Moundbuilders Myths

Have you ever wonder how the world was created from another culture’s perspective? Native Americans used creation myths to explained to their people how the world was developed overtime. Creation myths are a big part of the Native American culture. they have been passed down from generation to generation. In the creation myths, harmony with nature, rituals, and strong social values are shown in each myths. The purpose of having strong social value in these myths is to teach younger Native Americans valuable lesson if they ever do something bad. These myths reveals how the rituals were created and their intentions for doing it. Creation myths has harmony with nature in it to show a very close kinship between them

For years, the Native Americans lived a very solitary life with their own unique way of living, that was until the European’s showed up with their very complex way of living. Harmony with nature was a very important aspect of Native American culture. The Native people embraced nature with no intention to modify it unlike the Europeans. They simply cared more about nature and what it had to offer. The spiritual connection between the land and these Natives were distinctive from the Europeans also due to the fact that to the settlers, land meant wealth. As a European, if you owned any land you were considered a wealthy upper class human being. As a Native, no one owned the land and anyone could benefit from the land.

Ceramic making is still a popular tradition today in the Americas, especially on Native Indian Reservations, like in Western, North Carolina. The use of ceramics, however, is quite different than the way it was used by the natives during the Middle Woodland Period. Today, pottery is mainly made for decoration or art purposes by modern day Americans, but according to Wallis (2011), about 3,000 years ago the use of pottery became a very common use and practiced tradition among the native people who lived during that time period. The Swift Creek culture and the Cherokee Indians had very similar methods in formulating ceramics. The archaeological findings of these artifacts states that one group had been more advanced designs on their vessels. This reason is most likely because of the materials that one group was able to access in their area that the other group did not have available. One group was also more traditional and spiritual in making their vessels, which caused them to create more complex designs and methods while designing their ceramics (Block 2005). By looking at the similarities of both groups pottery styles, archaeologists were able to determine the minor but very distinctive differences, that one group processed in their art, than the other. By comparing each group’s ceramics by looking at

The first time I heard about the Mound Builders, which was in this class, these people seemed like a very primitive group. What was so exciting about having the skill of piling up a bunch of dirt. Then I was able to see some of these mounds and the scale was nothing I had imagined. These mounds were huge and also contained distinct structural shapes. Tombs, houses, and religious structures were constructed in or on top of the mounds. What made the edifices even more amazing was the time period they were built. Constructed all the way back to 3000 B.C., the mounds rivaled the most advanced engineering techniques in the world.

American archaeologist and anthropologist, Stephen Plog, wrote an account of the pre-Columbian natives of the Americans titled Ancient Peoples of the American Southwest. Plog’s purpose is to communicate the cultural and ritualistic lifestyles of the prehistoric natives of the southwest, which spans across the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Nevada with some mention of trade with Mexico. The author has demonstrated an effective approach of an objective viewpoint on the lives of the prehistoric south westerners using sources from excursions from previous archaeologists such as, Paul S Martin and David R Wilcox among many others who excavated the vacant villages of the southwest.

The Cherokee tribe have lived what is now Northern Georgia for more than one hundred years. So it is claimed to be there land and therefore they have the right to stay and turn down the offer. Another argument is that the Cherokee had against the Americans is that there family, homes, and everything they know would have been taken away from them. Although the Americans have gave them fortune such as 70,000 square miles of land and millions of dollars if they leave. The Cherokee wasn’t aware of what awaits them if they did move to the new land.

However, it can be argued that the Indians had been told multiple times that the land did not

The Native’s felt that there land was their sacred land and it was the greatest land in the world. The settlers felt like it was an opportunity to get a fresh start and make alot of money. Also, if you were in debt in the other side of America and you came over to the west, farming industries were a great way for them to get out of debt.The Natives thought in the Crows tribe where Arapoosh was that if you went in any other direction it wasn’t as good as his land.

The discovery of New England, a place considered to be fertile, perfect in climate, and overall fascinating, obtained the captivation and interest of many beings, causing migration to this new land to spark. Nevertheless, the fascination that soon-arrived colonists had and the want to acquire new colonists, numerous beings exaggerated, lied, and chose only to report selective pieces of information, causing many to be misinformed. Several incoming colonists believed, that they would be free of inconveniences as they would have access to a year-round warm climate, and fertile soil. However, upon arrival, this information proved to be false, as a result, many newcomers to New England suffered and often died due to their ignorance.

The reading states that many skeptics doubt that the structures were created by bees and provides three arguments to support that. However, the professor states that skeptical arguments are not convincing and refutes each of the arguments in the reading passage.

The motifs found in the creation myths are undoubtedly different from those found in any other type of myth. Contrary to popular belief, the purpose of the creation myths is much greater than a primitive attempt to explain the mysteries of creation. Behind each creation myth is a vast variety of symbolism along with a number of motives which are often shared between cultures, despite vast geographical differences. My intention here is not only to discuss the purpose of the creation myths, but also to compare and contrast common themes which can be found in three selected works. These being, an Eskimo creation myth, the Ongwe creation myth and the Navajo creation myth.

Firstly to strengthen his claim, the spaeker suggests that most of the sites where archeological evidences are present are

A mound at Dainzú provides evidence of the inhabitants of the site engaging in a ball game. The slabs that were found in the mound are the most important findings since they each have figures engraved on them. The figures that are depicted contain humans or half human and half man images. There are three different groups of figures. The figures have their hands protected by gloves and use knee pads to cover their legs as well. Each figure also holds a small ball only in their right hand. This article fits into Mesoamerica because it gives an insight into a different ball game that is not from the Classic period. It also can see that ball games did not necessarily need a special court to play it in. It can show a correlation between cultures.

Mainstream scientist has ignored the astonishing evidence of fossil records that provide concrete background to humans existing for millions of years. In 1962, a team of archeologists led by Cynthia Irwin-William discovered ancient tool and skeleton remains at an archeological site called Hueyatalaco. Virginia Steen-McIntyre and her team of geologist were called to the site to determine how old these artifacts were. The team of geologists conclude that the artifacts were 250,000 years old. However, the team of archeologist argued that the date would be impossible due to the fact that humans did not exist within North America 250,000 years ago. Therefore, archeologist refused to publish the geologist’s finding. The power group of geologist repudiated Steen-McIntyre’s team because of the process of “knowledge filtration”.

Archeology like any other science is prone to uncertainty and a couple mistakes. However, when an idea is presented as a fact, it is outrageous, nothing is completely definite and everything is basically a theory. Marija Gimbutas was very passionate about the Goddess, in The Living Goddess, she says, “The role of the father in prehistoric antiquity was either not fully understood or not as highly valued as that of the mother,” (112). Nevertheless, the way that she presented her argument was not convincing. Gimbutas acted as though she knew the history of a civilization just by looking at the artifacts she found, she used her own research as her evidence to support her claims, and lastly she is guilty of letting her own ideas cloud her judgment.