Happy 2012!
I thought that this trip post was already on line!
In bringing 2011 to a close, I visited friends and family. I doing so I touched on the following states: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and just a bit of Tennessee. It included my first look at Saint Louis in a long time.
It has been good to travel in the US again. It is a bit insulating to travel on our great interstates, and it is amazing to see great cargo trucks traveling 80 mph and more on them!
I left the Clute/Lake Jackson area on Texas highway 35 going southwest along the Gulf coast to Corpus Christi(body of Christ). I had just had a great visit with my long time friend Dr. D. From Corpus I traveled north westish up interstate 37 to state 72 near Three Rivers, Texas. I passed through Fowlerton and Los Angeles on the way to Cotulla on interstate 35.
Many Texans are learning differences between frac-water and fresh water. Frac-water is sometimes called brine there. Still I haven't been able to find one one Texan who can tell me the recipe for Frac-water. I also have not found out why used frac-water is hidden away beneath the earth and not reused.
From Cotulla I somehow jogged over to federal highway 83 and drove north on it to interstate 10. Found the drive up 83 particularly as, by the way, I did the drive down state 35.
I took interstate 10 to Fort Stockton on U.S. federal highway 285. Fort Stockton was, I believe, one of those places from which Civil War veterans shot Indians for the good of the Republic. For Lancaster, a bit farther east, was another of those places. I believe that both of those forts were built along what had been majore Indian trade routes. We may have once called that route The Old Chihuahua Trail, a name that that probably came to us from the Spanish.
Took 285 to Roswell New Mexico. The only possible aliens I saw around Roswell were some Middle East looking guys in skull caps. The had run out of gas and some good Samaritans were helping them. Tourists might be a better name than aliens.
Drove federal highway from Roswell to Las Cruces and found it a very pleasant drive. Among other pleasant sights, it took me through my first pines with snow of this winter.
Las Cruces has grown enormously; not all that growth has been for the better. From Las Cruces I took interstate through Tucson, Arizona to the junction with interstate 8. Took 8 to Yuma and into California to 86, 62 and home. I passed through some parts of Yuma I had not seen in a long time. I detected an amount of drug and gang activity that, for some reason, surprised me. Still, I found the people kind and helpful, which surprised some people there.
It's good to be home. Joshua Tree and my little house here seem to have fared well in my absence.
Thank you to the people of each of the States I touched. Thank you too to Rex, Dennis, Gerry, Ron, Gloria, and Debra. A great 2012 to all, including the Maya.
Showing posts with label Mississippi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mississippi. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Southern Ceremonial Complex
The SCC began about 500 AD at the end of the relatively peaceful millenia of the Early, Middle, and Late Woodland cultures centered on the Mississippi River. The SCC has also been called the southern Death Cult and Chiefly Warfare Cult. The early SCC included a wide ranging exchange network as did the Woodland cultural periods.
The SCC, or SECC as Waring and Holder called it was identified by them with a cultural rise beginning about 900 AD, a flourishing from about 1250 to 1350 AD with a decline into about 1550 AD. Trade networks about 1350 AD. Waring and Holder identified the SCC period with markers such as: long-nosed god, shell and copper masks, bi-lobed arrow heads, and chunkey players.
An earlier example of cultural change may be seen in the disruption of the Mississippian Woodland Culture evidenced by the marked increased reliance on corn agriculture and increased use of a bow and arrow in hunting and less on the atlatl and dart. This earlier change may have begun as early as 500 BC with more evidence available for a change after 400 BC. The evidence for change is clear to most in the field for a time after 400 AD.
The change from Woodland cultures such as the Hopewell culture to the Southern Ceremonial Complex culture was a ver great change in the peoples of the area. The Woodland cultures had their ups and downs from before 400 BC, but the change to SCC culture was a very great change indeed.
The adoption of the SCC culture was largely by the "Civilized Tribes" of the southeast of the US rather than by the Algonquian speaking peoples farther north.
One of the big changes before the SCC cultural adoption occurred about 3200 BC with the appearance of pottery and the cultivation of squash.
Please help us fill in some details of the narration above.
The SCC, or SECC as Waring and Holder called it was identified by them with a cultural rise beginning about 900 AD, a flourishing from about 1250 to 1350 AD with a decline into about 1550 AD. Trade networks about 1350 AD. Waring and Holder identified the SCC period with markers such as: long-nosed god, shell and copper masks, bi-lobed arrow heads, and chunkey players.
An earlier example of cultural change may be seen in the disruption of the Mississippian Woodland Culture evidenced by the marked increased reliance on corn agriculture and increased use of a bow and arrow in hunting and less on the atlatl and dart. This earlier change may have begun as early as 500 BC with more evidence available for a change after 400 BC. The evidence for change is clear to most in the field for a time after 400 AD.
The change from Woodland cultures such as the Hopewell culture to the Southern Ceremonial Complex culture was a ver great change in the peoples of the area. The Woodland cultures had their ups and downs from before 400 BC, but the change to SCC culture was a very great change indeed.
The adoption of the SCC culture was largely by the "Civilized Tribes" of the southeast of the US rather than by the Algonquian speaking peoples farther north.
One of the big changes before the SCC cultural adoption occurred about 3200 BC with the appearance of pottery and the cultivation of squash.
Please help us fill in some details of the narration above.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
On the Road in a Suzuki
I've gone to Jackson and left; even got to the heart of Pearl. That part of Mississippi seems just fine.
Now I am in Jeff City, MO and things seem fine here. Things might be going about good enough for the nation.
I'll probably check a little later to see if Santa got to Clute, Texas okay.
Merry Christmas
Now I am in Jeff City, MO and things seem fine here. Things might be going about good enough for the nation.
I'll probably check a little later to see if Santa got to Clute, Texas okay.
Merry Christmas
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Me
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Mosaic of Notes on Native Trade Around Mississippi Mounds
Where much of Pasagoula, Mississippi is, there was a set of Indian earthworks. Pasagoula is not unique in its relation to ancient earthen monuments. St Louis, Missouri is built were there were a great number of ancient earthworks. There are similar mounds in Lincoln county, MS, more in Lowndes county of that state, and others near Brookhaven, Mississippi. The construction of the youngest of these particular Mississippi mounds began before 3000 BC.
Remember these are my best guesses of the moment. Please correct any errors you find!
Early Mississippi Indians have the fame of having made and traded beautiful stone beads. Stone worked into beads in Mississippi came from, at least, as far away as the Ouachita Mountains in What is now the state of Arkansas. There is evidence of Mississippi beads having been traded to people in what are now the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Alabama. However, the evidence for this trade may go back to 400 AD or later.
Stone pendants in the form of turtle, duck, owl, kingfisher, and others of imaginary or composite form are found at or near mound sites.
American Indians have inhabited the area for over 6000 years.
Remarkably there is little evidence of warfare among Native Americans in the area until after 300 AD. That date suggests a period of relative peace for 4000 years.
Of the states mention here, six are of American Indian origin. Some place names came to us via the French, the Spanish, or via later Indian peoples:
Alabama is probably named after the river. The river may have been for a local tribe there called Alibamu. The Alibamu were probably part of the Muskogee/Creek confederacy. (What's an "Okie from Muskogee?)
Arkansas may be the French interpretation of a Sioux word meaning down-stream place.
Mississippi may be from a French rendering of the Anishinaabe, The Anishinaabe are an Ojibwa/Algonquin people. Mississippi may mean Great River.
Oklahoma may be based on the Choctaw for 'red people.'
Tennessee may have been named for a Cherokee village called Tenasi. Some say that the name Tenasi is Yuchi or Creek.
Texas is probably a Cado word which came to us via the Spanish. "Texas" may have been used by Cado people to refer to the greater Cado nation. Sometimes its said to mean friend or friendly.
Friday, June 17, 2011
A Golden Age
The American Indian Interaction System I've been posting about from time to time may be said to have lasted for over 4000 years. It pulsed and changed with the earth, with life. It was an interaction of varied people of various languages. It was geographically extensive. It supported a value system which included demonstrating respect for ones ancestors and tolerance for ones neighbors.
The interaction of the peoples of this system seems to have been gratifyingly peaceful. There was death and there was violent death, but there was little warlike activity.
A more recent golden age of of the interactions of these people lasted from about 200 BC to about 400 AD. The center of these interactions seem to have been in the valley of what we call the Ohio River. Its manifestation has been called the Hopewell Exchange System. Its influence was felt from the tip of Florida to well up into Canada and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains. These Amerinds didn't fool around.
The Mississippi River was the main artery of their interaction. The waters of that river and its tributaries were their roads and communication lines, but not their only ones. They, their cultures, and their sacred goods traveled the Great Lakes, and reached the Gulf of Mexico. They knew the Atlantic seaboard, the lands we now call Louisiana, Mississippi, Virginia, Kentucky,m Pennsylvania, and New York, were important to them, but they also knew Labrador and Oklahoma. People of these areas had interacted earlier, but the age we speak of seems more active and the goods more glorious.
Before the Hopewell culture was the Adena culture. It centered to the north of the Hopewell. The Adena culture was strongly active from about 2000 BC to about 200 BC. Before 2000 BC there was another flowering well to the south of Hopewell culture. If you would help me to trace corresponding climate changes we could perhaps find that cultural locus coincided with climate change.
After 400 or 500 AD to about 900 AD this Mississippi valley culture experienced great change. Productive corn came, a new bow and arrow came. New power, ideas, and beliefs came. Perhaps a new people arrived. Exchange systems changed, but continued, for a time. It also seems that more strife came. There was less tolerance of neighbors and more competition. Ancestors seemed less important. Gods had changed.
Before numbers of Europeans arrived the great interaction spheres had become smaller, less active, less peaceful, and the goods less carefully made and handled. Had what had thrived for over 6000 years with the old gods been led to a 'dark age' in less than 500 years?
As in hopefully all of my posts I am sharing my best understanding of the day and with the desire to benefit you. I try to ever make my words honest. I do not expect to hit the bull's-eye of truth, but it is there I aim. I pray that you contribute to to my understanding or to question it.
The interaction of the peoples of this system seems to have been gratifyingly peaceful. There was death and there was violent death, but there was little warlike activity.
A more recent golden age of of the interactions of these people lasted from about 200 BC to about 400 AD. The center of these interactions seem to have been in the valley of what we call the Ohio River. Its manifestation has been called the Hopewell Exchange System. Its influence was felt from the tip of Florida to well up into Canada and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains. These Amerinds didn't fool around.
The Mississippi River was the main artery of their interaction. The waters of that river and its tributaries were their roads and communication lines, but not their only ones. They, their cultures, and their sacred goods traveled the Great Lakes, and reached the Gulf of Mexico. They knew the Atlantic seaboard, the lands we now call Louisiana, Mississippi, Virginia, Kentucky,m Pennsylvania, and New York, were important to them, but they also knew Labrador and Oklahoma. People of these areas had interacted earlier, but the age we speak of seems more active and the goods more glorious.
Before the Hopewell culture was the Adena culture. It centered to the north of the Hopewell. The Adena culture was strongly active from about 2000 BC to about 200 BC. Before 2000 BC there was another flowering well to the south of Hopewell culture. If you would help me to trace corresponding climate changes we could perhaps find that cultural locus coincided with climate change.
After 400 or 500 AD to about 900 AD this Mississippi valley culture experienced great change. Productive corn came, a new bow and arrow came. New power, ideas, and beliefs came. Perhaps a new people arrived. Exchange systems changed, but continued, for a time. It also seems that more strife came. There was less tolerance of neighbors and more competition. Ancestors seemed less important. Gods had changed.
Before numbers of Europeans arrived the great interaction spheres had become smaller, less active, less peaceful, and the goods less carefully made and handled. Had what had thrived for over 6000 years with the old gods been led to a 'dark age' in less than 500 years?
As in hopefully all of my posts I am sharing my best understanding of the day and with the desire to benefit you. I try to ever make my words honest. I do not expect to hit the bull's-eye of truth, but it is there I aim. I pray that you contribute to to my understanding or to question it.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
"Hopewell" People Continued
The American Indian participants in the great exchange system which extended the length of the Mississippi and well beyond were not only long distance traders and of deep religious convictions, but were also experienced managers and husbandmen of wide resources.
They were hunters of wild game. Their most respected weapon was of a type used by their ancient ancestors. Those ancestors had hunted game that was, indeed, large. They had hunted the mega-fauna of song and legend and paleontology. The weapons they used was the spear thrower, the atlatl, and its spear like dart. I have heard the very word, atlatl, used in chants to the great drum and to smaller ones too. Our long distance traders of the waterways also obtain game using sophisticate trapping techniques, bow and arrow, spear and more
Yes, I am writing of "Mound Builders."
Their religion was strong and important and their mounds are evidence of 'religious' centers. Oral histories can tell us much of their religion. Old physical remains have also informed us. Their most beautifully crafted objects seemed to have had little or no economic or practical use. Was it 'art for art's sake?' Why were very many of the best of these objects carefully buried in the mounds with their dead.
These people were not us. Like us in important ways? Yes. But we benefit from realizing that they saw the world from a viewpoint very much their own. We benefit by knowing that not everyone categorizes the objects and doings of reality as we do.
For example, the famous 'mounds' to which w have tended to give religious cognizance, or to consider cemeteries, may well have been focal points of trade, commerce, and social gatherings. They may have been teaching and scientific centers. There is much we do not know.
They were hunters of wild game. Their most respected weapon was of a type used by their ancient ancestors. Those ancestors had hunted game that was, indeed, large. They had hunted the mega-fauna of song and legend and paleontology. The weapons they used was the spear thrower, the atlatl, and its spear like dart. I have heard the very word, atlatl, used in chants to the great drum and to smaller ones too. Our long distance traders of the waterways also obtain game using sophisticate trapping techniques, bow and arrow, spear and more
Yes, I am writing of "Mound Builders."
Their religion was strong and important and their mounds are evidence of 'religious' centers. Oral histories can tell us much of their religion. Old physical remains have also informed us. Their most beautifully crafted objects seemed to have had little or no economic or practical use. Was it 'art for art's sake?' Why were very many of the best of these objects carefully buried in the mounds with their dead.
These people were not us. Like us in important ways? Yes. But we benefit from realizing that they saw the world from a viewpoint very much their own. We benefit by knowing that not everyone categorizes the objects and doings of reality as we do.
For example, the famous 'mounds' to which w have tended to give religious cognizance, or to consider cemeteries, may well have been focal points of trade, commerce, and social gatherings. They may have been teaching and scientific centers. There is much we do not know.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)