Early in the mornings when I can't sleep, I'm categorizing pre-Columbian Native American pottery. It is a quite tedious task and the spreadsheet is getting pretty big. I'm doing a research project/experiment on a site that has tremendous potential for learning previously unknown rituals. It will take a couple of years to complete, but the information I've already discovered is pretty groundbreaking. The archaeologists I've talked to about my project are extremely excited because nothing like it has ever been done before. They stated that the paper would be published in the Florida Anthropologist magazine upon completion.
I'm attempting to prove:
A ritual I call the "Earth Ceremony." Native Americans didn't think like we do when it comes to possessions, they believed the earth owned everything. They just borrowed it and when they were done using them, they returned the items back to the earth. This is shown by the destruction of pottery upon leaving a village site for another location. The pottery was destroyed and spread over a large area. It took quite a bit of time and effort to spread it like they did. It must have meant a lot to them.
Lithic implements utilized by an individual that died were often "killed" or intentionally broken and returned to the earth in ceremony. It seemed to involve a procession when the pieces were dropped as they walked in a straight line. I'll get the solstice and stellar orientation when I've completed the study to see if they played a role. About 10% of the broken lithics I'm finding are believed to be broken in this manner.
Native Americans seasonal movements were directly affected by the water tupelo fruit production. Nowhere in the literature does it even mention water tupelo fruit being utilized by Native Americans but I have found a lot of evidence showing they did utilize them for food. It would be a fall/winter seasonal camp that also utilized freshwater shellfish, primarily mussels. The fruit would have to be water cured similar to how olives used to be water cured before they started using salt.
So needless to say, I've got a lot going on.
I'm attempting to prove:
A ritual I call the "Earth Ceremony." Native Americans didn't think like we do when it comes to possessions, they believed the earth owned everything. They just borrowed it and when they were done using them, they returned the items back to the earth. This is shown by the destruction of pottery upon leaving a village site for another location. The pottery was destroyed and spread over a large area. It took quite a bit of time and effort to spread it like they did. It must have meant a lot to them.
Lithic implements utilized by an individual that died were often "killed" or intentionally broken and returned to the earth in ceremony. It seemed to involve a procession when the pieces were dropped as they walked in a straight line. I'll get the solstice and stellar orientation when I've completed the study to see if they played a role. About 10% of the broken lithics I'm finding are believed to be broken in this manner.
Native Americans seasonal movements were directly affected by the water tupelo fruit production. Nowhere in the literature does it even mention water tupelo fruit being utilized by Native Americans but I have found a lot of evidence showing they did utilize them for food. It would be a fall/winter seasonal camp that also utilized freshwater shellfish, primarily mussels. The fruit would have to be water cured similar to how olives used to be water cured before they started using salt.
So needless to say, I've got a lot going on.
