Compass, Wheel & Plow

EJ assembling the many fragments of an Egyptian King’s Gold Face Mask.

We’re always looking for the price tag, never at the merch. I’ll tell you a few things about history that I’ll bet you didn’t know, as I give you the backstory of the New World’s innovations, and more importantly, what they didn’t have.

All this goes into the thinking tank, and comes out the other end, hopefully, as a completed song, taking into account all the items I’ve considered in the backstory part, which is this:

The New World before European contact lacked a surprising number of items and technologies that were widespread in the Old World. Here’s a list of commonly used items that were notably absent in the New World until the Europeans arrived:

1. Iron and Steel Tools

The New World did not have the smelting or forging of iron. Tools and weapons were made from stone, bone, wood, and sometimes copper, but without the sophisticated metalworking seen in the Old World.

2. Horses and Other Large Domesticated Animals

No large domesticated animals like horses, oxen, or camels were present, which meant no beasts of burden for transportation or plowing. Llamas in the Andes were the only pack animals, but couldn’t handle really heavy loads.

3. Written Alphabetic Systems

While some advanced civilizations, like the Maya, had highly developed forms of writing, there was no widespread alphabetic system like the ones used in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and when they were introduced, they spread instantly.

4. Gunpowder and Firearms

Gunpowder, originally developed in China, and firearms were completely unknown in the Americas until Europeans introduced them.

5. The Printing Press

Despite the existence of detailed and intricate pictorial manuscripts, there was no movable type or press technology for mass-producing written materials.

6. Glass

Glass for windows, lenses, and containers was entirely absent. Materials like obsidian were used for sharp tools but not in the versatile ways glass was utilized in the Old World since ancient times.

7. Spinning Wheels and Looms

While textiles were created in the New World, they were produced without the spinning wheel or advanced looms. Textiles relied on manual weaving techniques.

8. Wheeled Vehicles

The wheel existed in toys and some ritual contexts in Pre-Columbian times, but there were no actual wheeled carts or vehicles, likely due to the lack of draft animals and terrain challenges.

9. Navigational Tools

Instruments like the compass, astrolabe, and sextant, which revolutionized navigation in Europe, were entirely absent. Seafaring in the Americas was done with stars and natural markers. You’d think a UFO guy would drop a compass, but no.

10. Agricultural Tools

Tools like the plow were unknown, with agriculture relying heavily on manual labor, digging sticks called “dibble sticks” — you poked a hole in the ground and stuck in some seeds. Perfectly good method for micro-gardening, but you can’t feed a hungry population by dibble-stick alone, and plowing was instantly popular when it was introduced anywhere.

11. Advanced Sailing Technology

Ships like caravels and galleons, with their interior cabins, advanced rigging, and multiple sails, were absent. Native canoes and rafts were effective, but limited in range and cargo capacity.

12. Paper Made from Pulp

While the Aztecs made paper-like materials from tree bark (amate), the mass production of paper from pulp, as seen in Europe and Asia, was unknown, but once introduced, spread quickly.

13. Guns, Cannons, and Other Advanced Weapons

The military technologies brought by Europeans were unlike anything in the New World, leading to dramatic shifts in power dynamics. You can imagine how quickly use of these weapons advanced — as soon as they were introduced, everybody wanted one.

14. Domesticated Grains Like Wheat and Barley

Maize, beans, and squash were staples in the New World diet, but Old World grains such as wheat, barley, and oats did not appear in the New World before 1450 AD.

15. Large-Scale Architecture Built with Metal Tools

Despite the impressive stonework of civilizations like the Incas, Aztecs, and Mayans, construction was done without metal chisels or tools. These absences shaped the trajectories of societies in the Americas in fascinating ways. There is strong evidence that Old World and New World cultures remained largely isolated until the 15th century, when Christopher Columbus’s voyages initiated sustained contact between Europe and the Americas. The following points support this view of isolation prior to 1400 AD:

Geographic and Biological Barriers

The Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Oceans: These massive bodies of water created formidable barriers that precluded regular contact between the continents.
Distinct Flora and Fauna: Plants such as maize, potatoes, and tomatoes, which originated in the Americas, were entirely unknown in the Old World before contact. Similarly, wheat, barley, and livestock like cattle, pigs, and sheep were absent from the New World until they were brought by Europeans.
Diseases: Epidemic diseases like smallpox, measles, and influenza—ubiquitous in the Old World—were entirely absent in the Americas, indicating no prior transmission, and when they were introduced, these diseases wiped out a significant portion of the population.

Technological and Cultural Absences

The absence of Old World technologies in the Americas — the wheel for transport, iron tools, and written alphabets — and vice versa, meaning maize cultivation or monumental stonework like that of the Inca, tends to supports the basic idea of a lack of cultural exchange between the Old World and the New World.

Archaeological Evidence

Distinct Artifacts: Archaeological finds in the Americas, such as pottery, tools, and monumental structures, show no influence from Old World styles and techniques until post-contact. People who point to so-called cuneiform and hieroglyphic writing are just plain wrong, and the absence of the pottery fast-wheel says it all. Coil-built and thrown pottery from the Pre-Columbian sites are vastly different from Lung-Shan and Shao-Tung pottery.
Genetic Studies: Human remains and artifacts demonstrate that the peoples of the Americas descended from migrations across the Bering Land Bridge around 15,000-20,000 years ago, with no significant genetic exchange with Old World populations thereafter.

The Vinland Exception

The one significant pre-Columbian exception to this isolation is the Viking expeditions to Vinland (present-day Newfoundland) around 1000 AD, led by Leif Erikson and others. These contacts, however, were short-lived and did not result in lasting cultural or technological exchange.

Linguistic Isolation

The complete absence of shared linguistic roots between Old World and New World languages further underscores the isolation of these cultures, although there was a well-developed system of roads, thousands of miles of carefully constructed roads, throughout the Pre-Columbian cultures.

Debated Anomalies

There are some controversial and inconclusive claims of pre-Columbian contact:

Polynesians: There is some evidence, such as the sweet potato, native to the Americas, that is also found in Polynesia, which suggests limited trans-Pacific contact.
Chinese Voyages: Claims of Chinese expeditions to the Americas before Columbus, notably Zheng He’s fleet landing in the Americas, lack strong archaeological support, although it is vaguely possible that limited contact occured at that time.
African Contact: There are theories that African and Egyptian sailors might have reached the Americas, but these are speculative and not widely accepted by historians, and they had little or no cultural impact on local life.

In summary, all reliable evidence suggests that Old and New World cultures were isolated until Columbus’s voyages, aside from minor and fleeting contacts like the Viking expeditions.

the evidence we have strongly counters the idea of an advanced global civilization like Atlantis, or extraterrestrial intervention, as the driving force behind the development of civilizations in either the Old or New World. Here’s why:

1. Absence of Evidence for Global Diffusion Pre-1400 AD

If a civilization as advanced as Atlantis had existed and connected the Old and New Worlds:

Technological Diffusion: Tools like the plow, wheel, iron, and compass, along with domesticated animals, would have appeared in both hemispheres much earlier. Instead, these technologies were absent in the Americas until Europeans brought them.
Cultural Artifacts: We’d expect artifacts, languages, or architectural styles to show signs of influence across continents, but they are distinctly separate before contact.

2. Independent Development of Civilization

Civilizations on both sides of the Atlantic developed independently and innovatively:

Old World Innovations: Writing systems — cuneiform, hieroglyphs — agricultural systems and urban centers in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China arose through local efforts.
New World Innovations: Mesoamerican societies like the Maya and the Inca developed writing, calendars, monumental architecture, and advanced agricultural systems independently.

This independent development highlights human ingenuity rather than any external intervention. Civilizations and urban centers typically arise where there is a confluence of trade routes, plus water, plus salt. Water, salt and geographic protective barriers indicate the presence of one culture or another, over which they will of course fight.

3. Trade Routes and Connectivity Came First

Trade routes and networks preceded major technological revolutions in history. They were the mechanisms for spreading ideas, technologies, and cultural practices:

Old World Trade: The Silk Road connected Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, enabling the spread of goods like silk, spices, perfumes, salt, and paper, along with technologies like the compass and gunpowder.
New World Trade: The Mesoamerican trade routes connected civilizations like the Olmec, Maya, and Aztecs, spreading goods such as obsidian, jade, and cacao, but without any external influence from the Old World.

Without trade routes spanning the Atlantic or Pacific, there was no mechanism for such cross-cultural exchange until European exploration.

4. The UFO Argument

The “ancient aliens” hypothesis, popularized by speculative thinkers and media, lacks scientific backing:

Incremental Progress: Human history shows gradual, traceable technological and cultural progress, not the sudden leaps one would expect from alien intervention.
No Hard Evidence: There’s no physical evidence such as alien tools or crashed vehicles that we can see — of course they are kept under wraps — to suggest extraterrestrial involvement in building structures like the pyramids or in influencing human development. Disinformation abounds. Had I not had a personal experience when I was in the military, I would believe none of it. Having been there and seen things in government buildings, I know that UFOs are real and that they are here, but there is no clear evidence that they landed all over the globe and yes, I know about the strange helmeted creatures carved in stone. Have you ever heard of a helmet? They had battles all the time, and armor is one thing that got invented everywhere real fast.
Occam’s Razor: The simplest explanation is that human societies evolved through trial and error, local innovation, and the exchange of ideas via trade routes, and that UFOs exist apart from the conspiracy theories that currently infest our planet.

5. The “Chicken and Egg” of Trade and Technology

Trade routes often precede technological diffusion. Here are a few historical examples:

The Horse: Domesticated in the Eurasian steppes, horses spread to the Middle East, Europe, and Asia through trade and conquest.
The Wheel: Invented in Mesopotamia, it spread with trade and the movement of goods.
Maize: Native to the Americas, maize became a staple crop only after trade routes brought it to diverse regions of the New World and eventually to Europe.

Trade routes facilitated contact and exchange, which, in turn, drove innovation and cultural development.

The absence of tools, technologies, and cross-cultural influence in the Americas before 1400 AD strongly supports the view that civilizations evolved independently. Trade routes—once established—were the primary drivers of diffusion and innovation. There’s no need to invoke Atlantis or UFOs; human ingenuity and connectivity explain the growth of civilizations quite well. Oh, well, there go several very lucrative alternate realities.

Notice, I’m not saying UFOs don’t exist. In fact, quite the opposite. I’m just saying that the folks who produce Ancient Aliens have done very little to advance their cause. We have images and carvings of ancient Egyptians actually building a pyramid.

Of course we know how it was done. You take a very vain and narcissistic asshole, put him in charge, and he’ll immediately build something big with his name and face on it, and that’s what the ancients did, under the whip of a tyrant ruler with an ego as big as all outdoors.

So here’s my song, based on the concatenation of items mentioned above:

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New World, Old World

[Verse 1]

We’re always lookin’ for the price tag, Never at the merch, History’s got some secrets, Let’s all do our research. The New World had its wonders, But here’s what we’ll explore— There were no wheels or steel tools, Before settlers hit the shore.

[Chorus]

Oh, they didn’t have the plow, Didn’t have the wheel, No glass, no compass, No iron or steel. Trade routes brought the changes, Ideas began to flow, That’s how the Old World met the New, And the world began to grow.

[Verse 2]

They had llamas, not big horses, No beasts to pull a load. No caravels, no galleons, To sail those rivers they rowed. They had dibble sticks for planting, Not a plow to till the land, But maize and squash kept growin’, A diet bold and grand.

[Chorus]

[Bridge]

Now here’s a thought for Atlantis, And those UFO fans too, If they’d been droppin’ knowledge, We’d have the proof to view. No sudden leaps in tech here, Just hard work years and years, Human grit and trade routes, Are the tools that we see here.

[Chorus]

[Outro]

So next time someone tells you, “Ancient aliens built the lot,” Just smile and say, “It’s trade routes, people makin’ what they got.” History’s no mystery, Just look at how it’s done, From Old World to the New World, That’s how it was begun.

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I know, that’s how it began. But in my sordid past as an author and artis, I have taken poetic license as an excuse, and I hereby invoke the said “poetic license”, although I haven’t the faintest idea where my actual poetic license has gone to, unless it’s stored up in the attic … but wait … I have no attic.

All that by way of saying that I’ll play the song for you this morning at the zoom meeting. It will be released in the album “EJ Gold Guru’s Epic Fails”, which is a compilation of my best recent songs.

So why the title, “Epic Fails”?