12:59pm June 27, 2013

➸ Prehistoric Paintings Reveal Native Americans' Cosmology | Inside Science

bittergrapes:

A large, sophisticated civilization that once built one of the largest cities in the world left behind hundreds of works of art, carved or painted on rocks in the open air or deep in caves in the Appalachian Mountains in the Southeastern United States, archaeologists have reported.

That art work, some of it 6,000 years old, tells a unified story, the view the Native Americans had of the universe they lived in, according to archaeologists. It was a layered cosmology, similar to civilizations from ancient Greece to modern religions, full of spirits — good and evil — and colors — dark and light.

So neat! We hear so much about rock art in prehistoric Europe, but so little about prehistoric North American rock art and motifs, neglecting the fact that prehistoric Native Americans had cosmology, spirituality, and social organization every bit as complex as those found elsewhere.

And we’re into the weird interpretations again. (Absolutely no offense meant to the person I reblogged this from, searching tags; I’m also glad to see this art getting more attention!)
The artwork found on the walls of the caves reveals how the Mississipians thought about the world and universe around them, which was probably similar to earlier Native American religious structures, such as the Mayans, Simek said.

He keeps going on about Mississippian cultures, when this art is from thousands of years before that cultural complex even developed. And, IIRC, Mayan cultures as such, too. Assuming that people in what’s now Tennessee and people in the Yucatán must have come up with similar religious ideas is bizarre enough, even if you can keep the timeframe there straight.

Trying to figure out other people’s cosmology based on very limited knowledge just doesn’t work so well, and ends up more like a Rorschach test of your own preconceptions. That doesn’t stop a lot of people from trying, even when they seem confused about what culture(s) they’re even dealing with.
The city of Cahokia began around 600 AD across the Mississippi River from what is now St. Louis. Cahokia’s population may have reached 40,000 people, which would make it the largest city ever built in what is now the United States prior to the 1780s when Philadelphia’s population caught up. In 1250, Cahokia’s population of 15,000 matched London and Paris.

Cahokia was abandoned by the 15th century.

When Europeans arrived in the 16th century, the Mississippians had generally evolved or been replaced by the tribes or ethnic groups we now know as Cherokee or Cree or other groups. Anthropologists aren’t sure.

That is from the author of this article…but, Cree?! (Yes, I get that they meant Creek, but there’s really no excuse.) And “evolved"?

Note also that this particular art dates from roughly 4000 BC, and they are still going on about Cahokia which was nowhere near this cave, and was probably founded 3500 years after the artist(s) we’re talking about painted the cave walls. That is also a significantly longer time span for social and cultural change to happen, between this art and the Mississippian complex, than between Cahokia being abandoned and today. Much less between the Mississippian period and, say, Tsalagi cultures at Contact.

My main point here? This would not pass for acceptable nor even vaguely sensible, if they were talking about societies anywhere in Eurasia. This level of ignorance and wild speculation and conflation coming from people who are supposed to be experts would be noticeable if they were, say, talking about ancient Greek art in terms of 20th century Paris, and then tried to tie this in with the Epic of Gilgamesh. Without really admitting the possibility that there might be any significant differences there.

And we’re right back around to the excellent What if people told European history like they told Native American history?.