Carved mica hand found in mound #25 at Hopewell in Ohio.I've adopted it as my logo.
Showing posts with label mound builders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mound builders. Show all posts
Monday, April 9, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
More Notes on "Hopewell Culture"
The use of the term "Hopewell Culture" is a way to keep from telling you that we talking about a kind of confederation of the ancestors of the owners of your local casino."Hopewell Culture" might be thought of as a set of snap-shots of the doings of those ancestors from about 400 BC to 400 AD.
Hopewell people have been refereed to as 'mound builders.' Exotic grave goods such as sheet mica art, fresh water pearls, and copper craft added a mystique of their earthworks. We are finding that their influence spread from Nova Scotia to Cuba, from the Rockies to the Atlantic.
Their heartland at the time of the photo tended to be the Ohio River Valley in what is now the state of Ohio.
We are gaining some idea of how climate changes effected them.
We are better understanding that dress and grooming were important to them. They wanted to look good and did.
We may find that the history of the Iroquois and other tribes may inform of us of the people we have called Hopewell.
What can you tell us about the unusual bony ear growth genetically transmitted among Hopewell nobility.
We may be helped in adopting to our own climate change by looking at the medicinal and nutritional qualities cultivated and harvested by Hopewell peoples. We might start by looking more closely at plants such as: sump-weed, goose-foot, sunflower, knot-weed, little barley, may-grass, and their brand of tobacco.Hopewell people and those related to them have lived long and strong by harvesting wild deer and hickory nuts. Maybe we can live longer and stronger by learning to do similar ha vesting of our own.
The ancestors of the Adena and Hopewell peoples lived in a cooler climate and used their atlatals to cast spear/darts at the giant armadillo, camel, horse, dire-wolf, ground-sloth, long-horned bison, saber-toothed tiger, and short faced bear around what is now Cincinnati, Ohio, Jackson, Mississippi, and Jefferson City, Missouri.
From well before 4000 BC to about 400 BC, Hopewell people may have been the least war-like people on earth. It seems that they put their energies into spiritual activities, long distance trade, looking good, art, and developing ways of getting along.
There is a very great deal of practical knowledge yet to be learned from thees people. For example, why did they build a straight 'road' in what is now Ohio, fom Newwork to Chillicothe. How did they benefit from it?
Hopewell people have been refereed to as 'mound builders.' Exotic grave goods such as sheet mica art, fresh water pearls, and copper craft added a mystique of their earthworks. We are finding that their influence spread from Nova Scotia to Cuba, from the Rockies to the Atlantic.
Their heartland at the time of the photo tended to be the Ohio River Valley in what is now the state of Ohio.
We are gaining some idea of how climate changes effected them.
We are better understanding that dress and grooming were important to them. They wanted to look good and did.
We may find that the history of the Iroquois and other tribes may inform of us of the people we have called Hopewell.
What can you tell us about the unusual bony ear growth genetically transmitted among Hopewell nobility.
We may be helped in adopting to our own climate change by looking at the medicinal and nutritional qualities cultivated and harvested by Hopewell peoples. We might start by looking more closely at plants such as: sump-weed, goose-foot, sunflower, knot-weed, little barley, may-grass, and their brand of tobacco.Hopewell people and those related to them have lived long and strong by harvesting wild deer and hickory nuts. Maybe we can live longer and stronger by learning to do similar ha vesting of our own.
The ancestors of the Adena and Hopewell peoples lived in a cooler climate and used their atlatals to cast spear/darts at the giant armadillo, camel, horse, dire-wolf, ground-sloth, long-horned bison, saber-toothed tiger, and short faced bear around what is now Cincinnati, Ohio, Jackson, Mississippi, and Jefferson City, Missouri.
From well before 4000 BC to about 400 BC, Hopewell people may have been the least war-like people on earth. It seems that they put their energies into spiritual activities, long distance trade, looking good, art, and developing ways of getting along.
There is a very great deal of practical knowledge yet to be learned from thees people. For example, why did they build a straight 'road' in what is now Ohio, fom Newwork to Chillicothe. How did they benefit from it?
Sunday, July 31, 2011
More "Mound Builder" Notes
On this Blog there are a great many Post on American Indians. A few of those post have dealt with a Native People who have been called Mound Builders. The three post listed below were among them:
1-13-11 'Hopewell Exchange System'
3-3-11 '"Hopewell" People Continued'
4-2-11 'Hopewell System' 4-2-11
Some of the earthworks built by ancestors of casino owners might be interpreted as teaching and scientific centers. One reason for such an interpretation is the knowledge that some those earthworks accurately measure the 18.6 year lunar cycle. Perhaps you would explain that cycle to us.
There are stories that suggest that the Indian builders of mounds related to celestial activity celebrated that lunar cycle. Many of their mounds can still be used to track solstices, equinoxes, and their quarters. So, the earthworks of the 'Mound Builders' tracked and predicted solar activity as well as lunar activity.
Like many of us, those Indian builders of celestial observatories, seemed to have enjoyed art for art's sake. Examples of their sensibilities may be seen in their many stone relief carvings, the only purpose of which seems to be to please. Of course we understand that many of their arts and crafts were used as "grave goods" as a way to honor their dead. A marvelously handsome, clean-lined carving is sheet mica has made a lasting impression on me. Some of their works available to us are five or six thousand years old and their motives for making them are not easily determined.
If you would like more discussion on these or related topics, please let me know.
How the earliest European arrivals dealt with these people at the time of their arrival interests me. We have no European accounts of meetings until the 1000 AD accounts of Norsemen which suggests that their first encounter with the native inhabitants occured perhaps a hundred years earlier. Next came the 15th century accounts of Spaniards and people of some other European lands among them. There were other visitors from western Europe from very early times. Cornish, Irish, and Welsh may have come before the Norse. Kentucky may have been named by them. Portuguese fishermen may have visited before Columbus. Cherokee stories may record some of these early visits.
Those early European arrivals had few weapons with which to overwhelm the people of the land. If they stayed in the land for a time their main technology of war were staves, bows, and spears. Perhaps well cared for swords and long knives may have been durable enough to last. The Indians had weapons of nearly equal defectiveness. European bow and arrow might have been a bit more effective that the native product. A European swordsman with a decent sword would be a difficult many to best. As near as we can tell, disease did not seriously weaken the native population until the 1600s.
1-13-11 'Hopewell Exchange System'
3-3-11 '"Hopewell" People Continued'
4-2-11 'Hopewell System' 4-2-11
Some of the earthworks built by ancestors of casino owners might be interpreted as teaching and scientific centers. One reason for such an interpretation is the knowledge that some those earthworks accurately measure the 18.6 year lunar cycle. Perhaps you would explain that cycle to us.
There are stories that suggest that the Indian builders of mounds related to celestial activity celebrated that lunar cycle. Many of their mounds can still be used to track solstices, equinoxes, and their quarters. So, the earthworks of the 'Mound Builders' tracked and predicted solar activity as well as lunar activity.
Like many of us, those Indian builders of celestial observatories, seemed to have enjoyed art for art's sake. Examples of their sensibilities may be seen in their many stone relief carvings, the only purpose of which seems to be to please. Of course we understand that many of their arts and crafts were used as "grave goods" as a way to honor their dead. A marvelously handsome, clean-lined carving is sheet mica has made a lasting impression on me. Some of their works available to us are five or six thousand years old and their motives for making them are not easily determined.
If you would like more discussion on these or related topics, please let me know.
How the earliest European arrivals dealt with these people at the time of their arrival interests me. We have no European accounts of meetings until the 1000 AD accounts of Norsemen which suggests that their first encounter with the native inhabitants occured perhaps a hundred years earlier. Next came the 15th century accounts of Spaniards and people of some other European lands among them. There were other visitors from western Europe from very early times. Cornish, Irish, and Welsh may have come before the Norse. Kentucky may have been named by them. Portuguese fishermen may have visited before Columbus. Cherokee stories may record some of these early visits.
Those early European arrivals had few weapons with which to overwhelm the people of the land. If they stayed in the land for a time their main technology of war were staves, bows, and spears. Perhaps well cared for swords and long knives may have been durable enough to last. The Indians had weapons of nearly equal defectiveness. European bow and arrow might have been a bit more effective that the native product. A European swordsman with a decent sword would be a difficult many to best. As near as we can tell, disease did not seriously weaken the native population until the 1600s.
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.
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