Plausibility and consequences:the stray sailor

Yun-shuno

Banned
So this has always been a thought than vexed me. What if a lost European sailing ship from pre-Roman times until say 1300 carried by storm ends up on the shore's of the Americas? It needn't have large consequences.

But to play the scenario-let's say this around AD 350 a sailing ship just west of the pillars of Hercules gets caught in a storm they struggle and struggle but eventually are carried by the currents and reach landfall at say modern South Carolina.

Do they survive? Do they impact the genetic composition of the native Americans even minutely? Like 0.00000000000025%

So how plausible is this idea? And what are the consequences?
 
What is the composition of the crew? Are they Latins? Greeks? Something else, or a mixture of groups? Farmers? Merchants? Clergy? Are they literate?
 

Yun-shuno

Banned
What is the composition of the crew? Are they Latins? Greeks? Something else, or a mixture of groups? Farmers? Merchants? Clergy? Are they literate?
No simply skilled sailors-not literate. Albeit one scribe was with them. Mostly fisherman, perhaps a merchant or two. They know the basics of survival-starting fires, fishing of course, hunting-probably learn that.

Mixture of Latins and Greeks.
 
No simply skilled sailors-not literate. Albeit one scribe was with them. Mostly fisherman, perhaps a merchant or two. They know the basics of survival-starting fires, fishing of course, hunting-probably learn that.

Mixture of Latins and Greeks.
Interesting. So, we see a group whose descendants in a few generations, if there are any, may well speak an admixture of the languages brought over by their European ancestors, possibly mixed with elements of one or more native language, but the European religious system does not survive among them. They may, if, again, there are descendants, have established a literal fishing village, say, Marinopolis.
 

Yun-shuno

Banned
Interesting. So, we see a group whose descendants in a few generations, if there are any, may well speak an admixture of the languages brought over by their European ancestors, possibly mixed with elements of one or more native language, but the European religious system does not survive among them. They may, if, again, there are descendants, have established a literal fishing village, say, Marinopolis.
Well in my scenario I imagine they are all men. Would they be killed or mix with the natives affecting the Indians DNA?
 
Well in my scenario I imagine they are all men. Would they be killed or mix with the natives affecting the Indians DNA?
They could take native wives, a common practice by colonists and merchants all over the world throughout history. We could say that they're a bit seduced by native ways (well depends really on who they encounter) but found a settlement all the same. The scribe will probably spread writing if he survives, and maybe might even modify the script to his liking now that he's alone, with no authority over him. Also generally people who are illiterate (such as the sailors) have a better time learning languages orally, so I doubt barriers will exist for very long. Alternatively, due entirely to circumstance, these people could encounter just one tribe, possibly attack it, and steal resources or people for their settlement. If circumstances align, news of this may never reach adjacent tribes, who will not know unless they encounter the settlement, which will be small in early decades. Maybe as it grows, it might attract more attention.
 
Do you think if any of their descendants survived a minute trace of DNA could be found?
I think that their village and written/spoken language are likelier to survive than their genes. Although, their immunities might have spread, especially if they had had some animals with them in their boat, and had enough to cultivate a domestic population thereafter.
 
I assume that some isolated ships surely must have been swept across the Atlantic over the centuries.

You've got a ship full of hungry, sick men arriving in an area where they can't even speak to the locals. They probably end up getting enslaved or killed.
A random Iberian Y chromosome found in the Caribbean today would be assumed to date from OTL's Spanish rule, not a ship full of Tartessians.

In other words. This probably is OTL, and we see no influence.
 
I assume that some isolated ships surely must have been swept across the Atlantic over the centuries.

You've got a ship full of hungry, sick men arriving in an area where they can't even speak to the locals. They probably end up getting enslaved or killed.
A random Iberian Y chromosome found in the Caribbean today would be assumed to date from OTL's Spanish rule, not a ship full of Tartessians.

In other words. This probably is OTL, and we see no influence.
Can we not assume success for the purposes of the thread? It isn't entirely unbelievable.
 

Yun-shuno

Banned
Can we not assume success for the purposes of the thread? It isn't entirely unbelievable.
I as the OP would say success is perhaps a settlement, a noticeable genetic marker and maybe a minute influence on the language, culture of the tribe/tribes sailors encounter.
 
I as the OP would say success is perhaps a settlement, a noticeable genetic marker and maybe a minute influence on the language, culture of the tribe/tribes sailors encounter.
Or maybe a heavily, heavily substrated indo-european/berber language? Something that people probably won't notice until the nineteenth century.
 
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