In Reference to a Timeline Item Comment

History With RCS :In Reference to  Gerry Art's Comment to post 2,660 BC to 2,400 BC in reference to metal work of the period.

                I will tell what I can about the metal work of that period. The post centers on 2,500 BC which marks the a high point of the the Bronze Age of most of Europe, much of North Africa, and nearly all of the Near East. That is much of Europe, the Mediterranean and beyond was enjoying the Bronze Age, which to some has seemed a golden age. 
    

                I am pleased to be able to say that during this period Ireland was one of the most productive miners of gold and the producer of of some of the finest gold work. Some of the gold work which marked Ireland of this period were the following: Lunulea, a form of collar; torcs, a kind of neck piece which bent firmly around the neck, they were strikingly handsome; gorgets, they were a sort of chest piece or breast piece and often the most beautiful and intricit of these items. It may have been used to hold articles of dress in place. Rings and a large number of other items were also produced in gold.

                I am speaking of Bronze Age Gold work. But much fine gold work in an early age when much copper was mined and worked well before the Bronze Age. 

                I seem to be forming my remarks here almost entirely around Ireland, but a Bronze Age was occurring around much of the world.

                It has been said that there was a Bronze age in Ireland from 2500 BC to 500 BC. I believe that there is now important evidence of important Bronze work being done in Ireland by 2,700 BC. I am also fairly sure that an Iron Age had already begun in Ireland 600 BC.

            Let me include that the Bronze Age in Ireland and Beyond was preceded by the neolithic period, which we might call the New Stone Age. The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age. I traumatic change in much of the world.

                In the neolithic period gold and were both already mined and worked in Ireland. Fine work was produced in small quantities. Silver and lead were probably also mined and worked in small quantities.

                It seems that I had Ireland on the mind when I began this piece.

                Ireland entered the Bronze Age as a major miner and worker of Gold. In that Bronze Age a variety of bronzes were founded. Nearly all of them were an alloy mostly of copper but always with a portion of tin. I do not recall the usual proportions just now. How- ever there was bronze produced using arsnic in the place of tin. The tin was used to make the copper stronger, more resistant, and harder than copper. It also turned out to be a sort of stainless copper with the look of gold!

                Tin was both mined in Ireland and imported to Ireland. A sort of metal alchemy was begun which employed mercury, lead, arsnic, silver, gold and other elements. The mining, smelting and working of tin and copper to make bronze was a sophisticated process. 

                The Iron Age in Ireland as in Europe, North Africa, the Near East and beyond was begun by a new people who proved to be many. These people knew horses well. They knew the processes of mining, smelting and working iron. They made iron swords which cut through bronze weapons. They dominated Bronze Age people nearly everywhere. They were able to dominate cultures which were in many ways superior to theirs. At times they recognized this. They brought a new language, they brought it to Ireland and it became the mother of all the language spoken there for over two thousand years. It is the Gaelic which is still spoken in parts of Ireland. English is the dominate language on the Island today. English too is born of that Iron Age language.

                So, what are the Bronze age metals: gold, silver, copper, lead, arsnic, mercury, tin, and certainly more known by some. Bronze, a metal alloy made by man, and still one of the most beautiful and useful metals made by man and one of the least toxic if not made with arsenic. The alloy named an Age. We have much more to learn of the Bronze Age.

            Thank you for your comment Gerry Art.

                                                                                            rcs.

                

               

 

American Indians in the Time of Mega Fauna

History With RCS, archaeology: people of the Hopewell Tradition of North America.

 

 People of the the Hopewell tradition were ancestral to many modern Indian Nations.          

                They may also represent an important tradition extending back in what seems a continuous line, to a time of the mega Fauna. They may even have used the atlatl as early as that. They had certainly maintained a recognizable way of living extending hundreds of years into the past.

                The Hopewell people, like many other Native American people, were matrilineal. In such cultures a man and a woman may have joined under the name of the woman's family. The children of such union may have had the responsibilities and privileges of the female line. If I, as a male, were a member of the culture, my "surname" would become that of my wife's mother, grand mother, and great grandmother. My children would bear that name. I might become known for the doings of my wife's family. 

                I am far from sure of the ways their particular matrilineality effected their culture. However even the little we can learn may help us to better consider how Patrilineality may effect a culture. 

                The Hopewell have been called Mound Builders and came from a long line of such builders. They built more than complex mounds; they built a variety of interesting earthworks.They also made tools and artworks of stone, mica, copper, bone, wood, and much else.

                A work of theirs is called the Newark Earthworks and is located near Newark and Heath, Ohio in what is now the U.S.A. Three sections of this work have been identified and called: the Great Circle, the Octagonal, and the Wright Earthworks. As you may guess the complex was built by people we call Hopewell, The work was done between 100 BC and 500 AD. The Hopewell may have begun a decline as early as 400 AD. The Great Circle has called the biggest earthwork circle in the world or in the U.S. It is very big. It is believed to have been used as a place of ceremony, social gatherings, trade, worship, and honoring the dead. 

                Scholars have demonstrated that the Octagonal Earthwork was used as a lunar observatory for tracking the moon's orbit during its 18.6 year cycle.

                Trade: Evidence of their work and commerce has been found from south Florida and near the mouth of the Mississippi to the Great Lakes, and from the Rocky mountains to the Appalachian mountains. and some say, to the Atlantic coast of North America. Much of such evidence is concentrated in the drainage areas of the Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri rivers.

                After 1492 Europeans were becoming aware of the earthworks of the Hopewell and Adena people. First the Spanish and later the French commented on some of the mounds being abandoned and over grown with grass, brush, and trees. The English and American colonists became curious of mounds at an even latter date, They dug into them. They found goods; goods of many kinds from pottery to gold. Some of their finds were wonders. Including skeletal remains of persons of a bigger of a size than any of the finders.

                Some of the finders were interested in that which could be sold. Others wondered who the builders could be. Certainly not the few sad Indians they saw around them. The Indians they saw around them were the children who's families had been diseased and cruelly exploited  by Europeans for over 300 years. What you see is what you get. They were not seeing the "noble redman." We are still learning about who those builders were. We still have much to learn. Most of the evidence points tot  the Native people living near us today.

                For now, I will say that it has seemed reasonable to believe that the Hopewell people experienced a peak in their culture from about 200 BC to about 400 AD. They were proceeded by an interesting and long lived culture called the Adena. Like the Hopewell they traded from the Gulf of Mexico to a bit beyond the Great Lakes and all along the Mississippi Drainage system, including the Ohio and Missouri rivers. There is much evidence that the Adena were active from about 1,000 BC to about 200 BC.

                I hope to post about the Adena When I believe there is interest among my readers.

                Experienced ones say that we have much of value to learn from the signs left by our Native predecessors, if we would dig carefully.

 

                Thank you for reading.

RCS

 

Responce to Comment to Post 2,660 BC to 2,400 BC

  History With RCS: Gerry Art's Commenet to post 2,660 BC to 2,400 BC in reference to metal work of the period.

Blog URL: https://historyrcs.blogspot.com

                For some reason the comment section of the post is not allowing me to resopond. So, I will tell I can about the metal work of that period. The post centers on 2,500 BC which marks the a high point of the the Bronze Age of most of Europe, much of North Africa, and nearly all of the Near East. That is much of Europe, the Mediterranean and beyond was enjoying the Bronze Age, which to some has seemed a golden age. 
    

                I am pleased to be able to say that during this period Ireland was one of the most productive miners of gold and the producer of of some of the finest gold work. Someof the gold work which marked Ireland of this period were the following: Lunulea, aform of collar; torcs, a kind of neck piece which bent firmly around the neck, they were strickingly handsome; gorgets, they were a sort of chest piece or breast piece and often the most beautiful and intricket of these items. It may have been used to hold articles of dress in place. Rings and a large number of other items were also produced in gold.

                I am speaking of Bronze Age Gold work. But much fine gold work in an early age when much copper was mined and worked well before the Bronze Age. 

                I seem to be forming my remarks here almost entirely around Ireland, but a Bronze Age was occuring around much of the world.

                It has been said that there was a Bronze age in Ireland from 2500 BC to 500 BC. I believe that there is now importnat evidence of important Bronze work being done in Ireland by 2,700 BC. I am also frairly sure that an Iron Age had already begun in Ireland 600 BC.

            Let me include that the Bronze Age in Ireland and Beyond was preceded by the neolithic period, which we might call the New Stone Age. The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age. I traumatic change in much of the world.

                In the neolithic period gold and were both already mined and worked in Ireland. Fine work was produced in small quantities. Silver and lead were probably also mined and worked in small quantities.

                It seems that I had Ireland on the mind when I began this piece.

                Ireland entered the Bronze Age as a major miner and worker of Gold. In that Bronze Age a variety of bronzes were founded. Nearly all of them were an alloy mostly of copper but always with a portion of tin. I do not recall the usual proportions just now. How- ever there was bronze produced using arsnic in the place of tin. The tin was used to make the copper stronger, more resistant, and harder than copper. It also turned out to be a sort of stainless copper with the look of gold!

                Tin was both mined in Ireland and imported to Ireland. A sort of metal alchemy was begun which employed mercury, lead, arsnic, silver, gold and other elements. The mining, smelting and working of tin and copper to make bronze was a sopnisticated process. 

                The Iron age in Ireland as in Europe, North Africa, the Near East and beyond was begun by a new people who proved to be many. These people knew horses well. They knew the processes of mininng, smelting and workinging iron. They made iron swords which cut through bronze weapons. They dominated Bronze Age people nearly everywhere. They were able to dominate cultures which were in many ways superior to theirs. At times they recognized this. They brought a new language, they brought it to Ireland and it became the mother of all the laguage spoken there for over two thousand years. It is the Gaelic which is still spoken in parts of Ireland. English is the dominate language on the Island today. English too is born of that Iron Age language.

                So, what are the Bronze age metals: gold, silver, copper, lead, arsnic, mercury, tin, and certainly more known by some. Bronze, a metal alloy made by man, and still one of the most beautiful and useful metals made by man and one of the least toxic if not made with arsnic. The alloy named an Age. We have much more to learn of the Bronze Age.

            Thank you for your comment Gerry Art.

                                                                                            rcs.

                

                

Native Americans of 400 AD and Earlier

History With RCS: People of the the Hopewell tradition were ancestral to many modern Indian Nations.    

                 They may also represent an important tradition extending back in what seems a continuous line, to a time of the mega Fauna. They may even have used the atlatl as early as that. They had certainly maintained a recognizable way of living extending hundreds of years into the past.

                The Hopewell people, like many other Native American people, were matrilineal. In such cultures a man and a woman may have joined under the name of the woman's family. The children of such union may have had the responsibilities and privileges of the female line. If I, as a male, were a member of the culture, my "surname" would become that of my wife's mother, grand mother, and great grandmother. My children would bear that name. I might become known for the doings of my wife's family. 

                I am far from sure of the ways matrilineality effected their culture. However even the little we can learn may help us to better consider how Patrilineality may effect a culture. 

                The Hopewell have been called Mound Builders and came from a long line of such builders. They built more than complex mounds; they built a variety of interesting earthworks. They also made tools and artworks of stone, mica, copper, bone, wood, and much else.

                A work of theirs is called the Newark Earthworks and is located near Newark and Heath, Ohio in what is now the U.S.A. Three sections of this work have been identified and called: the Great Circle, the Octagonal, and the Wright Earthworks. As you may guess the complex was built by people we call Hopewell, The work was done between 100 BC and 500 AD. The Hopewell may have begun a decline as early as 400 AD. The Great Circle has called the biggest earthwork circle in the world or in the U.S. It is very big. It is believed to have been used as a place of ceremony, social gatherings, trade, worship, and honoring the dead. 

                Scholars have demonstrated that the Octagonal Earthwork was used as a lunar observatory for tracking the moon's orbit during its 18.6 year cycle.

                Trade: Evidence of their work and commerce has been found from south Florida and near the mouth of the Mississippi to the Great Lakes, and from the Rocky mountains to the Appalachian mountains. and some say, to the Atlantic coast of North America. Much of such evidence is concentrated in the drainage areas of the Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri rivers.

                After 1500 Europeans were becoming aware of the earthworks of the Hopewell and Adena people. First the Spanish and latter the French commented on some of the mounds being abandoned and over grown with grass, brush, and trees. The English and American colonists became curious of mounds at an even latter date, They dug into them. They found goods; goods of many kinds from pottery to gold. Some of their finds were wonders. Including skeletal remains of persons of a bigger of a size than any of the finders.

                Some of the finders were interested in that which could be sold. Others wondered who the builders could be. Certainly not the few sad Indians they saw around them. The Indians they saw around them were the children who's families had been diseased and cruelly exploited  by Europeans for over 300 years. What you see is what you get. They were not seeing the "noble redman." We are still learning about who those builders were. We still have much to learn. Most of the evidence points tot  the Native people living near us today.

                For now, I will say that it has seemed reasonable to believe that the Hopewell people experienced a peak in their culture from about 200 BC to about 400 AD. They were proceeded by an interesting and long lived culture called the Adena. Like the Hopewell they traded from the Gulf of Mexico to a bit beyond the Great Lakes and all along the Mississippi Drainage system, including the Ohio and Missouri rivers. There is much evidence that the Adena were active from about 1,000 BC to about 200 BC.

                Experienced ones say that we have much of value to learn from the signs left by our Native predecessors, if we would dig carefully.

                                                                                            RCS

 

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