{"id":334583,"date":"2021-09-04T01:50:42","date_gmt":"2021-09-03T22:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/early-native-americans-undervalued-as-sophisticated-engineers\/"},"modified":"2021-09-04T01:50:42","modified_gmt":"2021-09-03T22:50:42","slug":"early-native-americans-undervalued-as-sophisticated-engineers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/early-native-americans-undervalued-as-sophisticated-engineers\/","title":{"rendered":"#Early Native Americans &#8216;undervalued&#8217; as &#8216;sophisticated&#8217; engineers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#Early Native Americans &#8216;undervalued&#8217; as &#8216;sophisticated&#8217; engineers<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n        <\/aside>\n<p>A few millennia later, there is still much to learn about remarkably advanced early civilizations, particularly the indigenous peoples of North America.<\/p>\n<p>A new study sheds light on the \u201csophisticated\u201d engineering work by early Native Americans at the World Heritage Site at Poverty Point in northern Louisiana. Though they were originally presumed to be a community of hunter-gatherers, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis reveal new details about massive earthen structures built to last more than 3,400 years \u2014 a huge undertaking.<\/p>\n<p>The site features a 72-foot-tall dirt mound surrounded by concentric half-circle ridges (like ripples on the surface of water) made of 2 million cubic yards of soil. <\/p>\n<p>The supersized monument was completed in months, or potentially weeks, without modern tools, work animals or even wheeled carts for hauling material. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe as a\u00a0research community \u2014 and population as a whole \u2014 have undervalued native people and their ability to do this work and to do it quickly in the ways they did,\u201d said Tristram Kidder, the study\u2019s lead author, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2021-09-evidence-idea-america-civilization-sophisticated.html\">in a statement<\/a> for the university.<\/p>\n<p>Whereas far more modern structures \u201cfail with amazing regularity,\u201d the dirt-based structures at Poverty Point \u201chave held together \u2026 with no failure or major erosion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey really were incredible engineers with very sophisticated technical knowledge,\u201d Kidder added of the study, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/0734578X.2021.1958445\">published in Southeastern Archaeology<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/new-evidence-american-civilization-003.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"\u201cThis in and of itself is remarkable because hunter-gatherers aren't supposed to be able to do these activities,\u201d Washington University anthropologist Tristram Kidder said.\" class=\"wp-image-19346715\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/new-evidence-american-civilization-003.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/new-evidence-american-civilization-003.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/new-evidence-american-civilization-003.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>\u201cThis in and of itself is remarkable because hunter-gatherers aren\u2019t supposed to be able to do these activities,\u201d Washington University anthropologist Tristram Kidder said.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Phys Org.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Their new findings suggest the work was completed at breakneck speed. Archaeologists found no evidence of a pause between phases of work, which would be indicated by regular weathering of the structure due to rain and climate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBetween the speed of the excavation and construction, and the quantity of earth being moved, these data show us\u00a0native people\u00a0coming to the site and working in concert. This in and of itself is remarkable because\u00a0hunter-gatherers\u00a0aren\u2019t supposed to be able to do these activities,\u201d Kidder said.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers believe the area was an important religious gathering place for Native Americans, but abandoned some 2,000 years ago \u2014 presumably due to regular floods in the Mississippi River Valley, Kidder said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n    <\/aside>\n<p>Indeed, the fact that the structures still stand is a testament to their fortification \u2014 despite thousands of years of heavy rain typical of the Gulf region, as well as increasingly prevalent and powerful hurricanes and flooding. Kidder credits the Native American builders\u2019 complementary understanding of geology and earth <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">science<\/a>s. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cSimilar to the Roman concrete or rammed earth in China, Native Americans discovered sophisticated ways of mixing different types of materials to make them virtually indestructible, despite not being compacted,\u201d Kidder explained. <\/p>\n<p>He added, \u201cThere\u2019s some magic there that our modern engineers have not been able to figure out yet.\u201d\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/09\/03\/early-native-americans-undervalued-as-sophisticated-engineers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Early Native Americans &#8216;undervalued&#8217; as &#8216;sophisticated&#8217; engineers&#8221; A few millennia later, there is still much to learn about remarkably advanced early civilizations, particularly the indigenous peoples of North America. A new study sheds light on the \u201csophisticated\u201d engineering work by early Native Americans at the World Heritage Site at Poverty Point in northern Louisiana. Though&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":334584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/new-evidence-american-civilization-002.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[115360,71369,58265,75646],"class_list":["post-334583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-9-3-21","tag-archaeology","tag-louisiana","tag-native-americans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}