He’s talking about the Anasazi - quite a bit different than the Native American Indian. These were the types of guys that built the cave dwellings and adobe buildings in the SW.
But yes - I’ve always wondered about the Native American Indian that they did not figure out the wheel. Either their “traditions” and communal nature stifled them - or their surroundings (soft dirt?). Of course that soil didn’t stop the settlers on the Oregon Trail.
This is something I have never understood. Now, I can understand the Polynesians not progressing technologically, I mean it’s warm, food is abundant - heck, they live in paradise. No predators (ok, sharks); no harsh seasons, freezing temperatures - no real reason, other than warfare, to develop technologically.
However, the American Indians typically had harsh winters, they were basically in a state of perpetural war with skirmishes with other tribes. One would think that advances in weaponry, let alone food storage and a means of passing the information down through the generations would have emerged in some fashion.
There are limited ‘I wonder why ...’ exhibits that were made by the Native American Indian - but the development of working ores, the wheel, lever, mathematics, agriculture, trade specialization, agriculture, astronomy, animal husbandry, irrigation, trade routes or even shipping was virtually unknown. One would think that the harsher the enviroment, the more necessity would drive innovation. But, it just didn’t happen here.
So, when I see an article that attributes an appreciation of science that is unsupported by any other fact; I’m inclined to call it simply a coincidence. There simply isn’t any evidence to support this claim.
BTW, I have an authentic DVD of Hawiatha hunting Do-do birds - it is in this box along with my deeds to the London Bridge, just saw it the other day ...