 2 feet of topsoil.
– seven and a half inches (top to bottom)
– six and a half inches across (L to R)
– metal band is one and a half inches in diameter
– definitely an iron composition and very corroded.
“We have to assume at the moment it is not of the modern era – our horses are smaller – Fraser Island had wild horses roaming when the island was first explored. Whether there is a connection we do not know. We have discounted the draught horse theory – there is no record of them ever being used in this area. Small pieces of iron slag and small iron pegs have also been found – Brett Green
North America – Atlantic coast
-Copper breastplates (Kotze Bue)
–Mississippi (Falls Man) – copper armour
–Sacramento (Dr John Furry) – copper armour
–Buzzards Bay (Bartholomew Griswold (1602)) – copper armour
–Cape Cod (Martin Prinze) (1603);
–Virginia – armour and swords (Richard Perkins)
–Canada – a large anchor found in a bay near New Brunswick. National Post, Sep. 18, 2003 (M Burford)
– As a young naval officer in the mid 70s, a reader was part of a mission to deliver medicine and school supplies to an isolated and backward island in the Caribbean. They were there for four days, during which time four of the crew were taken by local children to a cliff site where they found three cannons. Two of the cannons were dated to 1401, and non-English words were embossed near the firing point. The third cannon found was a four foot brass cannon. There were not dates on it, however, it was elaborately decorated in non-European characters. Due to the remote location of the village, the political climate in that country over the last thirty years, and the subsistence nature of the people the reader is sure that the cannon are still there. Gavin has planned an expedition to this isolated part of the world but political instability in the area means that an adventure into this area is unlikely in the foreseeable future.
–Canada – The arts of the Haida people who populated the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia, Canada are aesthetically similar to those of east-Asian cultures. The Haida also used a type of armour common in Bronze Age China. Apparently they acquired this armor first, and then parts of it were incorporated into armors used by tribes as far south as California. This would strongly suggest contact with Asia during the Shang or Zhou dynasties – so, hypothetically speaking, 3,000 years ago. If true, the date 1421 is simply a half-way point between Asian-American contact. (Michael Roellinghoff)
A plain brass disk has been unearthed in a very scantly populated area of the eastern United States, several hundred miles from the coast at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. On one side, it bears the inscription of six Chinese words “Da Ming Xuan De Wei Ci” meaning “commissioned to be granted by Xuan De the emperor of Great Ming.” Dr. Siu-Leung Lee, a biochemist and resident of Columbus, Ohio, believes the medallion, and the intriguing circumstances surrounding the local area and people where it was found, could provide proof of Zheng He’s fleets’ contact with North Carolina. To read his press release please click here
N. America – Pacific coast
–Lake Ozette Several dozen pre-Columbian iron-based tool handles found beneath mudslide at Lake Ozette archaeological site, WA. The Makah Museum has the results of the dig and all items found. (See America in 1492 by Alvin Josephy) (A. Knopf and Kelly Britz evidence)
http://www.northolympic.com/makah/map.html
–Lewis County – A sheriff from Lewis County, WA, saw a Chinese brass hand cannon raised from a WAKIAIKUM County. WA , area river (below Skamania WA, ‘cannery’ archaeological site) (Beth Flower Miller evidence)
– It seems that the Plains Indians adopted the compact, composite, double-recumbent bow that was popular among the Mongolian cavalry. It was made by binding together pieces of horn – thus enabling Indians to manufacture bows in regions where suitable wood was unavailable. (Gunnar Thompson);
“ISHI in Two Worlds,” “A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America” by Theodora Kroeber (University of California Press, 1961.) Page 197 wherein Ms. Kroeber discussed Ishi’s hunting stance and bow release. She describes it as the “classic Mongolian release” (Ms. Marlies Mitchell)
-Alaska – the Yup’ik and other Native Alaskans say that the detaching spearhead used by the seal and walrus hunters is actually a Chinese invention taught to them a long time ago (Joseph Davis)
Victoria – Reader from Victoria, Southern tip of Vancouver Island mentions that the Haida Nation had body armor that is very similar to armor in ancient China. There is a picture on this website: www.civilization.ca/aborig/haida/havwa01e.html The armor dates back to before 1421 but may indicate a link between the two areas. Haida Gwaii is a world heritage site as the Haida have continuously lived there for at least 15,000 years, possibly longer. They actually have oral memories of the global warming and glacial melting that happened 12,500 years ago which raised sea levels and formed Hecate Strait, which until then was part of their land. Perhaps they were already known to the Chinese. (Jacqui Ward)
South America
Peru – Conquest period woodcuts of Inca troops show the usual slings and light shields of the area, but officers also carry a long apparently-bronze headed halberd. This is completely different to the usual American macquahuitl obsidian-edged wooden sword, but very similar to Chinese weapons. The original drawings are by Poma de Ayala between 1584 and 1613, the accuracy of which is confirmed by surviving Inca pottery and artefacts. According to de la Vega, the weapon is called a “yauri” and is “a sort of halberd, finished on one side with a sharp point and on the other by a keen-edged blade”. It was normally of copper or bronze, but some used by high-ranking noblemen were silver or even gold (Phil Barker)
Pacific
–Hawaii (Captain Cook) – Helmet and iron weapons (Robin Watt evidence)
–St. Paul Island – cannon (Paul Lewis evidence)
Caribbean
–Abaco – cannon (Nicholas Cripps and Michael Malone)
Related galleries: Shipwrecks, Metal artefacts, Cave art
