Whoops, I'd added it but never pinged it. It showed up in the weekly digest list, however.
Posted on 10/30/2021 1:09:22 AM PDT by blueplum
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Researchers at the University of Cincinnati say they have more evidence that Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico was more than just an ancient gathering spot for Indigenous ceremonies and rituals...
The researchers reported a gradual degradation of the surrounding woodlands beginning around 600 B.C., much earlier than previously thought...
...Amid the shift from people hunting and gathering to underatking agriculture, the researchers noted measurable changes — such as juniper trees decimated for building needs, food resources and firewood for cooking.
“This is a very arid area,” he said. “In arid woodlands, the trees are essential for holding the soil in place. When the puebloan inhabitants removed those woodlands, the result was eventually severe erosion and the deterioration of croplands.”...
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
You don’t mean to say thay indigenous peoples weren’t at one with the earth? Perish the thought!
The problem began when their halfrican leader shut the parks down to punish the average inhabitants for not wanting to spend their children’s inheritance.
I was very surprised when I visited the lava fields north of Flagstaff from active volcanoes 950 years ago.
SUNSET CRATER NATIONAL PARK
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset_Crater
Chaco Canyon is one place I never visited when I lived in New Mexico. We always had our young children in tow, and I’m not sure they would have enjoyed that destination. I always wanted to go there.
"Did a group of thirteenth-century Japanese merge with the people, language, and religion of the Zuni tribe? For many years, anthropologists have understood the Zuni in the American Southwest to occupy a special place in Native American culture and ethnography.
Their language, religion, and blood type are startlingly different from all other tribes. Most puzzling, the Zuni appear to have much in common with the people of Japan."
I recommend seeing it. It’s a beautiful place.
I wouldn’t be surprised. Some time ago I ran across a padre or conquestador’s ‘diary’ account of Peruvians and it was described that they would hunt ducks the same way as the Chinese/Japanese - by putting coconut mat hats on their heads and pretending to be floating coconuts to get closer to the ducks. Wish I could find it again. Here’s a few pix, larger but similar to what was sketched in the ‘diary’:
http://www.soniahalliday.com/images/19A-22-21.jpg
http://www.saturdaygalleryart.com/uploads/9/9/3/3/99339056/s169895090511963746_p1521_i201_w640.jpeg
Whoops, I'd added it but never pinged it. It showed up in the weekly digest list, however.
I saw a show about a year ago that was interesting. They were thinking the Chinese may have visited the Americas long before Columbus.
Divers had been finding “doughnut” stones along the west coast of the US. Large stones with a hole in the middle. They determined the holes were man made. Later they figured out they were anchor stones from Chinese ships.
No reason the Chinese couldn’t have explored the entire west coast of the Americas.
Chaco is definitely an out of the way destination, but I highly recommend it. Beautiful in an almost haunting kind of way. As Spock would say, fascinating.
Not only is Chaco a beautiful and haunting place, it is one of the half-dozen or so most important pre-Columbian sites in America.
This article tells just a bit about the latest research, but remember, it IS AP. They have an environmental narrative they wish to push. The full story is full of nuances and gaps. The “ceremonial center” theory still dominates the analysis for several reasons, not least is the sparse evidence for actual occupation for any extended period of time, i.e., fireplace evidence, large trash middens, remains of household goods. There is a little bit of all this, but not nearly in the quantities to be evidence of major occupation.
Chaco is an amazing place.
Oldplayer
Cushing, Oklahoma
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