19.8 America: a.d. 401 to 500

America

Back to America: A.D. 301 to 400

North america

The far north and canada

Please see 6th and 1st centuries B.C. and 1st , 3rd and 9th centuries C.E. regarding Arctic Cultures. At Ungava Bay, 750 miles north of Quebec City, there are rock walls dating to A.D. 500. Eskimo legend says they were built by a race of giants with a strange language - Vikings? (Ref. 176 ) Professor Fell (Ref. 66 ) and Libyan colleagues have found a 5th century inscription at Figiug Oasis, east Morocco, recording a flight of Christian monks to North America to escape the Vandals. The script was Libyan, the language Libyan Arabic. An early Christian inscription in Libyan Arabic dialect has allegedly also been found by Fell's associates at Oak Island, Nova Scotia.

The united states

In this century the Hopewell trading networks broke down for some unknown reason and the Hopewell influence declined sharply. It is possible that a population explosion strained the limits of the economic system and the breakdown resulted. But along the Mississippi the Mound Builders appeared, and these were the antecedents of the Choctaws Chickasaw, Natches and others. Perhaps the greatest Indian monument of all time was constructed near Chillicothe, Ohio. This Great Serpent Mound, representing a serpent with open jaws clasping an egg, is 1,254 feet long, winding along hilltops with a coiled tail. It does not appear to have any connection with the effigy mounds farther north. See also America in the 3rd century C.E. (Ref. 215 )

In the southwest this was the Basket Maker III or Late Basketmaker period of the Anasazi Indians who were using fired earthenware pottery, the technique probably learned from the Mogollons to the south. The water supply for their crops had become inconsistent drought alternating with floods, but the Anasazi solved this problem by special terracing and the building of small dams with irrigation channels. One water-way in southwestern Colorado, however, was four miles long. These people had become skillful builders, using stone and beginning to construct complex homes which we now call pueblos. (Ref. 45 , 210 )

Once again we must report some almost unbelievable, unconfirmed statements of Barry Fell. In his latest book (Ref. 66 ) he writes that mathematical notation was revolutionized in this century when Nevada voyagers brought back the decimal system from India. Since European decimal ciphers were not used until the 11th century, this, if true, would place American mathematicians far ahead of their Mediterranean contemporaries. The decimal system required a new type of abacus, to the base ten, and such has allegedly been found in Indiana and is now in the Epigraphic Museum. Abaci from Nevada have previously been mistaken for gaming boards, according to this same author. It is very difficult to accept all these concepts at face value at this time without more corroboration, but Fell does present his evidence in a convincing manner and who knows but what time may yet prove him right?

The pioneering phase of the Hohokam ended about A.D. 500. Interchange with Mexico had continued through the centuries and now the bloody, Mexican ball game associated with religious ritual was introduced. Platform mounds similar to those in Mexico were also erected for use of dancers and musicians. A favorite design on Hohokam pottery was the snake, often shown being attacked by a bird (feathered serpent motive). After the end of this century the Hohokam began to spread out from the desert valleys, moving up the rivers north and northeast. (Ref. 210 )