User:Mwescoe/D.H. Childress

David Hatcher Childress wrote the book "The Mystery of the Olmecs" in 2007 concerning alternative ideas regarding the origin of the ancient Olmec civilization.

questions to investigate: I think you should also considering trying to contextualize his work relative to that of previous authors, such as Ivan van Sertima.

Does Childress add anything new to the debate?

Do his writings on the Olmecs represent a pattern also found in his other publications?

Is he a credible source?

Have there been specific criticisms of his work? Reviews of his book on the Olmecs?

These may provide additional useful information

Main Theories

The main hypothesis presented in The Mystery of the Olmecs supports the idea that Africans may have colonized Mexico or Central America. While Childress admits that mainstream archaeologists disagree, he wonders how "academia [could] make such a blatantly wrong assertion" (14). In reference to the colossal heads, Childress posits that "...these strange Negroid heads might be the result of early African exploration..." (19). Although not siding with them, Childress notes that most professors teaching at our "major universities" admit that "people might erroneously get [the idea of early African exploration in Central America] from a "superficial" view of these various statues and carvings" (19).

Childress' "The Mystery of the Olmecs" sheds contemporary light on an historical idea originally expounded by Ignatius L. Donnelly as published in his work "Atlantis: The Antediluvian World". Childress uses colossal heads discovered in Central America and their apparent "Negroid features" (14) to support his theory. He likens the heads to "a bunch of angry African rugby players, maybe from Nigeria or Tanzania" (13).

Relevant Data

Although D.H. Childress claims no credentials as a archaeologist, he does cite sources supporting (Ivan Van Sertima) and discounting "evidence" of (Richard A. Diehl) his ideas.

Although no one knows for sure where the Olmecs came from, Childress addresses the two predominant theories:

• 1. They were Native Americans, derived from the same Siberian stock as most other Native Americans, and just happened to accentuate the Negroid genetic material that was latent in their genes.
• 2. They were outsiders who immigrated to the Olman area via boat, most likely as sailors or passengers on transoceanic voyages that went on for probably hundreds of years.

While Childress and Sertima subscribe to the diffusionist model of pre-Columbian contact between Africa and the Americas, Diehl, in opposition, states "...not a singe bona fide artifact of Old World origin has ever appeared in an Olmec archaeological site, or for that matter anywhere else in Mesoamerica" (Diehl 19).

Childress, for his part, cites Sertima's books "African Presence in Early America" and "African Presence in Early Asia," which promote the diffusionist theory that ancient man traveled across both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by boat. Childress asserts, using Sertima's articles and photos, "without a doubt that Negroes have lived, literally, all over the world, including the ancient Americas" (Childress 20).

References

Childress, David Hatcher. The Mystery of the Olmecs. Kempton, IL: Adventures Unlimited Press, 2007.

Diehl, Richard. The Olmecs: America's First Civilization. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2004.

Van Sertima, Ivan. African Presence in Early America. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1987.

Van Sertima, Ivan. African Presence in Early Asia. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1987.