The year 1492 divided the history of the indigenous peoples of America into “before” and “after.” Columbus’s discovery of new continents led to a grim “after”: there were robberies and conquests of lands, the extermination of Indians, and the destruction of their monuments. One way or another, the culture of millions of Americans at that time was irreparably damaged. And what was “before”? How did this part of the world live in ancient times? What was it like before the arrival of Europeans? The longer the study of America’s past lasts, the more oddities and mysteries it reveals.
Pre-Columbian reality
The theory that only semi-savage tribes of nomadic Indians could be found in pre-Columbian America has been outdated for a long time. By the end of the 15th century, both Northern and Southern continents had acquired a rich history, and the first civilizations appeared here, perhaps even earlier than European ones. It is believed that America was settled from the Eurasian continent, at a time when there was still an overland “bridge” between Chukotka and Alaska. It happened about 30 – 20 thousand years ago.
Gradually moving south, the migrants who came from Northeast Asia developed according to all the rules of the evolution of human society. The communal and tribal system, then the division into classes, is evidenced by archaeological excavations. America knew states, and some of them disappeared even before the arrival of Europeans (and through no fault of their own, unlike, for example, the Inca Empire). The arrival of the colonialists hurt the cultural heritage of the indigenous peoples: objects made of precious and simply valuable materials were exported, melted down, and disposed of in other ways; monuments were destroyed out of contempt for a foreign, non-Christian religion or simply as a result of looting.
But archaeologists and the scientific community in general got to the serious study of America’s past – it happened in the 19th century. The finds were such that it was not easy to attribute them to the Indians – theories arose that once upon a time there were some kind of supercivilizations on these two continents, then the dead, and perhaps they were also natives of Europe or Asia – Phoenicians, Romans, Chinese. It seemed too improbable to assume that the “wild” tribes could be related to the found monuments of the American past.
They began to study the cultures that existed in the pre-Columbian era, and the further they moved into the depths of the centuries, the more mysteries and ambiguities came to the fore. It turned out that it was almost impossible to find out exactly the causes of the decline of previous civilizations, explain the manufacturing techniques or the purpose of some art objects or structures, or even decipher the writing of previous civilizations – only the Maya script has now turned out to be readable.
Whether previous civilizations were “super”, whether Native Americans resembled the mythical inhabitants of Atlantis, or simply managed to achieve special success in some areas, is an interesting and open question. Visit. A F R I N I K . C O M . For the full article. But, anyway, many centuries before the arrival of Europeans in America, there were amazing naturalistic sculptures, large-scale architectural structures, cities of thousands, and even plumbing, ceramics, and jewelry, not to mention the mathematical and astronomical achievements of ancient American sages.
The birthplace of many cultures
First of all, it is necessary to understand how isolated the world of the peoples of America was from the Old World. There are two approaches among scientists here – one involves contacts between pre-Columbian civilizations and representatives of various other cultures. This would explain some general patterns – the worship of the sun as a deity, the construction of pyramids and mounds, traditions of mummification, and so on. There are versions that not only Europeans arrived on the American continents, but also Japanese, Chinese, Jews, Arabs, Indians, and Africans – these assumptions are made by analyzing works of art and products.
However, only the fact of the arrival of the Norwegians on the island of Newfoundland at the end of the 10th century remains confirmed, but this contact, if there was one, did not affect the local peoples. The Vikings who arrived lived in their own community and did not interact with the Native American population. In addition, it has been confirmed by genetic analysis that Polynesians landed on the American continent long before Columbus. All other versions about the influence of other cultures on the formation of American ones remain unconfirmed.
The Olmec culture is considered to be the earliest in this part of the world. It originated at the end of the third millennium BC. It was the Olmecs who were the first to build cities, build architectural monuments, and generally set the direction for the development of American tribes. These people left behind, among other things, the first American water pipeline with a length of about two kilometers. Built about three thousand years ago, it was made of basalt, consisting of interconnected U-shaped stones covered with thin basalt plates.
