Civilizations

“‘No other field in American history has grown as fast,’ marveled Joyce Chapman, a Harvard historian, in 2003.”

Charles C. Mann,1491 [p. 35]

The Americas before Columbus

The Traditional View

• American history began in 1492

• The New World was sparsely populated by small bands of nomadic, Stone Age hunter-gatherers

• America was a pristine wilderness before European settlement

Stereotypes and other Nonsense

Featured Reference

Mann, Charles C. 2005. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus

“Terminological Quicksand”

“Native Americans?”

… or “Indians?”

“Terminological Quicksand”

“Anyone born in the western hemisphere is a Native American.”

“I abhor the term Native American.”

Russell Means

“Terminological Quicksand”

• Likely to call themselves Dine, Lakota, Ojibwe, Haudenosaunee, etc.

• The Point: The indigenous peoples of the Americas were a diverse mix of societies, cultures, languages, and customs

The Anasazi

Mesa Verde, Colorado

Canyon de Chelly, Arizona

Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

Chacoan irrigation system

Chacoan road system

• A network of 26-40 foot wide, straight roads led from Chaco to outlier sites.

• Why? – no wheel; no draft animals

Solar Calendar on Fajada Butte

Two corner windows in Pueblo Bonito show the winter solstice when the light forms a rectangle on the north wall beginning at the room’s corner

• Who built the ruins at Chaco, Mesa Verde & Canyon de Chelly?

• Why did they abandon them?

• Where did they go?• And a key question:

When were they built?

First Archeological ExpeditionRichard Wetherill, 1895

The Judd Expedition

• 1920

• Led by Neil M. Judd

• Archeologist with the Smithsonian Institution

• Sponsored by the National Geographic Society

Andrew Ellicott Douglass

• 1867-1962

• Astronomer

• Steward Observatory, University of Arizona

• Studying sunspot activity and climate

Douglass was thinking about Photosynthesis

• Specifically, solar energy which would be greater during periods of greater sunspot activity

• Wouldn’t this be reflected in more growth in plants?

• Wood cells are long, slender tubes

• Growth Rings• Large, thin-walled

earlywood cells formed in spring

• Smaller, thick-walled latewood cells formed in summer

Cellular Structure of Wood

The Cambium

Douglass’ results?

• Tree ring patterns in the region were remarkably consistent over a given period of time

• He found no correlation between tree growth and known periods of sunspot activity.

• Rainfall and other factors have greater influence on growth.

“None of this was as easy as it sounds in the quick telling. It’s a little like uniquely identifying one piece in a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle in which each one is only slightly different from the rest. Many successions of patterns looked very similar to other successions. It is

necessary to be extremely careful not to be fooled. Douglass was a careful man, and the technique proved successful. Its

application to archeology was inevitable.”

Kendrick Frazier, People of Chaco (p. 75)

In 1922, Neil Judd sought Douglass’ help

• Douglass discovered that construction of Pueblo Bonito began in 919 A.D. and the structure was still occupied in 1127 A.D.

• Pueblo del Arroyo was under construction from 1053-1103 A.D.

• Balcony House at Mesa Verde was built from 1190-1206 A.D.

• The Cliff Palace was built in 1073 A.D.

Other Anasazi ruins in Canyon de Chelly and elsewhere were occupied in the same era

The Medieval Warming Period

The Mound Builders

• Mound builder cultures developed along the Mississippi. The oldest known was at Watson Brake on the Ouachita River in Louisiana, which is about 5,400 years ago – older than the pyramids. [Bonnicksen, p. 122]

• Adena (Illinois), Hopewell (Ohio Valley), Mississippian (later, widespread culture).

Cahokia

• Located in Illinois across from St. Louis

• On the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers – ideally suited for trade

• Covered 13 square miles and was populated by about 20,000 people

• 120 mounds dot the landscape, the largest - Monks Mound -was 10 stories high, and held the house of Cahokia’s ruler

• Surrounded by a 15 ft. high wooden palisade 2 miles long and with guard towers spaced every 70 feet.

• Circular solar calendar composed of 48 perfectly spaced redcedar posts that archeologist have dubbed “Woodhenge”

• The Cahokia people cleared bottomland forests for their fields. Elm pollen dropped abruptly in the region in 1,000 AD. Chestnut and other mast-producers spread around that time.

What happened to the Anasazi?