Research being published in the July edition of American Antiquity claims that Polynesians sailed to southern California long before 1492 and traded culture and technology with the Chumash Tribe.

Linguist Kathryn A. Klar of UC Berkeley and archaeologist Terry L. Jones of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo base their theory on two pieces of evidence. One is the Chumash's use of a sewn-plank canoe and the other is a Chumash headdress made from the skull of a swordfish, a deep-sea fish.

The Chumash are the only tribe to build sewn-plank canoes from redwood. Klar and Jones say they learned the technique from Polynesians sometime between 500 and 700 A.D. and named the canoe after the Polynesian word for redwood.

The canoe enabled the Chumash to fish in the deep sea and create the swordfish headdress, the researchers say. The item has been carbon dated to 600 A.D., which would correlate with the alleged Polynesian visit.

Get the Story:
Did ancient Polynesians visit California? Maybe so. (The San Francisco Chronicle 6/20)
Researchers: Polynesians got to California (PhsOrg.Com 6/21)

Relevant Links:
American Antiquity - http://www.saa.org/publications/AmAntiq/amantiq.html