The mound builders of North America have allured the curiosity of scholars and architects since the days of de Soto. Having such a long history, and being the most advanced civilization in the United States portion of North America, their history, vague and ancient, has continued to excite scholars up until current times. Mounds are scattered all over the United States as far west as the Rocky Mountains. Some, especially in Illinois and the Mississippi region, are very impressive, reaching as much as 100 feet high and covering sixteen square acres. Likewise, there are many very small mounds that are often mistaken for natural geographical features. Mounds have been classified by scholars into three major categories: effigy mounds, burial mounds, and temple mounds. Effigy mounds are most common in the northern part of the United States near the Great Lakes and as far up as the Canadian Shield. These cleverly designed effigies are remarkable in geometric precision and very impressive, especially since it is so far unexplained how they were constructed. The purpose for the creation of these amazing earthen artworks is also obscured, hidden somewhere in the far past, but it can be assumed, judging by the general patterns of other ancient cultures, that ancient mound building people had originally designed them for spiritual purposes.
Burial mounds are usually distinguishable by their cone shape, and received their name from theories concerning their purpose. The majority of architects agree that mounds did serve as mortuaries and that the elite were buried in them. The possibility that the mounds contained human sacrifices has also been considered, and many theorist that base their inferences on the similarities between the mound builders and the Mexican cultures have not overlooked this theory. The temple mounds in the southern regions of the United States are famous for the pyramid-like structure and their layered construction. They are comparable, though not nearly as analogous in size, to the great Egyptian pyramids, and have several brow-raising similarities to the Mayan mounds and other mounds built by the Mexican Indians. The temple mounds are also noted for having had temples built at the top of each one. The chroniclers that journeyed with the Spanish explorers during the 1500?s described the temples as not places of worship, but rather shrines.
The Essay on Ancient civilization 2
Describe Paleolithic and Neolithic cultures. What were the main characteristics of each? The Paleolithic "Old Stone" era began in about 40,000 - 10,000 B. C. The beginning of this period was marked by the first human hunter-gatherer societies. Hunting, fishing, and gathering of fruits and nuts were the main economic endeavors at the time. The responsibilities in these hunter-gathering societies ...
In addition to their mounds, the Mound Builders also left behind large enclosures. Enclosures found at the tops of mounds are thought to have been used for military and defensive purposes. James A. Brown of Northwestern University, however, argued in an article he had written that the construction of the enclosures offered no evidence of military objective, and that all archeological evidence pointed to mortuary and ritual use only. Mounds that were built on broad river bottoms were characteristically geometrical, and they were often times connected paths bordered by low embankments.
The period when the Mound Builders ruled the Mississippi valley and the central and eastern United States is actually divided into three epochs. The Mound Building cultures can be dated as far back as 1500 BC, and that time until around 700 BC archeologist identify as the Poverty Point Culture. The Hopwellian period spans from 500 BC to 400 AD, and the last period begins in the year 700 AD and ends in 1550. The Poverty Point Culture and the Hopwellian period remain mysterious, but researchers were able to gather a relatively large, however wanting, amount of information from the Mississippian era simply because it was not yet ended when the conquistadors and adventurers came to North America. When Hernando de Soto journeyed through Florida (then a name given to basically any region where Mound Builders resided) his chroniclers repeatedly remarked on the density of the population and the abundance of maize. Maize became a staple crop around 800 AD, around the same time that the Mississippian Era began. Another feature that distinguishes the Mississippian from the other earlier eras was their use of bows and arrows to strike down game. Prior to the use of this tool, Mound Builders used the atlatl (a type of spear) for hunting.
The Term Paper on Who Built the Great Pyramid Giza
It’s the oldest and the only surviving of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is the Great Pyramid of Giza. It doesn’t need any speculations in reference to the appearance, size, or shape. It is located in the city of Giza, a necropolis of ancient Memphis, and today it is part of Cairo, Egypt. The Great Pyramid of Giza is believed to have been built over a 20 year period. First, the site was ...
The lifestyle of the Mound Builders reflected their geographical orientation. Since they were mainly concentrated near major waterways and tributaries supplied by the Mississippi, they were able to travel by canoe and trade with other cities. Objects cherished by these people included shark and alligator teeth, pearls, conchs, feathers, and copper. They would use the pearls and other beautiful natural treasures to decorate the interiors of temples and of the homes of the chief. Also, these precious items were used as gifts that were exchanged among chiefs and lords of separate villages at times of alliance, treaties, and other such meetings. Because of this unity among the higher powers, the traditions and customs of commoners were diverse while the customs of the elite had more uniformity. The social classes of the Mound Builders included a paramount chief called a Great Sun, allied noble lineages, lords, commoners, and possibly slaves. The Great Sun was often attired in knee-length cloaks made from furs or feathers. The succession of royalty was matrilineal, meaning the position of the Great Sun was passed to the chief?s sister?s son. It is believed that these early people may have also had female Great Suns.
While their religion is hard to determine, some believe that they did share the myth of the Corn Mother. Two female figures were found near Cahokia, a very densely populated Mound Building region. One figure was of a woman kneeling on the back of a snake and stroking its back with a hoe. The other woman was kneeling before a metate, a dish used for grinding corn. The legend of the corn mother varied among the southern tribes, but all consisted of a woman that would scratch her back to give birth to corn, and later taught her descendants how to plant it. While it is unknown how warlike the early mound builders were, the Mound Builders in the regions that de Soto visited in the mid 1500?s had very impressive navies. De Soto even compared the scores of canoes to a famous armada of galleys. The warriors themselves were painted with ocher and wore many feathers. They would stand upright on the canoes, and they had elaborately decorated leather shields with which to protect themselves and the oarsmen.
The Term Paper on Great Man Theory Analysis Juli
Julius Caesar was undoubtedly a man who changed history. His life and its story have inspired generations of awe and scrupulous study. Many would argue he is the most influential man in recorded history. However, can the great Caesar truly be declared a 'event-making man', according to the criteria of the Great Man Theory? Did he truly influence the course of history through his own extraordinary ...
In spite of all of the information that has seemingly been amassed by historians and architects, much of the accumulated information is actually nothing but theories based on observations of other cultures. While researchers were fortunate that de Soto?s chroniclers wrote some descriptions of the mound builders, the Spanish were generally apathetic towards the Indians and wrote vaguely of their observations. One of de Soto?s chroniclers, Garcilaso de la Vega wrote, ?Having seen one town we shall have seen practically all of them.?
President Thomas Jefferson, however, did have a great interest in the origins of the Mound Builders, and he initiated some groups that studied ethnology to help solve the mystery. The theories began, however, with the first European settlers in America. Colonist discovered the mounds, and deduced that they were very old after noticing the ancient trees that had grown on some of them. Settlers from Virginia and Pennsylvania made inquiries about the mounds to the local Indians, but received only shrugs and very little help. Not realizing that the people they had asked had just migrated into that region, they assumed that the mounds must all together come from some mysterious race not connected to the Native Americans. They also believed that Indians were too indifferent to work to build such massive earthen works anyway. Later learned men began to compare the Mound Builders to other European and Asian civilizations that had mounds, and in that way they drew links from the Old World to the New. Herodotus, the father of history, had written about the burial of a Sythian king on the Russian plains and included the use of mounds: ?After this they set to work and raise a vast mound above the grave, all of them vying to make it as tall as possible.? The Old Testament stated that the Canaanites worshiped their deity in ?high places?.
Theorists hoped that these high places were actually temple mounds. In the Iliad Achilles had buried the dead body of his friend Patroclus in a mound. Alexander the Great even built a burial mound for Hephaestion. The Mormon religion is based upon the theory that Israelites had at one time lived in America. It was even believed that the ancient European residents of North America were wiped out by the savage Indians that currently lived in their old dwelling places! In the 1880?s, however, the Bureau of Ethnology put to rest many of the early theories of the mystery culture. Major J.W. Powell was one of the greater opponents of the Old World -New World myth.
The Essay on American Foreign Policy Time America
Until the end of the twentieth century America's policy towards war was to stay neutral. We stayed out of other governments battles and we avoided war. The United States did not force our ideals on any foreign governments. The US did not want to be the bully who forces countries into having freedom and independence. This noninterventionist America, devoted to solving its own problems and ...
Even after the myth was somewhat cleared, the origins of the ancient Mound Builders was still undetermined. Many scholars quickly found connections with the ancient Maya, who lived during the same period that the Mound Builders flourished. They noted that the flat topped temple mounds found in the Southern parts of the United States bared great resemblance to the Mayan stone temple pyramids. The distinct layers that the Mounds were compose of shared similarities with the layers found near the top of the Mexican structures. The Mexican layers were deposits of ash over time from sacrifices in the case of the Maya, and were also deposits of ash from the undying fire in the case of the Aztec predecessors. The layers from the southern United States mounds were possibly created in either of the two fashions, or, as some scholars theorize, a new layer of earth was added to the top of the mound every time the mound became home to a new Great Sun. Other similarities between the Mound Builders and the Maya lead researchers to believe that the two cultures traded with each other, carrying goods back and forth from the Yucatan Peninsula across the Gulf of Mexico. The northern mounds bear the least resemblance to the Mexican temples, and the cone shape mounds in the middle regions seem to be a compromise between the northern and southern styles.
For this reason, many theorist believe that the mounds are a clue to the migration pattern of the mound builders. Two theories have developed from these patterns: one states that the mound builders began in the north, and as they slowly made their migration southward they became more skilled at mound building until they reached the point of elaboration that was near to that of the Maya. In that way the ancient civilization was not lost, they just became known in later times as the Aztecs. The second theory suggests that the Mound Builders had their origins in Mexico, and then a portion of the Mexican civilization broke away and migrated northward. The reasoning behind this theory is that the Mound Builders gradually lost their old customs as they traveled, and developed their own style. The most current research leads theorists to believe that the Mound Builders didn?t disappear, but instead their society evolved over time, and time is the only factor that stole from eastern America the rich civilization that once existed. The myth and mystery are still alive today, however. Modern scholars have not completely abandoned the ideas that formulated 500 years ago. Barry Fell, a professor at Harvard did extensive research to try to prove the existence of European civilizations in America before the Christian Era. He has been somewhat discredited after jumping to conclusions, but much of the information that he has found has proven to be valid. For example, he found Libyan inscriptions in America that date back to ancient times. More recently, a stone with the Ten Commandments inscripted on it was found in Los Lunes, New Mexico and was written in a style of Hebrew that was common before Babylonian captivity (around 600 BC).
The Term Paper on Physical Education in Ancient Time
Edneatha Williams Chapter 2 Review- PER 300 January 31, 2009 Chapter Two talks about athletic ability and physical fitness in the ancient time. Also how the people in the ancient time use athletic ability and physical fitness to survive. They use them for military training to. The same games and sport that were in the ancient time are the same ones that are in the modern time. Some of the games ...
In addition, coins from ancient Roam were found in Peru. Mormons, belonging to a religion whose basis is rooted in the origins of the ancient mound builders, believe that the Nephites established a civilization in the Mississippi Valley. It is not surprising that the legends are carried on. The mystery of the ancient Mound Builders will continue to interest people far into the future.
