Mound Builders, Hopewell Culture

PreColumbian Cultures of North America

Mound Builders, Hopewell Culture

                People of the Hopewell tradition were ancestral to many modern Indian nations. I believe that they are representative of a culture extending farther back then the time of mega fauna and the atlatl. They  had maintained a recognizable way of life going back thousands of years, perhaps 10,000 and more years.

                The Hopewell people were a Native America culture that flourished in settlements mostly along the Mississippi River, the Ohio, and  Missouri and their tributaries from about 100 BC to about 400 AD. There is evidence that they continued almost intact for another 100 years. It was a dispersed culture which traded widely and were connected by that trade. However, they also had much commerce with other cultures.

                Mega-fauna existed well after the Pleistocene, but seemed to have flourished during part of that time. The Pleistocene existed during periods of Ice Ages about 2,580,000 BP to about 11,700 BP. That is one might say it ended just before Noah's flood. We do not yet have much evidence of the doings of people during those days.

                I believe that ancestors of the Hopewell did use the atlatl to successfully hunt what we might call giant animals. Today an atlatl is often call a spear thrower and that is what it is. It is a simple implement with which to launch a spear. There are some who use it for hobby or sport today and who say it is much more powerful than any bow and arrow. It  is most often used a much closer range than a good bow may be used.

Their are tribes today still remember songs or chants of their hunters using the atlatl to kill animals which do not exist today. I believes the the families and their tribe ate well.

                By the way an animal called mega-fauna which weighed 100 pounds was called small. A sizeable one might weigh 3,000 pounds. Most of them in most places were extinct after about 40,000 BP. Could direct ancestors of the Hopewell been hunting mega-fauna before the end of our recent Ice AGE. Many of them were much like animals existing today but much larger. I have heard of Indians hunting an animal the size of an elephant, but looking like a sloth, a ground sloth. When did that happen. Some say that there was mega-fauna around only 300 years ago. Mass extinctions certainly happened long before than. However, if you check around you may find that in North America there was a variety of mega-fauna living at least as recently as 13,000 BP. Anyway, at a certain and a certain place, there certain mega-fauna eaten by certain people less than 1,000 years ago. Please let me know what you discover.

                Well, back to the Hopewell about the time of Christ or a little before. Then, and even after 500 AD the Hopewell people like many other Native Americans were matrilineal. As an example, in such cultures a man and a woman might have joined under the name of the woman's family. The children of such a union may have had the responsibilities and privileges of the female line. If I, as a male, were a married member of the culture my surname would likely become that of my wife's mother, grand mother and great grandmother. My children might bear that name. The land we lived on might be affiliated with that name. I might be known for the doings of my mother's family. I have not describe the Hopewell here, but rather have given an example of matrilineality .

                I am far from sure of the ways matrilineality of the Hopewell affected their culture.Tell me what you know or find out. By doing so we may both learn more of how our patrilineality affects us. The wise have often told the value of self-knowledge.

                The Hopewell have been called Mound Builders and came from a long line of such builders of earthworks. They built more than elaborate mounds. They also made tools, and artworks of stone, wood, bone, cooper, and a number of other materials.They also remembered how to make an atlatl.

                Evidence of their works and commerce have been discovered from the tip of what is now Florida and the mouth of the Mississippi to the Great Lakes, and from the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachian Mountains. Some say to the Atlantic Coast of North America.

 

                    More on this blog.

 

 

 

                                                        RCS

Straight Talk

History With RCS: Children deserve to be taught.               

                There are American Indians who have taught their children that it is good to talk straight. They taught that it is good to not tell a lie, that it is good to speak only the truth. They taught that it is good to make a spiritual agreement with one's self not to talk crooked. They taught that straight talk within one's self and with others let people trust, grow, and calm many fears. Straight talkers, they taught, make all of life better. Straight talkers make us glad that  there are cleansing springs of truth, they taught.

 

                                                                                                    RCS

                                                                                            

Cow Head

Most Americans know Cabeza de Vaca as one of the four survivors of a three hundred man expedition to Florida in 1583. H e wandered eight years in North America a a naked, unarmed healer of  Indians and probably the first European to describe thundering herds of buffalo.

In 1541 the same Alvero Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was penetrating southern Brazil by canoe near what is now the riverine intersection of Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay. When in the distance, he saw a cloud of spray "two spear throws or more above the treetops." He had to beach the expedition before it plunged over the brink of an enormous waterfall. He ha discovered Iguazú Catarata. Iguazu is as wide as three Niagras and one hundred feet higher.

 

 

RCS 

First Intro to This New History Blog

 This Posts will deal with history of a variety of sorts. I am not sure of the names of all the categories yet. However, let me give tentative names of a few:

American History, which will mostly deal with the history of the United States of America.

World history, beginning about 4000 BC and continuing to about 2000 AD.

Pre History ending about 4000 BC and beginning perhaps about 500,000 BP.

An Introduction to These History posts

The following is a sort of history you might find on this page in the future. I have my biases. For example, Irish history seems so important to me I may put it on a completely different Page which I may call Ireland and Irish.

There are those who deprecate history itself. So common is this deprecation that the expression "That's history." has become deprecatory.

That which happened this morning is history. That is, it is history when someone can tell me about it, or when I witness it and tell you about it. Basically, it seems that history is that told about what has happened. I suspect that there are historians who would not find this simplification agreeable. 

By attending to a history, one may not only learn what happened, but also how it happened and other potentially useful information. History can be felt as the pleasure of a good story. Even a history, badly told can contain useful info. Many are finding a lot of history enjoyable and interesting.

Some say that experience is the best teacher and that history is a accounting of our experience

This history business is not always easy. For example, many would agree that a history not told be a historian is just a story. Then again a true story might be thought a history. But then again there are historians who are falsifiers. Not easy.

A lot more can be said and is said about history. As an example it is said that historians record and present history in accord with their own worldviews and perspectives. Some record it as the see it. More try to make sense of histories told by others. A great many historians embrace truth and reality, in accord with how they have seen it and understood it. I believe that their interest in reality is great. 

I believe that you could be a historian. When you value evidence, know a true story, and have a realistic imagination, you may be a pretty good one. However, many will call you a story teller, unless you have documents as your principle source of evidence. 

Many professional historians tend to examine the nature of changes as an important part of their work. The examine all sorts of changes: cultural, economic, technological and many more.

History is not a science. It has an immense number of variables, yet has no laboratory. Historians do have the advantage of hindsight and they use that advantage. They also find help in the questions they entertain. Such as: "How did we get into this mess?" and "Why did that happen?" At other times they test their ability to suspend judgement and try to place themselves in the context of the moment.

As I think about it, there seems to be a very great deal to learn about the doing of history. I may write more as I begin to learn more. In the meantime I will try to share a good story or two and a few of the curiosities of the past. Historians have been called antiquarians; doesn't that have a romantic ring.

 

 

Better posts to come here.

My name is Richard Sheehan. I am a U.S. citizen living in Colombia.

My future posts will be signed, RCS

 

Calusa

History With RCS: Calusa, A great people who deserve more talk and understanding.

                I haven't yet written much of the early peoples of North America, but if I live long enough I intend to write much more.

                Below are the titles of four posts in which I have mentioned native peoples. Searchers will find more.

~  Detroit"s Lost Mounds
~ Red Indians
~ Talk Straight
~ Cow Head

                The words I now write of the Calusa are few. Even so I expect that will be sufficient to fix the Calusa  people and the name Calusa in the minds of a few our readers.

                In the 1500s the Calusa still controlled much of  the southwest of Florida. They defended their land against the aggression  of other peoples including European explorers.  The Spaniards knew them as fierce. The Calooshahtchee River, with its mouth on the southwest of  Florida, was theirs.

                They lived mostly along the inland water ways and developed them for transportation and food production. The sea was also a source of food for them. They left middens of seashells large enough in size to compete with their great mounds and other earthworks. The fished with nets and tapped fish.

                 The Calusa had a strong influence on the tribes around them. That influence may be because of their wide trading. They typically used dugouts for use at sea and along their inland waterways. They also built  and used larger vessels. They visited Cuba regularly and probably sailed much farther into the Caribbean.

                Their homes were built on platforms on pilings over the water. Their buildings had particularly handsome roofing of palmetto leaves. It is said that some of their 'houses' were large enough to easily accommodate 2000 persons!

                They were excellent wood workers and they also did some fine wood carving. They were excellent farmers, sailors, fishermen, and traders, They are probably responsible for the construction of what we have called bayous.

                The apex of their culture probably dates well before 100 BC. Their middens and and earth works have been dated to that time.

                We have much to learn from and about the Calusa. Please feel free to extend and correct our knowledge of them.



                                                                                                            by R.C.S.

A Leading Republican

 Napoleon Bonaparte, a leading republican of his day, was willing to become Emperor of France. France welcomed him as Emperor. There may be a lesson to be learned from this bit of history.

Napoleon did bring reforms to Europe and beyond in the fields of science, education, and a variety of cultural areas. These works could be called republican.

The legal system called the Napoleonic Code, influenced much of Europe and a significant part of the rest of the World. Napoleonic law is an important part of the law of the U.S. state of Louisiana. 

Napoleon was a warrior, a leader of armies. Some have said that he won a war against  Russian. To attack Russia, he left home with about a half million men. He returned home with about 20,000 men and "the shirt on his back."

He met his "Waterloo" in a battle against Prussia and Britain. In that battle Prussia "saved Britain's bacon.

After Waterloo, Britain, Spain, Prussia, Austria, Russia, and others joined one another in suppressing liberal movements throughout Europe. 

 

This is a TEST:

~ Why do the histories of so many revolutions seem revolting?

~ Where is your revolution headed?

~ Why might a republican be willing to become an emperor?

~ What is a "loo?"

~ Why ought the citizens of a republic be responsible?