Popular Controversies in World History © 2011 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. Volume One Prehistory and Early Civilizations Volume Two The Ancient World to the Early Middle Ages Volume Three The High Middle Ages to the Modern World Volume Four The Twentieth Century to the Present © 2011 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. Popular Controversies in World History INVESTIGATING HISTORY’S INTRIGUING QUESTIONS Volume One Prehistory and Early Civilizations Steven L. Danver, Editor © 2011 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2011 by ABC-CLIO, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Popular controversies in world history : investigating history’s intriguing questions / Steven L. Danver, editor. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-59884-077-3 (hard copy : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-59884-078-0 (ebook) 1. History—Miscellanea. 2. Curiosities and wonders. I. Danver, Steven Laurence. D24.P67 2011 909—dc22 2010036572 ISBN: 978-1-59884-077-3 EISBN: 978-1-59884-078-0 14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5 This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit www.abc-clio.com for details. ABC-CLIO, LLC 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America © 2011 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. Contents VOLUME ONE Prehistory and Early Civilizations Introduction, xv List of Contributors, xix CHAPTER 1 Tool use is characteristic of hominids and apes, but not of other animal species, 1 PRO Talaat Shehata CON Patrick G. Zander CHAPTER 2 Agriculture, or the domestication of plants, diffused from its start in the Middle East to the rest of the world, 23 PRO Olena Smyntyna CON Harald Haarmann CHAPTER 3 The Great Flood referred to in the Book of Noah and in Gilgamesh resulted from the flooding of the Black Sea by an influx of higher-level water from the Mediterranean via the Dardenelles and Bosporus, 51 PRO Harald Haarmann CON John Lee CHAPTER 4 Much of what is now considered to be Classic culture actually has Afroasiatic roots, 75 PRO Talaat Shehata CON Harald Haarmann v © 2011 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. vi | Contents CHAPTER 5 China’s head start in technological innovation was retarded by its efficient and centralized imperial government, 103 PRO Talaat Shehata CON John Lee CHAPTER 6 The findings of Neolithic drawings at C¸atalhoy€ uk€ in Turkey are a fraud, 127 PRO Justin Corfield CON Harald Haarmann CHAPTER 7 The existence of Atlantis is not entirely mythical, 149 PRO Laszlo Kocsis CON Cheryl Golden CHAPTER 8 Lemuria is not the invention of religious enthusiasts, but rather, actually existed, 179 PRO Laszlo Kocsis CON Claire Brennan CHAPTER 9 Native American peoples came to North and South America by boat as well as by land bridge, 207 PRO Peter N. Jones CON James Seelye CHAPTER 10 The ancient Egyptians used volunteers, not slaves, to build the pyramids, 227 PRO Harald Haarmann CON Talaat Shehata CHAPTER 11 Ancient Egyptian obelisks were raised by a hitherto undiscovered technology, 249 PRO Talaat Shehata CON Patrick G. Zander CHAPTER 12 The Beta Israel (or Falasha) People of Ethiopia are one of the Lost Tribes of Israel, 271 PRO Barry Stiefel CON Talaat Shehata © 2011 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. Contents | vii CHAPTER 13 Ancient findings of Ancient Babylonian cities confirm the Old Testament, 295 PRO Benjamin D. Thomas CON Thaddeus Nelson Index, 317 VOLUME TWO The Ancient World to the Early Middle Ages Introduction, xv List of Contributors, xix CHAPTER 1 The Ark of the Covenant is in Axum, Ethiopia, 1 PRO Talaat Shehata CON Thaddeus Nelson CHAPTER 2 The Greek city-states were ‘‘democratic’’ by our modern American definition, 21 PRO Cenap C¸akmak CON John Lee CHAPTER 3 The Ogham Celtic script is derived from the Norse Rune script, 43 PRO Justin Corfield CON Harald Haarmann CHAPTER 4 The ‘‘Trial of Socrates,’’ described by Plato, was an actual event that occurred in 399 BCE, rather than merely a philosophical device used by Sophists in teaching Apologia, 63 PRO Todd W. Ewing CON John Lee CHAPTER 5 Pushyamitra Sunga, a Hindu ruler in the second century BCE, was a great persecutor of the Buddhists, 83 PRO Caleb Simmons CON K. T. S. Sarao © 2011 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. viii | Contents CHAPTER 6 The Shroud of Turin is actually the wrapping shroud of Jesus, 103 PRO Justin Corfield CON Thaddeus Nelson CHAPTER 7 A Staffordshire inscription points to the location of the Holy Grail; it may be in Wales, 125 PRO John Lee CON Juliette Wood CHAPTER 8 Nestorius did not intend to argue that Christ had a dual nature, but that view became labeled Nestorianism, 145 PRO Mark Dickens CON Annette Morrow CHAPTER 9 The Celtic Church that arose after 400 CE as distinct from Roman Catholicism is a modern construct, rather than a historical reality, 175 PRO Michael Greaney CON Joseph P. Byrne CHAPTER 10 The inhabitants of Easter Island who erected the monoliths were from South America, not from Polynesia, 203 PRO Chris Howell CON Harald Haarmann CHAPTER 11 The Roman Empire’s collapse was primarily due to social and political problems rather than the Barbarian invasions, 229 PRO Heather Buchanan CON Laszlo Kocsis CHAPTER 12 The Hawaiian and other Polynesian seafarers developed navigation methods based on observation of constellations and currents, so that they could sail intentionally from Tahiti to Hawaii and back, 257 PRO Harald Haarmann CON Claire Brennan © 2011 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. Contents | ix CHAPTER 13 The Toltecs and Maya developed wheels for religious reasons, but not for wheelbarrows or other practical uses. The reason is that they had sufficient slave labor, 281 PRO Talaat Shehata CON Harald Haarmann CHAPTER 14 Native American languages can be traced to three grand linguistic roots, 301 PRO Harald Haarmann CON Peter N. Jones CHAPTER 15 The historical Buddha was born in 563 BCE and lived to 483 BCE, 325 PRO Anita Sharma CON K. T. S. Sarao Index, 347 VOLUME THREE The High Middle Ages to the Modern World Introduction, xv List of Contributors, xix CHAPTER 1 North American rune stones point to extensive exploration by the Norse of North America, 1 PRO Justin Corfield CON Harald Haarmann CHAPTER 2 The Ancestral Puebloans lined up their communities so that, although miles apart, they could signal each other with fires by line of sight to communicate, 25 PRO Linda Karen Miller CON Peter N. Jones CHAPTER 3 The Mayan kingdoms died out from disease, 49 PRO Justin Corfield CON Chris Howell © 2011 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. x | Contents CHAPTER 4 The Chinese explorations of the 1420s reached both coasts of North and South America, 69 PRO Justin Corfield CON Eric Cunningham CHAPTER 5 The technologies that allowed Europe to dominate the world were all imported from the East: compass, lateen-rigged sail, gunpowder, windmill, stirrup, moveable type, 93 PRO David Blanks CON Talaat Shehata CHAPTER 6 Richard III was innocent of the charge of murder, 117 PRO Charles Beem CON Jeffrey Mifflin CHAPTER 7 Columbus intentionally underestimated the circumference of Earth in order to get funding, 141 PRO Talaat Shehata CON Joseph P. Byrne CHAPTER 8 European pathogens caused the decline of Cahokia and Mississippian mound builders, 165 PRO Chris Howell CON James Seelye CHAPTER 9 Shakespeare’s plays were written by someone other than William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon, 191 PRO Alexander Hugo Schulenburg CON Jeffrey Mifflin CHAPTER 10 Galileo willfully violated the injunctions of the Inquisition and was thus guilty at his 1633 trial, 225 PRO Joseph P. Byrne CON Arthur K. Steinberg CHAPTER 11 The Man in the Iron Mask was Count Ercole Antonio Mattioli, 249 PRO Justin Corfield CON Heather K. Michon © 2011 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. Contents | xi CHAPTER 12 Prince Louis Charles (Louis XVII), also known as the ‘‘Lost Dauphin,’’ survived captivity during the French Revolution and was allowed to escape in 1795, 267 PRO John Lee CON Lorri Brown CHAPTER 13 Charles Darwin got his idea of evolution from ‘‘social Darwinist’’ Herbert Spencer who published first, 287 PRO Ian Morley CON A. J. Angelo CHAPTER 14 Slavery was unprofitable for slave owners, 309 PRO Radica Mahase CON Jerry C. Drake CHAPTER 15 Lincoln maneuvered the South into firing the first shot at Fort Sumter, 333 PRO Rolando Avila CON Lee Oberman Index, 355 VOLUME FOUR The Twentieth Century to the Present Introduction, xv List of Contributors, xix CHAPTER 1 The Progressive movement in the United States and in other countries in the first decade of the 20th century represented a middle-class, conservative reaction against the rise of both big business and big labor that had created a status revolution, 1 PRO Kevin Wilson CON Arthur K. Steinberg CHAPTER 2 The captain of the ship Californian was guilty of gross negligence in not coming to the rescue of the survivors of the Titanic,25 PRO Tim J. Watts CON Elizabeth D. Schafer © 2011 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved. xii | Contents CHAPTER 3 The assassins of Archduke Ferdinand were funded by the Serbian government, 49 PRO Laszlo Kocsis CON Steve Garrin CHAPTER 4 The deaths of over one million Armenians in Turkey were due to a Turkish government policy of genocide, 83 PRO James Frusetta CON Cenap C¸akmak CHAPTER 5 The British had shipped weapons aboard the Lusitania, in effect using women and children as ‘‘human shields’’ for a war cargo, 107 PRO Ardhana Mudambi CON Justin Corfield CHAPTER 6 Woodrow Wilson’s neutrality in World War I was so blatantly pro-British that he forced the Germans into attacking U.S.