Holmberg's Mistake
Indigenous Peoples of the Americas
Introduction
The United States should be viewed as a nation with deeply indigenous origins, not just rooted in England.
This lecture focuses on the indigenous peoples who inhabited the Americas long before European or African arrival.
Three key learnings:
Indigenous cultures were not static or monolithic.
Mobility was crucial for many indigenous cultures.
Indigenous societies adapted to their specific environments.
Holmberg's Mistake
Alan R. Holmberg, an anthropologist, studied the Suriano people in Bolivia (1940-1942).
He published "Nomads of the Longbow," portraying the Suriano as culturally backward: lacking clothes, animals, music, art, religion, and advanced counting or fire-making skills.
Holmberg saw them as living examples of primitive humankind, unchanged for millennia.
He believed his arrival initiated their encounter with Euro-American society and progress.
Holmberg's error: He assumed the Suriano's contemporary state of oppression reflected their history, failing to recognize the impact of recent epidemics (smallpox, influenza) and persecution by ranchers and the Bolivian government.
The Suriano population declined drastically from around 3,000 to 150 due to these factors.
Holmberg mistook refugees of a shattered culture for prehistoric relics.
Evidence (raised fields, earthworks) indicates the region once supported a large, stable agricultural society and an urban civilization.
The Ancient History of the New World
Challenging the Bering Land Bridge Theory
The lecture addresses the debated topic of how human beings first arrived in the New World.
Many indigenous peoples believe this is the land of their origins.
The Bering Land Bridge theory, while once dominant, is now considered controversial and outdated.
The Bering Strait theory had ideological roots in the European belief in the lost tribe of Israel.
Jesuit priest Jose de Ocosta (1590) suggested indigenous people walked to the Americas.
The Lost Tribes of Israel theory suggested indigenous people had only been in North America for about 2,000 years before Columbus's arrival, undercutting indigenous land claims.
The discovery at Clovis, New Mexico (1929) revealed remains of an ancient prehistoric culture with distinctive arrowheads, predating the biblical timeline; Clovis proven that native Americans arrived in North America at least 13,500 years ago.
Carbon dating pushed the date back to 14,000-15,000 years ago, leading to the Bering Strait theory's acceptance by mainstream science in the 1970s.
Problems with the Bering Strait Theory
The presence of the Brook Range, a significant mountain range, impeded passage even without constant glacial ice.
Archeological sites predating the 14,000-15,000 year timeline were discovered, suggesting human habitation before an ice-free corridor existed.
Sites in Monteverde, Chile, and Brazil suggest human presence over 32,000 ago.
Discoveries in New Mexico, the Yukon, and Oregon pushed the date back even further to 36,000-40,000 years ago.
The Flagmark Theory
Proto-indigenous migrations likely occurred along coastal routes via boats.
This theory aligns the peopling of North America with global human migration around the Pacific Ocean.
Australia was peopled about 50,000 years ago, and Japan around 40,000 years ago - both by boat.
The West Coast of North America was largely unglaciated from 16,000 to 25,000 years ago, offering an ideal migration window by sea.
Challenges in proving coastal migration: much of the coastline from that time is now underwater.
Fossilized human feces discovered in places like the Oregon Caves and in the Yukon is proof positive that humans were in North America 30,000-40,000 years ago.
Life in North America
Mobility
People on the plains in North America often lived life of great mobility.
Seasonal rounds dictated movement based on resource availability (berries, animal pelts, spawning fish).
Mobility wasn't random but tied to optimal resource extraction.
Periodic historic migrations also occurred (similar to those in Asia and Europe).
The Apache, originating in Northern Canada, migrated south to the American Southwest around 1000 AD.
The Sioux (Lakota, Dakota, Nakota) moved from west of Lake Michigan (Wisconsin, Northern Iowa, and Illinois) to the Northern Prairie.
Mobility fostered interaction, leading to new subsistence strategies, languages, marriages, and rituals.
Trade Networks
Short and long-range trade networks connected indigenous peoples.
Archaeological research tracing obsidian arrowheads (with unique chemical signatures) revealed extensive trade routes.
Obsidian from Oregon found in Massachusetts, or from the Rocky Mountains in Ontario, demonstrates widespread exchange.
Trade may have contributed to the rise of horticulture and agriculture.
The theory suggests that the desire to develop beer for trade (a desirable commodity) led to settled communities for easier trade logistics.
Agriculture
Native Americans cultivated unique crops like potatoes, beans, tomatoes, peppers, squash, and cassava which transformed global diets after contact with the Old World.
Maize (corn) was the most critical crop, fueling a Neolithic revolution in North America.
The Neolithic Revolution was a global shift from hunting and gathering towards agriculture and horticulture (around 10,000 years ago).
The domestication of maize from its wild ancestor, Teocente is an amazing bioengineering feat.
The earliest known maize dates to 5,500 BC in Southern Mexico.
Maize spread North and South over centuries, adapting to different climates.
By 1000 BC, maize and humans had a symbiotic relationship.
Squash and beans were also pioneered by indigenous farmers in Central America.
Corn, beans, and squash are known as the "three sisters" and are central to indigenous culture.
These crops grow well together: beans fix nitrogen, squash shades and retains water.
Succotash (combining the three) provided a complete protein, reducing the need for meat.
By the 10th-12th century AD, these were spread throughout North America.
The three sisters resulted in healthier societies. Europeans upon arriving were far shorter than indigenous peoples due to this vastly superior diet.
Europeans had lower average heights (e.g., Spaniards around 5'5"-5'1"), while indigenous males averaged around 5'10"-5'11", or even 6'.
Regional Adaptations
Not all societies embraced corn agriculture.
The Pawnee balanced hunting with horticulture.
California Indians developed unique diets around acorn cultivation.
Pacific Northwest communities relied heavily on fish, shellfish, and sea mammals, minimizing horticulture.
Pre-Columbian Civilizations
The Anasazi
One of the earliest maize-based civilizations in the American Southwest.
They built elaborate irrigation systems (canals) to water crops in the arid environment.
One settlement had 85 miles of main canals; another had 75 miles.
Canals watered tens of thousands of acres.
They cultivated crop fields on top of mesas and constructed settlements and religious structures in cliff sides (e.g., Mesa Verde).
The network enabled large towns and road systems; Chaco Canyon grew to 650 rooms in one Pueblo.
Around 1100 AD, environmental degradation, overpopulation, and drought caused a crisis, leading to crop failures, malnutrition, and violence.
The Anasazi shifted to smaller Pueblos such as Acoma (founded in 1300 AD), which is now the longest continuously inhabited community in the United States.
The Mound Builders
Located along the Mississippi River, this was a maize-based civilization that predated European arrival.
They constructed enormous earthworks, likely ceremonial or burial mounds.
The Great Serpent Mound in Adams County, Ohio, is 1,200 feet long (400 meters).
Mississippian society was based on:
Corn-based agriculture
Large, dense populations
Developed towns with temples, public buildings, and thousands of residents
Complex ceremonial and political structures
Rigid hierarchy with powerful chiefs collecting tribute
Elaborate ceremonial arts were tied to corn agriculture.
Their religious and spiritual world likely revolved around deities associated with corn.
Cahokia, near Collinsville, Illinois (near St. Louis), represents the peak of Mississippian culture.
Located at the confluence of the Illinois, Missouri, and Mississippi Rivers, its location controlled the rivers' flow.
Cahokia had extensive maize fields, fueling a population boom and becoming one of the largest cities globally.
It had over 100 mounds, plazas, and temples, covering five square miles (even after erosion and development).
Cahokia grew to be the region's economic political, and ceremonial center for approximately three hundred years.
In the mid-1300s, Cahokia declined for unknown reasons possible rigid economics, politics, soil depletion, environmental change (Little Ice Age), or attacks by enemies.
The population spread into other parts of the Southwest and Southeast, setting the stage for European arrival.
Conclusion
Indigenous North America was dynamic and divers.
Indigenous peoples developed diverse survival strategies adapted to specific environments.
Large-scale, complex civilizations predated European arrival.
The New World had a rich and complex ancient history.
Indigenous peoples used the land extensively which was later misunderstood by Europeans.
The seasonal round wasn't abandonment, just a different land management approach.
North America was not an empty land waiting to be taken but a place owned and occupied by indigenous civilizations which was Holmberg's mistake.