harpersmagazine-1902!08!0008375 primeval america

8/2/2019 HarpersMagazine-1902!08!0008375 Primeval America

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From" Records of the Past"

UXMAL. CEr


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THE PRIMEVAL NORTH-AMERICAN. 397

tecture built and occupied those great

cities in Yucatan, Honduras, Guatemala,

and other Oentral-American states, whose

populations oncc numbered hundreds. of

thousands. Explorations have opened outthe secrets of these mural wastes, and

archaiologists have coincidently been ex-

cavating their desert counterpar-ts in the

Old World to verify their relationship.

Anaglyphs of a long - forgotten people

have been deciphered, and the revelationis like an open book. .

An approximate date when this civiliza-

tion was at the acme of its glory would

be about 10,000 years ago. This is estab-lished by observations upon the recession

of the existing glacier fronts, which are

known to drop back twelve miles in one

hundred years. How many centuries

previously this civilization had endured

is a problem hard to solve, because it is

not within mortal ken to know how long

the ice sheet remained in bulk before it

began to melt faster than it accumulated.

Hence the popular assumption thatAmerica was originally peopled by mi-

grations from the north is erroneous on

the facc of it, though within the past

1500 years racial injections from Eu-

rope and eastern Asia have largely over-

spread the higher latitudes. Ethnologists

have made a mistake in drawing in-

ferences from superficial signs which

sequentially must be recent. If we wish

to learn ancient. history, we must dig.

Ruins of sufficient antiquity to be con-

sidered ancient by comparison with re-

cent architecture overlie mural and ce-

ramic deposits of ages long forgotten,

the excavation of which discloses dates,

events, notable names and places, and

monuments of art, which the practised

archseologist could interpret with a con-

siderable degree of accuracy, even if

graven tablets and monumental inscrip-

tions did not invariably turn up to assist

and confirm his deductions. So whether

we work at Ur of Ohaldea or at Ohi-

chen-Itza of Oentral America we are not

liable to err if careful and consistent.

It is by some such intelligent adjustment

of coefficients that we are enabled to solve

the racial problem of the Western Hemi-

sphere, not only as respects the origin

of the American Indigenes (miscalledIndians), but approximately the antiq-

uity of their progenitors, whose ruined

and silent cities, like those of Asia

:Minor, long since passed out of history,

and whose massive pyramids, temples,

Reproduced by permission Iruur , . Records uf the Past"

MAP SHOWI~G GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OF PREHISTORIC RUINS SO FAR AS KNOW~ IN THE

UNITED STATES


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398 HARPER'S MONTHLY' MAGAZINE.

IT ~tr~~][(

By courtesy of the Bureau of Forestry

ANCIENT PICTOGRAPHS. MADE ABOUT 5000 YEARS AGO. KERN RIVEn CANON. CALIFORNIA

and palaces vie with those of the Old

World, and are inferentially not onlycoeval with them, but closely related.

The nicety with which the parts fit

is proof of the correctness of a thesis

which not only indicates the birthplace of

the people from which the early inhab-

itants of North America sprung, but

locates their point of departure (in Con-

tral America), and the several divergent

routes of exodus therefrom northward,

which eventuated in the distribution ofthe population over the greater part of

the continent. And it is able to trace and

establish these designated routes by mu-

ral inscriptions, petroglyphs, stone tab-

lets, writings, and traditions, the authen-

ticity of which is self-evident and self-

contained. Pictographs and painted

rocks to the number of over 3000, all

located and listed, are scattered all over

the country, from the Dighton Rock inMassachusetts Bay to the Kern River

Cation in California, and from the Flor-

ida cape to the .Mouse River in Mani-

toba, which, if translated, would give us

a current history of migrations and events

which have transpired since the glacial

sheet was uncovered. The identity of the

Indians with their ancient progenitors is

further proven by relics, mortuary cus-

toms, linguistic similarities, plants andvegetables, and primitive industrial and

mechanical arts which have remained

constant throughout the ages. And not

only is the progress of migration and dis-

tribution intelligently traced, but also

the incidental metamorphoses and de-

generation" which, in the course of the

;:.This theory of degeneration from thehigh civilization of ancient Central Amer-

ica to the breech- clout Indians of thePlains, which is not popular with evolution-ists, is manifested in the case of negroes on

long period of transformation, ultimately

touched the level of savagery in manyinstances.

With the gradual withdrawal of the

glacial sheet the climate grew proportion-

ately milder, and flora and fauna moved

simultaneously northward. Coincidently

the solar heat at the equator, which had

before been tolerable, became oppressive;

large areas of agricultural land became

desiccated; quarrels and jealousies arose;

the overcrowded population grew restless,and an impulse of extradition super-

vened which has probably had no parallel.

Some emigrants went to South America

and settled there, carrying their customs,

arts, ceremonial rites, hieroglyphs, archi-

tecture, etc.; and an immense exodus

took place intu Mexico and Arizona,

which ultimately extended westward up

the Pacific coast. Ooincidently a north-

ward migration took place through NewMexico to southeastern Oolorado, and

another exodus still more direct acros

the Gulf of Mexico in flotillas from Yu-

catan to the mainland, and thence du

northward between the 87th and the 97t

meridians, extending at last as far up a

Lake Superior, the progressive trend be

ing punctuated at succeeding stages b

defensive earth-works, whose construction

the sea islands along the coast of SoutCarolina, whose gibberish in the course oonly thrce generations has become unintelligible, and it is further illustrn.ted anstrengthened in modern history by thmountaineers of Kentucky and West Virginia, who arc the descendants of some othe best Virginia families since only a cetury ago, and who forgot in their transplanting to establish with their homes thschools and churches which their forefthers had considered indispensable to me

tal and moral culture, And this barbarisis in the heart of an educated and progresive country.


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THE SETTLDMD~T AT KING'S ISLAND, ALASKA

[The King's Island settlement was in existence when Captain Cook, in circumnavigating the globe, visited Bering

Sea, and how much older it is no one can tell. There are DO outer platforms or vestibules of the cave dwellings.

When, in summer, the caves become 'too damp for health, the people move out, and construct of driftwood and walrus-

skins the summer houses or tents which are prominent in the picture. The driftwood probably comes from the Yukon

River. and is t hrown up against the rocks a nd caref ully gathered by t he people. The f loor is made of t hese drift wood

trees hewn to be fairly level, and laid side by side. Then a light frame of driftwood is mane over the floor, and

covered with walrus-skins or the skins of t he large seal. The rear end of t he platform rests upon the ground, and

t he front of t he summer t ent is oftentimes t wenty or thirty feet above t he ground. In the picture ma y be seen some

small holes in the side of t he hill with layers of stone around the openings. These are the ent ra nces to the caves.

Inside the o pening there is a small ha llway f rom ten t o t wenty feet in lengt h, and that opens t hroug h a small hole

into the main living-room of the cave.]

was attributed until recently to a hypo-

thetical people termed Mound-Builders,

Great numbers of emigrants also went to

the Antilles, the Bahamas, and other

neighboring islands, where colonies had

already been planted, and thence to

Florida, and from there were dissemi-

nated all over the eastern part of the con-

tinent as fast as it became habitable.These initial migrations t~ok place in

the early history of the glacial period.

In subsequent epochs, when the ice sheet

had withdrawn from large areas, as far

at least as up to the latitude of the Great

Lakes, there were immense influxes of peo-

ple from Asia via Bering Strait and theKamtchatkan Peninsula on the Pacific

side, and from northwestern Europe via

Greenland on the Atlantic side (thatsubarctic tract being hospitable then),

and these continued, pari passu, as the

earth became uncovered, distributing

themselves over the country by available

watercourses, which were then larger and

more numerous than now, until large

communities occupied its most attractive

uplands, notably the region south of

Lakes Erie and Ontario, as is made evi-

dent by the abandoned copper-mines ofLake Superior and the many mounds

imd defensive earth-works in Ohio and

contiguous territory.

Early migrants from Central America

into Mexico and beyond were able to

maintain the high civilization of their

forebears as long as their basic relation

and environment remained unchanged, a

postulate which is abundantly attested by

arohssological evidence, as well as by theenduring testimony of petroglyphs. But


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400 HARPER'S .i\WNTHLY },{AGAZINE.

finally came those stupendous terres-

trial dislocations, upheavals, emergencies,

droughts, denudations, and associated

dynamic phenomena which punctuated

the lapse of geological time and changed

the contour of the continent. :R y thesame great cataclysm which broke up the

"fountains of the great deep," accord-

ing to the Scripture, and inundated so

large a part of the globe and its ante-

diluvian fauna and flora, the fructifying

rivers of Central America were engulfed,

and the acequias, aqueducts, and irri-

gating canals werc destroyed or rendered

useless. Some disjointed records of this

overwhelming catastrophe are inscribed

upon pyramids, temple walls, monoliths,

and porticos of those massive ruins which

attest to their extinguished greatness,

while oral traditions, next in historical

value to the libraries which Cortez de-

stroyed, have been transmitted down the

centuries, even to Southwestern Indians

of the present day. Drought, famine,

malignant diseases, persistent inter-

necine wars, and ultimate depopulationsupervened, and after efforts to maintain

themselves on the home sites, the dis-

comfited survivors scattered.

For many centuries large communities

tarried in Mexico, New Mexico, and

Arizona, sections of which were populousup to the arrival of Coronado in lG40,

but finally aridity of the soil, caused in

large part by forest denudation, frequent

tidal waves, the deflection of surface wa-ters into subterranean rock fissures, thc

merciless raids of the Spaniards, and in-

ternecine wars scattered them over the

lava beds and alkaline wastes of sage-

bush and cactus, to eke out a precarious

livelihood with their starveling flocks.

The remnants ultimately betook them-

selves to. the cliffs and mesas, which they

fortified, and attempted to subsist on

crops forced from scantily irrigated gar-dens on the arid plains below. This for

a distressful period, and then northward

again to more peaceful and fertile locali-

ties in eastern Colorado, where melting

snows from the uplifted continental di-

vide afforded perennial moisture. Here

they maintained a long-protracted status

as agriculturists and shepherds, estab-

lishing thrifty towns and villages, of

which a few remain to this day as " pueb-los." Records of their vicissitudes and

dire extremity arc pecked upon many a

neighboring rock-of the continued at-

tacks and defences, and how the cliff-

dwellers were finally cut off by their

enemies, and how few escaped. The ad-

vent of the Spaniards and their ruthless

quest for gold broke into the bucolic life

of the pueblos. :Many were exterminated,

while others, harassed and impoverished,

abandoned agriculture in despair and

took to the chase for a livelihood. From

that to semi-savagery the lapse was easy.

The introduction of horses by Coro-

nado at this juncture was a godsend to

the afflicted people, for it not only en-

abled them to chase the big game of the

Rocky .Mountain foot-hills, but it made

long journeys possible. It enabled them

to follow the erratic movements of the

buffalo into the Great Plains, whose in-

terior until then had been unoccupied by

men. Eventually they reached their east-

ern border, where they encountered the

forest Indians, who had also followed the

migrations of the buffalo westward from

Ohio, Virginia, and lllinois, which wereits favorite habitat at the period when

America was colonized by England.

The collision of these nomadic horse

Indians with the more sedentary forest

tribes, who clustered in villages and had

no horses, and have not had to this day,and the continuous struggle for terri-

torial possession and hunting prerog-

atives which followed, account in large

part for the suggestive zone of moundswhich spans the width of ten meridians,

and extends from the Gulf of Mexico to

Lake Superior. Outside of this zone

there are no similar mounds east of. the

Rio Grande. For three hundred and fif-

ty. years this broad territorial strip was

disputed ground, the principal seat of

the struggle being in Ohio, where there

is every evidence of pitched battles hav-

ing been fought in front of intrench-ments, and in whose 'vicinity there are

still great tumuli where hosts of the slain

were buried. Distributively the mounds

show quite exactly the area of territory

fought over, their sinuous or waving

lines or series indicating the varying for-

tunes of the combatants. :\founds are

of diverse sizes and shapes, from five to

thirty feet high, and were used for burial

and sacrificial purposes, for dykes, assites for temples and dwellings, as


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THE PRIMEVAL NORTH-AMERICAN.

refuges from inundations, as amphithe-

atres for ball games, and for ornamental

purposes, as in public parks and gardens

of the present day. Many in the sem-

blance of elephants, leopards, turtles, rats,

snakes, deer, and the like, were copied

from the Aztec and Toltec gardens, and

from others extant in the Zuni and Mo-

have country. They were reproduced

just as we copy patterns from the Old

World.

Memorabilia of permanent occupancy in

bass-relief, sculpture, and hieroglyphs oc-

cur everywhere among the ruins of the

exhumed cities of Yucatan, and are re-

peated all over Central America and parts

of South America, while pictographs and

rock inscriptions of later periods mark

the exodus and advances of the emigrants

along the trails which diverge from the

point of departure through Mexico and

Arizona, and thence northwestward up

the Pacific, or due north to Colorado, and

thence eastward along the Arkansas

River across the Great Plains, or north-

easterly across the Rio Grande through

401

southern Texas to Arkansas. The hiero-

glyphs" include outlines of animals, clan

marks, totems, secret - society insignia,

challenges, defiances, taunts (since prac-

tised hy all Indian tribes), cautions

against ambuscades and natural obstacles,

directions to water - holes, camping-

grounds, and rendezvous, as well as men-

tion of skirmishes, forced marches, mis-

adventures, and special events, practices

which were in vogue in Palestine and

Egypt in Biblical times. Every new

archeeological discovery adds testimony

to establish the more than hypothetical

orig-in of our American aborigines, and

the close relationship between their an-

cestors of Central America and the peo-

ples of Egypt and Asia. The Bureau of

Ethnography at Washington has remarked

~Pictographs on inaccessible rock cliffsand walls of canons were made from canoeswhen the permanent stage of water at allpoints was thirty-flve feet higher than now.This is illustrated at Red Hock on Lake Su-perior, the level of all the Great Lakes be-ing at one time in the past that much high-er than it is now.

By courtesy of" The Antiquarian"

HUT AND MANITOU FACE ON THE FASADE OF A TEMPLE AT PALENQUE


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B}, courtesy of . Records of the Past" Exploration Society

CLIFF DWELLINGS AT \VALPI, ARIZONA (CONTEMPORANEOUS WITH ANCIENT BABYLON)

the ident ity of certain American hiero-

glyphics in form and significance withthose of Eg'ypt and the East. The cal-

endar of Mexico duplicates in essential

features the calendars of India and

Arabia; some social customs of America

resemble those of Africa and Australia;

and the beliefs and ceremonials of theAmerican abor-igines simulate and some-

times exactly repeat those of India,

Ohina, and other countries. The sun-

dance of the plains Indians is a relic ofthe sun-worship of Peru and Mexico andback to the worship of Baal Pear; and

all the altars and sacrificial stones, the

human sacrifices, the passing through

fire, and those horrid abominations which

were bewailed and denounced by the

Bible prophets in Asia Minor 5000 years

ago, were doubtless contemporary and in

simultaneous practice on both hemi-

spheres up to the advent of the Spaniardsand the overthrow of the Montezuinas,

They obtain even now in isolated regions

of this continent.

The entire proposition contained in this

paper may bc synoptically stated as fol-

lows: The primeval peoples of both

North and South America originatedfrom a civilization of high degree which

occupied the sub - equatorial belt some

10,000 years ago, while the glacial sheet

was still on. Population spread north-

ward as the icc receded. Routes of ex-odus diverging from the central point 0 1 '

departure are plainly marked by ruins

and records. The subsequent settlements in

Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado,

Utah, and California indicate the suc-

cessive stages of advance, as well as thepersistent struggle to maintain the an-

cient civilization against reversion and

the catastrophes of nature. The varying

architecture of the valleys, cliffs, andmesas is an intelligible expression of the

exigencies which stimulated the builders.

The gradual distribution of population

over the higher latitudes in after-years

was supplemented by accretions from Eu-

rope and northern Asia centuries before

the coming of Oolumbus. Wars and re-

prisals were the natural and inevitable

results of a mixed and degenerating

population with different dialects. Th~mounds which cover the mid-continental

areas, isolated and in groups, tell the

story thereof. The Korean immigration

of the year 544, historically cited, which

led to the founding of the Mexican Em-

pire in 1325, was but an incidental con-

tribution to the growing population of

North America. So also were the vcry

much earlier migrations from Central

America across the Gulf of .Mexico.

harpersmagazine-1902!08!0008375 primeval america

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