Subtle and effective as a Campy Valentino
On Feb 28, 2005, at 9:58 PM, Jay Van De Velde wrote:
> Nope. This is Chuck's fiendishly clever way to point out that this
> whole discussion is Off Topic by using Pre-Columbian American history
> as a blunt instrument to drive home the point.
> Jay Van De Velde
> Seal Beach
>
> Eugene Powell <radfin@SpiritOne.com> wrote:Is this some sort of
> fiendishly cleaver build up to an argument about
> which flavor of California Masi what group rode to get here? And to
> document the serial numbers of their pre-columbian gran sport
> derailleurs?
>
> On Feb 28, 2005, at 9:00 PM, Chuck Schmidt wrote:
>
>> Julian Shapiro wrote:
>>>
>>> The word swastika is Sanskrit and the predates the Greeks by at least
>>> 1000
>>> years. It's also found in pre-Columbian cultures of the desert
>>> Southwest.
>>
>>
>> Oh, did someone mention pre-Columbian cultures of the desert
>> Southwest??? Now there is a subject that I can warm to!!!
>>
>> It is believed that the first inhabitants of the Americas were people
>> from Asia, who crossed the Bering Strait (at that time spanned by a
>> thin
>> isthmus of land) into Alaska. The
>> exact time of this migration is unknown, though one may speculate,
>> based
>> on scientific evidence, that it was later than fourteen thousand years
>> ago. These migrants then
>> traveled southward through America, either along the Pacific coast or
>> along the Rocky Mountains.
>>
>> Originally, theories suggested that the first Americans lived on the
>> continent no earlier than 11,500 years ago. However, recent
>> discoveries
>> have revealed signs of settlement in
>> the Americas at least 1000 years prior to that period. Archaeological
>> finds near the present town of Clovis, New Mexico, reveal that 12,000
>> years ago a culture existed with the
>> ability to shape flint into arrowheads and spear tips. Some evidence
>> points to the theory that people inhabited the continent even earlier
>> than 13,000 years ago, but this
>> evidence is ambiguous at best.
>>
>> Such evidence is made even more ambiguous by the traces of DNA that
>> span
>> the Pacific Ocean from Australia to Papua New Guinea, across
>> Micronesia
>> to east Asia. This
>> opens the possibility of sea travel hugging the coast; unfortunately
>> evidence of such a theory that would be left on the shores would be
>> eliminated over time due to sustained
>> coastal erosions and sea level changes. The DNA facts significantly
>> negate, and arguably eliminate, the Bering Strait theory, which is not
>> supported by any conflicting
>> physical evidence. The flint points are used on a flatboard (like
>> bristles on a toothbrush) on the Asian mainland, rather than mounted
>> on
>> spears like the Clovis points, thereby
>> calling into question the idea of tool migration, a major source of
>> this
>> post-Ice-Age migration theory.
>>
>> Regardless of how they arrived on the continent, or what route they
>> took
>> as they traveled towards Mexico and South America, it is clear that by
>> the time Christopher
>> Columbus "discovered" the New World in the fifteenth century, several
>> civilizations existed across the Americas.
>>
>> The Mayans
>>
>> In about 2000 BCE, Native Americans were settled in the Yucat*°n
>> Peninsula of present-day Mexico. The agricultural Maya society began
>> to
>> develop a complex culture.
>> Tribal chiefs and elders instituted a system of government. Several
>> other political and religious institutions also developed.
>>
>> 300 CE, the starting date of the so-called Classic Period, is often
>> considered a turning point in the Mayan civilization. Government and
>> society became more complex, with
>> each city having its own king and nobility. A polytheistic (many-god)
>> religion also developed, as did the custom of human sacrifices. These
>> sacrifices were conducted by
>> decapitation, by shooting with arrows, or by the cutting open of the
>> body and the removal of the heart.
>>
>> In addition to politics and religion, science also developed. For
>> example, a 365-day calendar was created. Furthermore, Mayans developed
>> a
>> system of writing known as
>> hieroglyphics (distinct from Egyptian writing of the same name).
>>
>> The Maya civilization remained prosperous until the ninth century CE.
>> The civilization slowly began to disintegrate and finally collapsed in
>> about 900 CE. The exact cause is
>> still unknown, but internal strife, rebellion, foreign warfare, and
>> natural disasters could have all aided the downfall.
>>
>> After the Classic Period, which is considered to have ended in 900 CE,
>> Mayans continued to live in some parts of the Yucat*°n Peninsula.
>> However, the civilization was never
>> again to be as dominant in Mexico as it once was.
>>
>> The Aztecs
>>
>> The Mexica, the citizens of the Aztec Empire, are the people after
>> whom
>> Mexico is named. In 1325, the Mexica created a city called
>> Tenochtitl*°n
>> near Lake Texcoco, in the
>> Valley of Mexico (the site of present-day Mexico City). Tenochtitl*°n
>> grew in influence over the next century; in 1428, Tenochtitl*°n led an
>> alliance that conquered much of
>> Mexico.
>>
>> Just as with the Maya, religion was extremely important in the Aztec
>> Empire. A polytheistic religion was important in several aspects of
>> life, and human sacrifices were very
>> common. It is reputed that in 1487, over 80,000 imprisoned enemy
>> warriors were sacrificed. To express their religion, Aztec artists
>> created idols and temples, which often
>> included large amounts of gold and silver.
>>
>> The Aztec Empire was destroyed by the Spanish invaders. However,
>> thousands of descendants of the Mexica live in present-day Mexico,
>> carrying on some of the traditions of
>> the Aztec culture.
>>
>> The Incas
>>
>> While the Aztec Empire dominated Central America, the Inca Empire
>> dominated South America. Originally, during the thirteenth century CE,
>> the Inca inhabited land near Lake
>> Titicaca in present-day Peru. At its peak, situated along the Andes
>> Mountains and the Pacific Coast of South America, it included parts of
>> Peru, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, and
>> Ecuador, with the capital at Cuzco, in Peru. It is important that one
>> understand the difference between the Inca and the Aztec. The Aztec
>> Empire was a collection of different
>> cities under the control of one powerful city. The Inca Empire,
>> however,
>> was actually one whole nation.
>>
>> Religion was significant in Inca life. The royal family were believed
>> to
>> be descendants of the Inca Sun God. Thus, the emperor had absolute
>> authority, checked only by
>> tradition. Under the emperors, a complex political structure was
>> apparent. The Inca Emperor, regional and village leaders, and others
>> were part of an enormous bureaucracy.
>> For every ten people, there was on average one official. The
>> organization of the Empire also included a complex transportation
>> infrastructure. To communicate across the
>> entire empire, runners ran from village to village, relaying royal
>> messages.
>>
>> The Spanish conquered the Inca just as they had conquered the Aztec.
>> However, millions of descendants of the Inca live in Peru and other
>> parts of the former Inca Empire.
>>
>> North American Cultures
>>
>> While the Mayan, Aztec, and Inca cultures can be classified as
>> civilizations, the cultures that lived in the present day United
>> States
>> and Canada cannot, as they lacked written
>> communication, domestication of animals, and government, among other
>> things.
>>
>> Early Natives
>>
>> The earliest native americans that developed cultures in North America
>> were the Mound Builders of the east. Evidence of their existence has
>> been found as far north as the
>> Great Lakes and as far south as Florida. The Mound Builders first
>> began
>> build at around 1000 B.C. These people were not one tribe, but they
>> were
>> many different cultures
>> that all had the custom of building pyramid shaped, grass covered
>> hills.
>> The Adena are among the earliest Mound Builders, being hunters and
>> gatherers that prospered in the
>> Ohio River Valley at around 800 B.C. They were follwed by the
>> Hopewell,
>> who thrived from 200 B.C. to 500 A.D. The Hopewell were traders and
>> farmers, and they also
>> built the famed Great Serpent Mound, which resembles a gaint snake.
>> The
>> Mississippians built the largest Mound Builder settlement, Cahokia.
>> Cahokia was home to around
>> 30,000 residents and had many dwellings and pyramids, so it strongly
>> resembled many Mayan cities. The actual origin of the Mound Builders
>> is
>> unknown, but according to
>> Natchez (descendants of the Mound Builders) legend, their people once
>> lived from the mouth of the Mississippi and west, along the shore of
>> what is thought to be the Gulf of
>> Mexico.
>>
>> Other early native americans settled in the desert southwest. The
>> Hohokam came from Mexico at around 300 B.C. and prospered from about
>> 300
>> A.D. to about 1200 A.D. in
>> present-day Arizona. The Hohokam were excellent water regulators, and
>> built hundred of miles of irrigation channels. They also left behind
>> carved stone, pottery, and shells.
>> Not much else is known about the Hohokam. The Anasazi also settled the
>> Southwest at about the same time as the Hohokam. These people built
>> pueblos, villages made out of
>> baked earth and clay. In adittion, they built cliff dwellings and
>> complex road systems.
>>
>> Later Native American Cultures
>>
>> The Mound Builders, Hohokam, and Anasazi eventually fell and gave way
>> to
>> new cultures. These cultures still lived in North America at the time
>> that European explorers
>> were first beginning to arrive on the continent.
>>
>> The cultures of North America can be placed into six distinct cultural
>> regions: the Southeast, the Northeast Woodlands, the Plains, the
>> Northwest Coast, the Southwest, and
>> the Arctic North.
>>
>> In the Southeast, the Creeks, Chickasaw, Cherokee, (and later) the
>> Miccosukee, and the Seminoles were the major cultures. These Native
>> Americans were primarily farmers,
>> harvesting corn, and tobacco, among other things. They lived in loose
>> communities.
>>
>> In the Northeast, there were the Iroquois, Algonquians, and others.
>> Interestingly, the Iroquois were five indian nations that joined
>> together in a loose confederation with
>> leaders elected by the women. The peoples of the Northeast live in
>> long,
>> wooden houses, simply called longhouses, and were mostly hunters and
>> gatherers.
>>
>> The Plains were home to many tribes, including the Sioux, Cheyenne,
>> Blackfoot, and Crow tribes. The Plains tribes had a very different way
>> of life than those in the east, due
>> to the abundance of buffalo and deer. The tribes lived in collapsable
>> tepees, which they slept in while following the herds of buffalo,
>> which
>> they hunted for food and clothing.
>>
>> The Northwest Coastal indians were fishers. They hunted whale for food
>> and blubber (which they used as oil), and fished in the rivers for the
>> abundant salmon. The Tinglit,
>> Nootka, Kwakiutl and Chinook lived here. They were nomadic.
>>
>> The desert Southwest was home to the Pueblo, Navajo and Apache tribe.
>> The Pueblo and Navajo tribes built apartment-type dwellings called
>> pueblos. The pueblos were made
>> out of sun dried earth called adobe. They farmed corn and other crops
>> suitable to the area. The Apache were very different than the Pueblo
>> or
>> Navajo tribes; they never settled
>> down and hunted and stole from neighboring tribes. For this reason,
>> they
>> became known as the "Apache Raiders."
>>
>> In the northern Arctic, there were a handful of scattered nomadic
>> tribes, including the Inuit (eskimo) and Inupiat tribes. These tribes
>> followed many of the same customs as the
>> tribes of the Northwest Coast, but they were better suited for the
>> cold
>> temperatures. For example, these tribes built igloos and followed
>> wolves
>> to find caribou to eat.
>>
>> Most of these tribes would eventually fade away as Europeans quickly
>> snapped up the area that they had discovered in the early 1500s. As
>> tribes interacted with Europeans,
>> customs and items were exchanged in what came to be known as the
>> Columbian Exchange.
>>
>> Chuck Schmidt
>> South Pasadena, Southern California
>>
>> .
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>
> Gene Powell
> Rad Finishes
> Portland, OR
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
Gene Powell
Rad Finishes
Portland, OR