Where Did Chief Joseph Get His Mesopotamian Tablet?

I think that our history books have a lot of gaps and things don't always seem to make sense.

I also believe it is very possible that history can be proven wrong or inaccurate at times...things get told, retold, written, translated.... we've all played that message game as kids (forgot the name of it but still) parts get lost along the way and others get changed...

Not saying that what we are taught in school is false... Just saying that some parts of history aren't documented and we know very little about! As technology advances more and more, we will likely discover a lot of surprising things!

We know that the Chinese and Norwegians were here long before Columbus. They just didn't find it interesting enough to stick around, it would be a much different world if they had.

A Mesopotamian cuneiform tablet would be a pretty weird thing for someone unknown, prior to Columbus, to have brought here, but I guess it's possible. But it seems more likely that, in the span of 1492-1877, there are a lot of years for someone to have brought it over, given it to the natives, and then everyone forgets where it came from.

Just, please, don't tell me it's proof that the Mormons are right

Not surprised ...... phoenician sailors visited all over the world and there was thriving trade between countries ..... theres even mention in the journals of admiral zheng he where he describes west coast of north america and the people there long before that hack columbus blundered along ..... even the vikings visited north america ..... is highly likely other early civilizations did as well ......

There is evidence of pre-Columbian contact all over the Americas, just too little evidence to be conclusive. They finally have accepted that the Vikings came before Columbus. Of course, the Vikings kept some pretty good records compared to others and they left behind some good evidence that is fairly recent in history. They are starting to believe the Chinese came here too. There is some evidence to suggest that the Polynesians made it here and brought certain old world plants like a variety of cotton unknown to the new world.

I'd say that there has been some spotty contact here and there over the ages, but few experts will commit to the scant evidence. We know that the native Americans found their way to the Americas thousands of years ago with limited technology, why couldn't others have done so with a more advanced culture? There are even theories floating around to suggest that sea fairing people used boats along the Pacific coast around the same time others came by foot across the Bering land bridge.

Personally, it seems to me that there is a bias in the academic world that so called primitive people didn't have the brains to make it here, yet prehistoric "Indians" made it during the ice age. I seriously doubt most people today could survive an ice age much less set out to explore the world during one. They don't want to give credit to the ingenuity of new world stone aged people until they built large cities and at the same time they are reluctant to suggest that old world people, who developed somewhat earlier, may have had enough technology to sail across (or around) an ocean.

I believe this attitude came about because most evidence of early prehistoric people were found best preserved in caves, hence the term "caveman", however, even in the 21st century there are still some "backward" people who live in caves. The early prehistoric people who built tents, huts and even cabins, left little evidence behind, but I'd wager that most "cavemen" lived in elaborate homes constructed from organic materials that decomposed quickly leaving little or no evidence behind. Caves are most probably where the challenged or lazy folks lived, they didn't have the know how or incentive to build a roof over their heads.

There is a movement to give some credit to the "caveman", like the Neanderthal, who has been somewhat elevated to near human status after being characterized as a stupid cave dwelling brute for so many years. It seems that humans back then were just as smart as today, just not as "advanced" technologically. Just the fact that Neanderthals had larger brains may indicate they were smarter in their own way.

ETA: The theory of evolution has probably played into this notion that people today must be far more advanced than their prehistoric ancestors. Somehow I doubt this is true considering that physically speaking, the human race has changed very little for millions of years. In fact I say technology, rather than an indication of our intelligence, has dumbed down the human race since our "caveman" days.