37 replies to this topic

[DieChecker]

Lost Knowledge, on 30 December 2012 - 11:42 PM, said:

The problem I have with this is that mounds in the US easily predate the existence of the Mayans. For example, Poverty Point in Louisiana contains at least six earthen mounds that date between 1650 BC and 700 BC, long before the Mayans ever came around.

Watson Brake, another archaeological site in Louisiana, is even older. It is considered the earliest mound complex in North America, dating back to 3500 BC.

If there is a connection between the Mississippian mound builders and the Mayans, I think it is more likely that there was sustained trade and cultural contact between the two groups, but one didn't birth the other. The transfer of ideas, beliefs, art, and tools through trade could explain the apparent similarities between the two cultures. They are after all, not very far apart.

http://en.wikipedia....i/Poverty_point
http://en.wikipedia....ki/Watson_Brake

I know those links are from Wikipedia, but Wiki is great for basic info gathering.

Perhaps that means the culture of the Mayans came down to Mexico by way of Louisiana?

[DieChecker]

LostWorlds, on 29 December 2012 - 05:15 PM, said:

When the first Spanish entered Florida they found three groups of people living around Lake Okeechobee: Mayaimi, Mayaka, and Mayayuaka. Just north of Lake Okeechobee they entered a province named Ocala and found two groups living there. One named Potani and the other named Uqueten.

Thus there were people called Maya living around Lake Okeechobee. And there was a province called Ocala with tribes named Potani and Uqueten living in Florida just as there was a province called Acala with tribes named Poton and Yokot'an living in it in Mexico.

But, might not those people be a left over of colonization, and not the result of migration?

Also couldn't it be a matter of reusing historic names? Atlanta Georgia has nothing to do with Atlantis, but the names are similar.

[Harte]

DieChecker, on 31 December 2012 - 01:00 AM, said:

Perhaps that means the culture of the Mayans came down to Mexico by way of Louisiana?

I don't know about that, but it made me flash on what the Aztec said about their original home - Aztlan.
It was an island surrounded by swamp.

Sounds like the Bayou to me! LOL

Harte

[Abramelin]

Lost Knowledge, on 30 December 2012 - 11:42 PM, said:

The problem I have with this is that mounds in the US easily predate the existence of the Mayans. For example, Poverty Point in Louisiana contains at least six earthen mounds that date between 1650 BC and 700 BC, long before the Mayans ever came around.

Watson Brake, another archaeological site in Louisiana, is even older. It is considered the earliest mound complex in North America, dating back to 3500 BC.

If there is a connection between the Mississippian mound builders and the Mayans, I think it is more likely that there was sustained trade and cultural contact between the two groups, but one didn't birth the other. The transfer of ideas, beliefs, art, and tools through trade could explain the apparent similarities between the two cultures. They are after all, not very far apart.

http://en.wikipedia....i/Poverty_point
http://en.wikipedia....ki/Watson_Brake

I know those links are from Wikipedia, but Wiki is great for basic info gathering.

Heh, I found your other website, Lost Knowledge:

http://therealmayanp...c/#.UOGDl6whZag

Someone in another forum here (Astronomy) suggested that the Maya Calendar may have started with the sighting of some comet, and when I googled I ended up on that site.

[lightly]

Lost Knowledge, on 30 December 2012 - 11:42 PM, said:

The problem I have with this is that mounds in the US easily predate the existence of the Mayans. For example, Poverty Point in Louisiana contains at least six earthen mounds that date between 1650 BC and 700 BC, long before the Mayans ever came around.

Watson Brake, another archaeological site in Louisiana, is even older. It is considered the earliest mound complex in North America, dating back to 3500 BC.

If there is a connection between the Mississippian mound builders and the Mayans, I think it is more likely that there was sustained trade and cultural contact between the two groups, but one didn't birth the other. The transfer of ideas, beliefs, art, and tools through trade could explain the apparent similarities between the two cultures. They are after all, not very far apart.

http://en.wikipedia....i/Poverty_point
http://en.wikipedia....ki/Watson_Brake

I know those links are from Wikipedia, but Wiki is great for basic info gathering.

   Thanks Lost Knowledge,  Good to have you here.    "Sustained  contact"    .. i like that.  I suppose the peopling of the Americas  was a much more complex and multi directional process than is currently fully understood  ?   With people moving back and forth in all directions?    Cultures must have changed in TIME as cultures do.  Basically the same people could have become known by different names ,  then and now,  as  cultures changed   and moved about ?  
     The difference between an 'Olmec'  and a 'Mayan' might be, more than anything else, .. time?

[Kasey2601]

Thanks for all the input about a television show.

[lightly]

Sorry we wondered off TOPIC Lady Kasey...  it seems that's what we do as interesting ideas are interjected and interesting facts are exchanged.   I didn't see the show myself.

[Lost Knowledge]

lightly, on 31 December 2012 - 12:59 PM, said:

   Thanks Lost Knowledge,  Good to have you here. "Sustained  contact" .. i like that.  I suppose the peopling of the Americas  was a much more complex and multi directional process than is currently fully understood  ?   With people moving back and forth in all directions? Cultures must have changed in TIME as cultures do.  Basically the same people could have become known by different names ,  then and now,  as  cultures changed   and moved about ?  
The difference between an 'Olmec'  and a 'Mayan' might be, more than anything else, .. time?

Absolutely. There is so much we don't know about the ancient history of the Americas because of the lack of a historical record. For example, just look at how complex the barbarian migrations of bronze age Europe were. I have no doubt that we have a simplified understanding of the settling and migrations of ancient America.

Abramelin, on 31 December 2012 - 12:26 PM, said:

Heh, I found your other website, Lost Knowledge:

http://therealmayanp...c/#.UOGDl6whZag

Someone in another forum here (Astronomy) suggested that the Maya Calendar may have started with the sighting of some comet, and when I googled I ended up on that site.

Thanks for the link. I was mostly referring to the start of Mayan civilization, the beginnings of the Mayan culture and people could be much older. I just have doubts that they started the Mound Builder culture or vice versa.

Lady Kasey, on 31 December 2012 - 02:13 PM, said:

Thanks for all the input about a television show.

Sorry, I can get caught up in an interesting topic sometimes.

I've seen both episodes so far and I treat it the same way I treat shows like Ancient Aliens. I watch them to learn new interesting ideas, theories, etc. that I hadn't heard before, but it can be hard to take seriously sometimes (that music!).

Edited by Lost Knowledge, 31 December 2012 - 06:03 PM.