Archaeology in the United States

The Puerto Rican island of Culebra is sometimes thought to be part of the Virgin Islands since it is only 12 miles from St. Thomas. The island is 7 miles long and about 3.5 miles wide. People from Venezuela eventually migrated there by way of Trinidad and the Lesser Antilles about 250 BC.

Moccasin Bend Archeological District NHL, TN, (NHL criterion 5). Archeological resources located within this district possess national significance under the "Original Inhabitants" and "Major American Wars" themes. Moccasin Bend contains the best preserved and most diverse assemblage of prehistoric archeological resources in the Tennessee River Valley. It also contains sites associated with early Spanish exploration and is the locale of several sites associated with Civil War military operations in and around the strategic town of Chattanooga.

Pecos Pueblo NHL, NM (NHL criterion 6). Pecos was an important Pueblo community strategically located along trade routes connecting the Great Plains with the Rio Grande Valley. A series of Spanish Missions occupied the site between the early 1600s and the time of the site's final abandonment in 1838. Today, Pecos Pueblo is part of the National Park System and known as Pecos National Monument.

Puukohola Heiau NHL, HI (NHL criterion 4). "Temple of the Hill of the Whale" is one of Hawaii's most famous temple sites. The site was built or rebuilt by Kamehameha the Great in 1791. From this site Kamehameha extended his authority over the Hawaiian Islands and founded the Hawaiian kingdom.

The human skeletal remains that have come to be referred to as the "Kennewick Man", or the "Ancient One", were found in July, 1996, below the surface of Lake Wallula, a pooled part of the Columbia River behind McNary Dam in Kennewick, Washington. Almost immediately controversy developed regarding who was responsible for determining what would be done with the remains. Claims were made by Indian tribes, local officials, and some members of the scientific community. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), the agency responsible for the land where the remains were recovered took possession, but its actions, following the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), to resolve the situation were challenged in Federal court. The Kennewick Man was believed to have lived 9200 years ago and was wounded by a stone projectile. On September 11, 2003, more than seven years after the first legal challenge, the case had been sent to the U.S. 9th District Court. The Court of Appeals finally ruled in the case and said native American claims were dismissed because the remains were so old it could not be proven the remains were related to native Americans. The cranium was in many fragments so the many pictures seen on the internet may not be very accurate.

Occupied between A.D. 1250 and 1600 A.D., Mississippi's Emerald Mound is the second-largest ceremonial earthwork in the United States It is a flat-topped earthen structure that rises 35 feet high on eight acres along the Natchez Trace Parkway. Given to the National Park Service in 1950s, in 1989 it became a National Historic Landmark.

The Folsom complex was a prehistoric culture. They lived east of the Rocky Mountains and they were known for their stone tools. The tools have been dated to about 8000-9000 B.C. The Folsom Point is famous. The earliest evidence of humans living in Yellowstone is provided by a Folsom projectile point discovered in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. The point dating about 10,900 years ago was manufactured from obsidian geochemically sourced from Obsidian Cliff, Yellowstone

It seems the initial occupation of the American southeast was somewhere before 15000 B.C. This is a very controversial statement and many will not agree, but many will, based on evidence of occupation of other areas such as Monte Verde, Chile and Cactus Hill, Virginia. Because of this, there is still much left to be discovered. I look forward to discoveries in years yet to come, and who knows, we might even discover a lost civilization or two?

While it is only a about 600 years since Columbus discovered America, it turns out there have been a lot of people here before him. I also have to mention the fact native Americans have been here for thousands of years and because of that, we also have a rich history of archaeology. It may not be as complex as some of the European and Asian archaeology, but in its own way it is very interesting. Casa Grande is a ruin now and was part of an ancestral Sonoran Desert people’s farming community. They would meet in the Great House. The area was surrounded by canals and it thrived until about 1415 A.D. Unfortunately, these people didn’t seem to have a written language, so nothing was written about it until much later after they disappeared. The first accounts were written in 1694 by Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino when he visited the ruins.

We have heard about giant figures carved in the desert in Nazca, Peru which could only be seen from the air, but I wonder how many people know there are giant geoglyphs also in the Colorado Desert? There are over 200 of them found so far. Some are called the Blythe Intaglios or Blythe Geoglyphs. They can be found 15 miles north of the town of Blythe. There are human figures, animals, a spiral, and other things. One human figure is 171 feet long. There are also nearby geoglyphs, many of them. Most of them were first seen by non-native Americans in the 1930s. It is estimated they were carved between 900 B.C. and 1200 A.D.

One of the strangest objects exists in Adams County in Ohio. It is known as Great Serpent Mound for a reason, it looks like a giant snake. It is 1,348 feet long and has been designated as a national monument. Carbon dating indicated to archaeologists the mound was constructed around 1070 A.D. They have suggested it was created by the Adena, culture. Native Americans are very interested in this site and rightfully so since they must have been involved in its construction. The Adena culture lasted from about 1200 B.C. to 1 A.D. Skeletons from what were believed to be Adena people were found in graves near the mound.