pdf ê The Discovery and Loss of Ancient North American Civilization » Roger G. Kennedy
Few realize that some of the oldest largest and most complex structures of ancient archaeology were built of earth clay and stone right here in America in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys From 6000 years ago until uite recently North America was home to some of the most highly advanced and well organized civilizations in the world complete with cities roads and commerce From the lost city of Balbantsha near New Orleans to the Great Hopewell Road a causeway for religious pilgrims along the Ohio River in the thirteenth century these cultures built hundreds of thousands of structures of which a small but tantalizing portion still remain Like t Lots of interesting material on the indigenous cultures of the Mississippi valley especially in relation to the great mounds and architectural complexes in the first and last chapters However the book in spite of its title is mainly about Europeans in America Washington Jefferson Gallatin how they understood and misunderstood the great civilizations that proceeded the American republic
Roger G. Kennedy » text
Hidden Cities The Discovery and Loss of Ancient North American CivilizationHe Druids of Salisbury Plain they patterned extraordinarily precise geometry according to the rising and setting of the moon Like the ancient Egyptians they organized millions of hours of human labor to construct pyramids platforms and plazas In Hidden Cities Roger G Kennedy sets out on a bold uest of recovery a recovery of the rich heritage of the North American peoples and a reimagination of the true relations of their modern day successors and neighbors From the Spanish and French explorers to the present very few Euro Americans have paid attention to the evidence and meaning of this heritage Building on recent work of many archaeologist I learned a lot about Native American civilizations that I didn't know from Hidden Cities While I knew something about the mound cultures and had even visited some of the mounds previously I had no idea how far reaching the mound building civilizations were I also learned uite a bit about early US history from a completely different point of view than what is generally taught in history classes So I liked this book but I didn't enjoy it It was not written in an easy style and so even though I was interested in the material it was somewhat tedious reading I will have to find on this subject