Indigenous civilizations are far older and more complex than history suggests
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Re: Indigenous civilizations are far older and more complex than history suggests
#2How long will the Native Americans be called as "Indians"? We know why we made the mistake of called them Indians long back, so we do not have a legitimate excuse to keep calling them that & confusing people. What about the real Indians / Hindus? Such a cluster fuck!
Re: Indigenous civilizations are far older and more complex than history suggests
#3I wish the article was more in line with the title - the title comes up a little bit, but the article is mostly about white-Indian interaction, and not about Indian civilizations. Which makes sense, because the book this is excerpted from is subtitled "Native America from 1890 to present'.
Re: Indigenous civilizations are far older and more complex than history suggests
#4Aren't all civilizations far older and more complex than history can account for? We don't really know how the pyramids arrived, or a detailed history of England back very far -- who created Stonehenge?
It's interesting that the migration out of Africa and over to the Americas happened so much longer ago than previously thought, but it doesn't change what happened when the European settlers arrived. The author seems to be asserting that this gives the Native Americans more claim than they would otherwise have.
But I don't understand that logic; human history, known and unknown, is littered with people suffering under the hands of conquerors. The story is the same in Asia and Europe as it is in the Americas. The Natives themselves weren't always peaceful and conquered and claimed land from each other. Hopefully we can do better than this going forward, but the past is what it is, a harsh existence for victors and even more so for the vanquished.
Re: Indigenous civilizations are far older and more complex than history suggests
#5I wish the article was more in line with the title - the title comes up a little bit, but the article is mostly about white-Indian interaction, and not about Indian civilizations. Which makes sense, because the book this is excerpted from is subtitled "Native America from 1890 to present'.
I highly recommend the book 1491, which goes pretty deeply into what we can infer about the pre-Columbian Americas.
Re: Indigenous civilizations are far older and more complex than history suggests
#6I wish the article was more in line with the title - the title comes up a little bit, but the article is mostly about white-Indian interaction, and not about Indian civilizations. Which makes sense, because the book this is excerpted from is subtitled "Native America from 1890 to present'.
I highly recommend the book 1491, which goes pretty deeply into what we can infer about the pre-Columbian Americas.
I’m currently reading it. It’s mind blowing to see that there were peoples in Americas further than 13k years ago.
For those looking to read it, make sure to get the 400-some page version of this book. There is a similarly named book aimed at grade school kids.
https://www.amazon.com/1491-Revelations-Americas-Before-Colu...
https://www.amazon.com/Before-Columbus-Americas-Charles-Mann...
Re: Indigenous civilizations are far older and more complex than history suggests
#7I was looking at some of Egypt's history. Kind of interesting the Old Kingdom figured out pyramids, built the biggest only around 100 years after the first, then it was all downhill from there.
Makes me wonder if we hit a high point landing people on the moon, and everything's just going to go downhill for the next few thousand years.
Re: Indigenous civilizations are far older and more complex than history suggests
#8I was looking at some of Egypt's history. Kind of interesting the Old Kingdom figured out pyramids, built the biggest only around 100 years after the first, then it was all downhill from there. Makes me wonder if we hit a high point landing people on the moon, and everything's just going to go downhill for the next few thousand years.
How was it “downhill” from there? The great pyramid is rather simple as far as art and cultural complexity goes. I would actually say it is quite crude, and later middle and new dynastic period works are much more impressive, even if they are less gargantuan in scale.
Re: Indigenous civilizations are far older and more complex than history suggests
#9Aren't all civilizations far older and more complex than history can account for? We don't really know how the pyramids arrived, or a detailed history of England back very far -- who created Stonehenge? It's interesting that the migration out of Africa and over to the Americas happened so much longer ago than previously thought, but it doesn't change what happened when the European settlers arrived. The author seems…
> We don't really know how the pyramids arrived, or a detailed history of England back very far -- who created Stonehenge?
We actually know answers to both of those questions fairly well now. Archeology has advanced, and what questions remain are mostly a matter of details.
Re: Indigenous civilizations are far older and more complex than history suggests
#10Aren't all civilizations far older and more complex than history can account for? We don't really know how the pyramids arrived, or a detailed history of England back very far -- who created Stonehenge? It's interesting that the migration out of Africa and over to the Americas happened so much longer ago than previously thought, but it doesn't change what happened when the European settlers arrived. The author seems…
> We don't really know how the pyramids arrived, or a detailed history of England back very far -- who created Stonehenge? We actually know answers to both of those questions fairly well now. Archeology has advanced, and what questions remain are mostly a matter of details.
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