Report from Atlantic Conference

Just back from the Atlantic Conference in Halifax. The highlight, for me, was information provided by Native American leaders that their oral history speaks of many waves of contact, pre-Columbus, between the Native peoples and Europeans. In particular, they spoke of a late 14th-century period of contact. This, of course, is consistent with many of the artifacts and sites in New England and maritime Canada. Unfortunately, no major announcement linking the Sinclair clan and the Mi'kmaq tribe via DNA testing--apparently the research is ongoing, and it is promising, but it has not been completed yet. Even without the DNA "smoking gun," the tidal wave of evidence presented at the conference left little doubt in my mind that Columbus was, indeed, very late to the North American party.