A multidisciplinary team of historians, anthropologists and archeologists associated with several universities have set out to solve a mystery of African coins found in Australia that pre-date the current “historic” discovery of the continent.
The standard view of Australian history is that British explorer Captain James Cook discovered the land Downunder in 1770. These African coins imply that Australia has a far older history and that indigenous Australians were a part of the vast Indian Ocean maritime silk route that linked East Africa, Arabia, Persia, India, China and Indonesia.
An expedition is being planned for the Summer of 2014 and of course funding is needed. Organizers have partnered with ClickStartMe to raise the necessary funds in the amount of $30,000 to finance this adventure. The crowdfunding project will pay for an expedition to Australia to search for shipwrecks and other evidence that African or European sailors actually visited Australia centuries before history now claims the continent was discovered.
The crowdfunding project is headed by Professor Ian McIntosh of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis who leads the team called The Past Masters. Their goal is to find the origin of mysterious Kilwa (African) coins found on the remote and beautiful Wessel Islands in Northern Australia.
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