[Music] [Music] [Music] the ancient civilizations of America were unique and their history been mostly passed down through oral history but there's some physical evidence that we can examine the remnants of these lost ancient American civilizations can still be seen if you look hard enough as this documentary shows there were dozens of ancient American civilizations that flourished in their age kokia mounds State Historic Site is in Illinois just several miles east of the Mississippi River and st. Louis Missouri the mounds are a unique example of a large American Indian cultural and urban complex that flourished between AD 1000 and 1350 the original complex of mounds homes and farms covered over 4,000 acres population estimates for Cahokia proper now range from 10 to 20,000 if East st. Louis st. Louis and other surrounding sites are included that a population of 40 to 50,000 as possible for greater Cahokia the site was once the largest indigenous urban center in what is now the United States before the arrival of European explorers and settlers the earthen mounds of Cahokia offers some of the most complex archaeological sites north of central Mexico monks mound which dominates the world heritage site and is located near its center is the largest man-made structure north of central Mexico monks mound measures 304 meters 1,000 feet by 213 metres 700 feet at its base and covers 5.7 hectares 14 acres rising to approximately 100 feet in a series of four terraces Cahokia Mounds was the regional center for the american indian Mississippian culture resembling a modern metropolis with its complex social system and large permanent central towns kokia mounds world heritage site represents a truly unique example of the complex social and economic development pre-contact indigenous Americans one fascinating aspect of Cahokia is that a circle of wooden posts once stood about 1/2 mile west of monks mound that aligned with the movements of the Sun throughout the year archaeologist Warren wit REE discovered this phenomenon in the 1960s after he identified a pattern of mysterious oval pits arranged in circular arcs at the site which riri constructed a series of wooden posts at the pits and that observed sunrises and their alignments with the posts he determined that these posts appeared to predict the movement of the Sun he theorized that this served as a calendar upon further analysis which we realized that both the posts and monks mound were shaped and placed in the exact spots necessary for the Sun to look like it was rising from monks mound itself when the equinox occurred the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site interpretive center offers visitors orientation at its theatres and exhibits the interpretive Center features recreations of life and architecture at Cahokia during its heyday based on the theories and discoveries of historians and archeologists Chaco Canyon ruins Chaco culture National Historic Park preserves a major prehistoric center of ceremony and trade in the San Juan Basin just south of Farmington New Mexico natural beauty and cultural significance meet in this area of northwestern New Mexico where ruins artifacts and other archaeological sites radiate from Chaco Canyon cultural epicenter around 200 AD the first farmers settled in what is now Chaco using agriculture to supplement hunting and gathering and building small pit houses on the Mesa for shelter this era of early Pueblo culture lasted more than a half century until drastic changes in the complexity and scale of building construction changed the face of both the culture and the landscape for 300 years this latest version of Pueblo culture coined Anasazi constructing impressive buildings and roads throughout Greater Chaco region with Chaco Canyon as the epicenter and then they vanished abandoning Chaco Canyon around 1150 ad there are many ideas about the cause of the sudden Exodus including prolonged drought but the likely complex reasons for this Exodus remain a mystery amazing building skills are what most define the Chaco culture massive great houses are a significant divergence from traditional Pueblo settlements great houses are unusually large multi-story masonry buildings made of stacked stone usually sandstone and mortar in addition to their size highly refined masonry techniques and advanced engineering make these structures truly spectacular featuring hundreds of rooms some very large and several circular Kiva's built within the main structure in traditional Pueblo domestic settlements Kiva's were in a central plaza each grade house also had a separate great Kiva nearby over 200 outlying Chico and great houses exist in the greater Chaco region with a bit of mystery still surrounding their purpose some believe they served as the center for massive settlements while others imagine them as trade centres or ceremonial developments Chacon roads are another defining aspect of the Chaco culture and elaborate Road systems serve to connect great houses and significant landscape features across the Greater Chaco region there are over 100 miles of prehistoric roads associated with Chaco some of which can still be traced today like Chico and Great Houses these roads were massive and built with an elevated level of engineering skill they were also remarkably linear while most roads and trails could tour with the landscape chekalin roads followed direct lines to a destination often going over rather than contouring around major landscape features and taking angular bends instead of gentle curves some of these roads extended for miles in a single direction choco culture was intimately linked to the Stars the Chu Cohen people were expert sky watchers with a strong connection between celestial events and daily life this connection to the Stars is evident in the architecture of the Great Houses where architectural features are aligned with significant astronomical events similar alignments are found in observational and ceremonial sites throughout the Greater Chaco region with astronomy as a center point of culture dark night skies were an integral component of Chacoan life this feature is largely preserved today as the night sky of the greater Chaco region remains one of the most unpolluted in the US Mesa Verde Mesa Verde is a cultural area with an intense concentration of Pueblo population dating roughly from the 6th to the 12th centuries with world-famous cliff dwellings being amongst the most notable uncovered remains researchers have discovered and recorded over 4,400 archaeological sites on the plateau that sits in southwest Colorado many of the abandoned dwellings have survived intact for hundreds of years thanks to the dry landscape and being sheltered from the elements Mesa Verde is widely recognized as the first archeological site anywhere in the world to have received national park status today it's a prominent place for visitors and for researchers trying to piece together North America's ancient past and particularly of the Anasazi and Pueblo peoples who stand out among most other Native American peoples for their advances in urbanization the Pueblo people originally settled Mesa Verde around the 6th century and most of the buildings date between then and the 12th century accident remains suggest that settlement of the site could have begun as early as 12,000 years ago and eventually those nomadic seasonal settlers moved to a basket weaving culture they must have been attracted by the rock overhangs under which most of the houses now sit because there is also evidence of sin remains that predate the permanent settlement the term Mesa Verde culture does not just refer to the areas where they settled but also to their unique architecture and material style this is as much a cultural landscape as it is an ecological one from around the 6th century we see evidence of widespread farming and a selection of settlement sites most conducive to agriculture clearly permanent settlement was part of the plan at this point around the 12th to 13th century the culture left the area possibly due to environmental pressures such as drought one of the key indicators of this collapse has come in the form of unusual nature of their death suggesting both warfare and in the final years both typical of societal collapse we do know that some of these people moved later to sites in New Mexico and Arizona the site became very quiet until it was signed into law as a National Park in 1906 several explorations took place between the mid 18th century and the late 19th century and though no archaeological excavations took place it's in the late 19th century the area acquired the name Mesa Verde interest through the 1870s led to calls for federal and/or state protection of the ruins and the cultural landscape calls for protection intensified through the 1890s and finally it became a national park in the early part of the 20th century the same year that the federal antiquities Act passed through Congress excavations began including the building of museums and measures to protect extant remains the building's artifacts and the cultural landscapes Poverty Point those who lived at Poverty Point more than 3,000 years ago left no written records of their day-to-day lives we know that the site was a ceremonial center that was once home to hundreds or perhaps thousands of people as well as a trading hub unmatched by any in North America at that time archeologists have learned about these people by the materials they left behind artifacts and archeological features as well as what they didn't leave behind such as burials and crop remain burial mounds were common throughout the south eastern and central u.s. yet the absence of human remains at Poverty Point suggest these monumental earthworks built by hand were being used for other purposes these site was once at the center of a huge trade network 78 tons of rocks and minerals from up to 800 miles away were brought to Poverty Point an area built on an elevated land form Macon Ridge that contained no stone of its own it's people needed this raw material to craft into weapons tools and ceremonial items this would have been impossible without help from far away travelers or locals traveling by boat to collect rocks themselves Poverty Point centerpiece is its collection of earthworks built during a 600 year period or what today would be considered 25 generations it's concentrated half-circles measuring four to six feet high in places have an outside diameter of three-quarters of a mile apart mound a commonly known as the bird Mound is one of the largest in North America everything about the earth and structures at Poverty Point suggest a concerted effort to build a massive residential and ceremonial center that had no rival in terms of scale and size there are a few uses for the mounds some are used for burials some are used as platforms to elevate special buildings or temples others such as shell mounds in Florida are ancient trash heaps yet Poverty Point stands apart with no human remains or heaps of shells archaeologists assume that these were symbols of power and wealth and here's a mystery for you in a 43 acre plaza defined by the earth and C shaped ridges are the remains of massive post holes that were set in circles up to 230 feet in diameter an American version of Stonehenge much of what we know about Poverty Point comes from its diverse artifact collection the intricate all designs carved from red jasper stone and these ceramic human figurines this tells us that art was important to these ancient people and the images may have held spiritual significance the question of why Poverty Point was abandoned remains unanswered a subsequent American Indian group came along around 700 AD and reused a small part of the site but otherwise it remained abandoned until its rediscovery in the 1800s Serpent Mound Serpent Mound is the largest surviving example of a prehistoric effigy mound in the world stretching 1348 feet over the ground the beautifully preserved ancient earthwork depicts the form of an undulating serpent with an oval shape at the head many groups of ancient American Indian cultures called the area of southern Ohio home for thousands of years prior to European contact and vestiges of their sophisticated art and large scale earth and creations remain unfortunately many of our lands prehistoric earthworks have been lost in the recent centuries to development and agriculture but Serpent Mound was spared this fate early excavations of portions of the Serpent Mound revealed no artifacts to help identify which ancient indigenous culture constructed this immense artwork at least two different mound building cultures were present at the site in succession over time conical burial mounds can be found near Serpent Mound two of them belonged to the Edina culture 800 BC to 100 AD and one to the fort ancient culture 1000 to 1650 ad a nearby village site evidences occupation by both the Edina and the later Fort Asian cultures the builders left no written records so investigation and speculation continued on in both archaeological and less formal circles attempting to explain these serpent mound origins the original purpose of the serpent mound remains a mystery no record of explanation other than the earth work itself has been discovered and the historic oral traditions that might have connected us to the distant past have been highly interrupted there are many theories as to what the earthwork could have been intended for there's some evidence for astronomical correlations that suggest an earthly acknowledgement of cosmic celestial events be nearby burial mounds and timelessly moving quality of these serpents coils suggest it was once a site of sacred worship the serpent motif has a connection to the cycles of birth death and nature in many cultures throughout the world modern visitors may enjoy contemplating the mysteries of our lands ancestors feeling a connection to the past and sensing of wonder at the scale of early people's physical and artistic accomplishments mystery rather than certainty remains the site's greatest gift to present generations and all visitors are welcome to enter the circle of conjecture Serpent Mound was known to native peoples and early settlers of Adams County for many years but was brought to general attention in the 1840s by the famous pair who made a broad survey of Ohio's earthworks Squier and Davis in the 1880s Massachusetts archaeologist Frederick Warde Putnam became interested in the site and noticed that it was being degraded by erosion and vandalism he was able to raise the funds to purchase the land in the name of Harvard University and it was dedicated as a public park in 1900 the site was turned over to the Ohio Historical Society which supervised the building of the observation tower overlooking the effigy and later in the 1930s the facilities and shelter house America's Stonehenge the Mystery Hill archaeological site better known today as America's Stonehenge is situated on the exposed bedrock summit of Mystery Hill in North Salem New Hampshire the site consists of a core complex of 13 stone chambers several enclosures Nisha's stone walls stone lined drains small grooves and basins and other features which covers about one acre on the summit extending outward from and surrounding the core complex are more stone walls niches standing stones and two procession ways along the perimeter of the summit are four confirmed astronomical alignments below the summit on the slopes of the hill are a 14th chamber to utilized natural caves Springs stone walls stone karent's niches standing stones and other features in total the site covers about 105 acres america's stonehenge stands out among other related sites because it's arguably the most complex sophisticated and visually impressive of all the known stone structure sites in northeastern US an impressive number of carbon 14 dates has been obtained from charcoal samples found during excavations at the site these dates range from 7,000 years ago to his recent as 200 years ago the earliest c14 date which is directly linked to construction activity on the site is 29.95 BP or around 3,000 years ago c14 dates and some artifacts found at the site suggest continued activity at the site into the early historic period just prior to white settlement of the region conservatively speaking there's evidence of continued human presence related to the stone structures at the site for eight twenty-five hundred year time detailed archaeological and architectural analysis of the structures suggests the site went through five cultural phases each with its own distinct architecture rather than being built as a single large-scale construction project the site evolved through multiple building episodes that expanded modified and upgraded it a number of theories have been advanced in 70 plus years since the first systematic investigation of the site in the late 1930s William Goodwin the first investigator of the site theorized it was built by Irish called II monks around 1000 AD berry fell in his famous book America BC argued the site was built between 800 and 600 BC by Boydell at Celtx in recent years the theory that the site was built by Native American peoples has gained credibility in the ongoing debate over the site the Native American theory was formally published in Mary gages book America's Stonehenge deciphered the proposed purposes for these sites construction are as varied as the theories of who built it interestingly enough except for the arguments that the site was built by Jonathan p'tee all of the explanations for the purpose of the site have revolved around the concept of a place as a religious or ceremonial center Coral Castle well this place isn't ancient it's worth a place in this documentary for its sheer mystery how is it possible for a short 100-pound sickly man working alone and using only simple tools to have quarried cut trimmed and assembled over three million pounds of dense coral blocks to build a castle and to have interlocked the stones with exacting precision some weighing up to 30 tons without the use of mortar the builders name was Ed lured Leedskalnin the places Coral Castle whenever Edward Leedskalnin was asked how did you build the castle he replied it's not difficult really the secret is in knowing how Edward Leedskalnin would go so far as saying that he could see beads of light on objects that he said were the physical presence of nature's magnetism he explained that scientists have incorrect knowledge of atomic structure and electricity he stated that all forms of existence are made up of three components North and South Poles and neutral particles of matter he claimed to have rediscovered the laws of weight measurement and leverage Edward Leedskalnin stated that these laws involved the relationship of the earth to celestial alignments ads brochures about his castle stated I have discovered these secrets of the pyramids and have found out how the Egyptians and the ancient builders in Peru Yucatan and Asia with only primitive tools raised and set in place blocks of stone weighing many tons ad word Leedskalnin was a very private person nevertheless some people have reported that they did glimpse him at work one person claims to have seen the rocks move by themselves Ed's neighbor stated that he saw Ed's singing to the stones with his hands placed on the surface a group of young witnesses claimed to see coral blocks floating through the air like hydrogen balloons some of the more incredible of his works was an obelisk monolith weighing nearly 30 tons at 40 feet tall it was taller than the great monolith it's Stonehenge this he quarried and erected by himself he also created rocking chairs weighing three tons that could be rocked with a finger perhaps the most spectacular of EDS carvings is a huge nine tons stone door through which he drilled an 8-foot longitudinal hole that was precisely aligned with the stone center of gravity Eduard fitted the hole with a shaft resting on an automobile gear and then installed the door the door fits within a quarter of an inch of the walls on either side the door is so perfectly balanced that it may be easily pushed open using one finger today's engineers using advanced laser and computer technology would be hard-pressed to duplicate this phenomenal engineering feat a local contractor was hired to cut a stone from Ed's quarry using a diamond tip power saw and a 600-horsepower crane the contractor had difficulty removing a smaller sized stone also the contractor could not extract the stone by cutting horizontally across the bottom of the stone but had to break it away to extract it Edward Leedskalnin cut his huge stones to create the four vertical sides and he also cut horizontally across the bottoms to extract the stones Moundville about 1050 seee Mississippian people were building a village at the Moundville site in west central Alabama the village had a well-planned mound plaza layout and a wall trench architecture the Moundville residents produced shell tempered pottery and adds some degree of social rank differentiation Moundville was built on a high terrace and was thus immune to flooding it would eventually grow to contain 32 and mounts 21 of which were truncated pyramids arranged around a single large quadrilateral plaza mound a measure 60 by 107 meters and is 6 point 7 meters high and mound B measures 59 by 107 meters and is seventeen point nine meters high the mounds were built up in stages somewhat like a layer cake fashion there would be episodes of destruction in which the structure on top of the mound would be destroyed and burned then there would be a purification by the burial of the old surface the continual rebuilding of the mounds was an expressive act and mounds are an aspect of Mississippian expressive culture Moundville was surrounded by numerous very small settlements without mounds usually called farmsteads in addition there were about a dozen single mound sites in the area these were probably subordinate to Moundville Moundville was a planned community and grew quickly after the palisade was erected it eventually sprawled over 370 acres and included 20 mounds the Indian people at Moundville were from two different social classes the town was divided into distinct areas for settlement mounds and craft production in addition craftspeople were working with sheet copper Galena and various kinds of pigments the Indian people at Moundville were practicing head flattening at this time about 1250 the population of Moundville began to shrink as the outlying villages increased in size however the number of burials within Moundville increased and the town became a necropolis Moundville residents acted as funeral directors by about 1300 the population of the ceremonial center of Moundville declined further archeologists have offered three possible reasons a conscious decision to empty the center to enhance the sanctity of it soil depletion and exhaustion of wood resources and a lessening of the threat of attack with the population dispersing to unfortified towns in 1402 achondroplasia Dwarfs a male who was fifty inches tall and a female who was nearly forty seven inches tall were buried at Mount Ville both had been functional members of the society and were probably related after 1400 many of the mounds of the Necropolis of Moundville were abandoned and only a handful of people remained blithe intially owes giant figures known to archaeologists as intaglio s' are one of the few unsolved mysteries of modern archaeology pieces of history preserved in the desert on a Mesa of the big Maria mountains north of life but the origin of the giant desert figures remains a mystery to visitors and scientists alike the geoglyph at very inform style and size with the largest figure in the blithe area a man over 165 feet long thought to be a giant hunter being constructed like the other figures in the area through the removal of a surface layer of darkened rock exposing a lighter soil underneath the figures were fashioned by Indians possibly thousands of years ago but no concrete evidence linking the figures to any group has been discovered but one author uses the giant figures as evidence for his theory that primitive man was at one time visited by highly intelligent beings from outer space the longest figure in the blithe and Talos is nearly 167 feet long and the only other similar figures in the desert have been found at Nazca Peru experts on a survey conducted that some of the figures may be prehistoric while others were done after the Spanish introduced the horse to the area Meadowcroft rock shelter Meadowcroft rock shelter located in southwestern Pennsylvania stands as one of the most published and most contested archeological sites in the Americas if not for the curiosity of a Washington County PA farmer six decades ago the oldest site of human habitation in North America might have never been discovered in 1955 Albert Miller stumbled upon a groundhog hole on his family's farm and Avella and uncovered what looked to be a prehistoric tool Miller chose to cover up the hole and carefully search for a professional archaeologist who could properly assess the historical significance of the site almost two decades later in 1973 Miller finally connected with University of Pittsburgh anthropology professor dr. James Atta vacío who visited the farm and looked at the object found near the groundhog hole astonished by the artifact which was a pyth dr. Anna vacío assembled a team of archaeology anthropology and geology students to study the area as part of a curriculum the field schools excavation of the site over the next six years yielded nearly 2 million artifacts and eco facts including ancient stone tools pottery fragments and evidence of Ice Age fire pits further testing of the newly found artifacts concluded that the rock ledge overhang naturally formed by the waters of cross creek served as a campsite for prehistoric hunters and gatherers sixteen thousand years ago Meadowcroft rock shelter provided shelter for visitors with nearby freshwater springs and sources of plants and animals for food Meadowcroft holds the distinction of demonstrating the longest occupational sequence of humans in the Americas the numerous occupational layers contain over two thousand stone flakes and tools 150 fire pits and 1 million animal remains artifacts from the lowest cultural layers include by faces yoona facial knives projectile points and small prismatic blades these small blades struck from a prepared core are not found at later Clovis sites while most archaeologists agree that Meadowcroft was occupied by about 12,000 years BP the earlier radiocarbon dates have come under heavy scrutiny some archaeologists suggest that the dating samples may have been contaminated by coal particles or by carbon dissolved in the groundwater this contamination would result in older dates for the specimens however Adivasi o counters that all samples were rigorously tested for coal contamination and that subsequent radiocarbon testing using a technique known as accelerator mass spectrometry confirmed the early dates in addition and independent geomorphologist inspected samples from Meadowcroft and concluded that no evidence of groundwater activity could be seen although a few archaeologists continue to challenge the validity of the pre-clovis dates many believe that Meadowcroft rock shelter assemblage demonstrates solid evidence for a pre-clovis occupation of the americas [Music]
