Sunday, May 13, 2012

Those Who Came Before























The Old Ones. Most places contain their traces. Even now, many places serve as the homes of their descendents. I can attest -- from checking them out with my own eyes -- to three of the spectacular mound complexes shown on the map (courtesy of Wiki Commons) above: Town Creek (in present-day North Carolina); Etowah (present-day Georgia) and Cahokia (present-day Illinois, but also near St. Louis, Missouri). Consider the following: "One of the greatest cities of the world, Cahokia was larger than London was in AD 1250" (Link: http://cahokiamounds.org/). 

These "mound people" groups traded with each other, but also had trade connections down Mexico way and beyond. Furthermore, it seems they may have been direct offshots or colonies projected from those same regions. To what extent is still being worked out as more archaeological finds are made and evaluated. One thing is certain: the Old Ones were interesting people, and as of now we only know so much about them.      
























Let's not forget the Cliff Dwellers of what is now the Southwestern United States, including the Anasazi, Hohokam and Mogollón peoples. More on them at some point. I've visited several Pueblos on the eastern fringes of this group, but none in the interior region. Mind-blowing stuff. I'm halfway through Louis L'Amour's The Haunted Mesa (1987) which involves the "Four Corners" and is set among the San Juan River area mesas.

What's out there?  Seek and ye shall find . . . there's always something of the Old Ones just around the haunted bend.

Today's Rune: Signals.  

4 comments:

Adorably Dead said...

Look at that, yet another reason for me to go back and visit North Carolina again. :p

the walking man said...

If I remember correctly there is a huge mound in central Ohio. The ancients traveled far and wide---genetically all the way to present day Chile.

jodi said...

Erik, I have seen the area in south west Florida. It's very cool, altho this Indian 'trades' in the Keys!

Charles Gramlich said...

Definitely fascinating stuff. There's such history in our world that we don't know about.