This Is Neat

I saw this story in today's San Francisco Chronicle online:

Until now, few scientists have dared to speculate that the ancient Polynesians visited Southern California between 500 and 700 A.D., that is to say, in the centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire. This is known as the "transpacific diffusion" hypothesis.

I find theories like this to be really cool. Not because I want to prove that "the man" has been hiding information about the achievements of minorities or something, but because the idea that technologically primitive people in the past were still incredibly smart, resourceful, and brave. Most people wouldn't travel across the ocean in a canoe nowadays with a GPS guidance system, but here's evidence that a number of people made the trip roughly 1500 years ago, presumbably with only the stars to guide them. That's impressive. And every time I hear about one of these fantastic trips in the ancient or medieval world - Chinese ships circumnavigating the world, Basques fishing off of Canada, Roman legionnaries fighting in China - I find it fascinating, even if I know that some of the stories might turn out to be unfounded.