Adena and Hopewell Indian mounds
For some reason, I've found
myself drawn to Indian mounds over the last year or two. Perhaps
the attraction lies in the sinuous curves, the massive amount of effort
that it must have taken to construct these edifices with simple hand
tools, or the focus on the earth. But why did the Native
Americans originally build the mounds?
Centuries before the Mississippian
and Fort Ancient cultures sprang up, mounds began to
dot the North American landscape. As early as 2000 BC, Native
Americans became interested in life after death and started focusing
their energy on burying their dead with ceremonial objects and covering
them with mounds.
The Adena culture dated from
1000 BC to 200 AD in the same neck of the woods that later gave rise to
the Fort Ancient culture. Adena burials were unique in that many
burials took place in the same spot over time, with earth mounded on
top of each one --- a sort of vertical cemetery that eventually gave
rise to a mound. Our beloved Serpent Mound, although believed by many
to be built by the later Fort Ancient society, is close to several
Adena burial mounds.
The Adena culture is focused
primarily in Ohio, but the somewhat contemporaneous and succeeding
Hopewell tradition was wide-ranging across the entire eastern United
States. Archaeologists use the term "tradition" to denote a more
loosely aligned set of people who all traded together but were not
members of a single society. The Hopewell people seem to have
taken up and expanded the Adena practice of building mounds, and many of
their stunning monuments can still be seen.
Then, around 500 AD,
mound building (and the associated artistic tradition) stopped for a
while. No one is quite sure why, with hypotheses ranging from war
to a lack of food due to cooling climatic temperatures to too much food
due to agriculture. Native Americans seem to have melted back
into the woodlands, focusing on their own lives rather than the
continued existence of the dead. But don't despair, mounds were
slated to pop back up during the Mississippian culture --- bigger and
better!
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Curious to know if you've ever been to or have interest in visiting Cahokia Mounds near St. Louis OR have interest in [visiting?] the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum near Xian, China-- one of the most epic non-Native American mound sites (imho)?
Also if you've read Popol Vuh? Might be relevant reading material for your upcoming trip.
Cahokia is near the top of my must-see list, but we never seem to be up that way. If no one gets married in that direction in the next few years, I'll probably have to plan a special trip.
China, in general, is also way high up on my list of places to see. I don't want to go until we're able to spend quite a bit of time there, though. I'm dying to explore the forest (so many similarities to the southern Appalachians!), the Great Wall of China, and see the statues at Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum.
Have you been to either? I'm adding Popol Vuh to my to-read list on Goodreads, but am having trouble since there seem to be several books by that name. Which one do you recommend? (Do you have an account on Goodreads?)
I had the express pleasure of hearing Dr. John Kelly of Washington University speak last year about Cahokia and the archaeology being done at the site-- but have not visited, despite having family in the area. Shame on me!
What got me onto the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum was your mention of Central American and Native [North] American inspiring similar interest of study. It made me begin to ponder the intersection of mound sites and then those of mound-like sites across the globe. Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum, the pyramids, Silbury Hill, Hill of Tara-- were there any mound sites in Australia?
Have never been to China, but have been morbidly interested in Qin Shi Huang ever since hearing the stories surrounding his death. Get this!-- While in a distant province of Eastern China, Qin Shi Huang kicked the bucket after ingesting too much mercury (which was thought to make him immortal- ha!). Either to protect China from fracturing upon the news of his death while the Emperor was away OR to help secure their own good standing in succession to rule upon his passing-- probably a bit of both-- the Prime Minister and the Emperor's son kept his death a secret. As it was summertime and the royal caravan would take days to return to the palace, they ordered carts of fish to be carried before and after the deceased Emperor's wagon to disguise the smell of his decomposition. Each day the Prime Minister would enter the wagon to conference with the Emperor on affairs of state in order to keep up the ruse. Yikes!!
Supposedly the Mausoleum houses a split-pyramid decked out in all kinds of royal finery and a flowing system of mercury, originally designed with a water wheel to pump it along. I believe the site was originally discovered when local farmers found high levels of mercury in the grounds surrounding the mound? Anywho, I'm rambling!
The Dennis Tedlock translated version of Popol Vuh is the one I'm familiar with ($3.75 used on Amazon, fyi). It's bizarre, but with your vast bank of knowledge and completely different academic background, I can't begin to guess what you would or wouldn't get out of it. I'm /still/ beside myself with the Ceiba thorns on the pottery...
I'm not on Goodreads, but I am reading a great book at the moment-- Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity from a Consumer Culture, by Shannon Hayes. How's that for a title! Really fascinating book with interesting history on how we became dependent on the dual-income home model, and how living on less and homesteading is still a perfectly achievable and admirable pursuit. You and Mark are testament and an excellent example of this!
That is such a great story about the emperor! That's the kind of tale that sucks me into history.
I'm disappointed in myself retrospectively that I didn't look beyond the plants in Australia. If I were doing the same project now, I would have spent a lot more time in all the places talking to people about traditional forms of agriculture (or hunting/gathering), and I would have taken more time to hunt down ancient structures. It seems like the more I learn, the more I want to learn about!
I'll have to check out the Dennis Tedlock translation of Popol Vuh. I'd heard someone talk about Radical Homemakers before, but for some reason thought it was focusing around raising kids. I'll add both to my reading list --- and please do recommend anything else you read and enjoy!