DCF Refugee Internment Camp

[Montegriffo]

Been a while since I read that but I'm more familiar with the Norte Chico civilization from the Ancient World podcast. They were a fishing community that grew gourds and other plants for fishing with. Eventually they moved on after a brief period where they were expanding into other areas. Climate or barbarians could both be explanations. I spoke with a Brazilian that linked me to studies that demonstrated the more war like of tribes had the capability of traversing from northern Brazil all the way into Argentina. I think in the Norte Chico's case iirc, the prevailing theory is that while the climate was dry, it eventually got to dry. But climate change also effects fish migration as well.

Still all stone-age? Ceramics?

[TheReal_ND]

They had gourds that were preserved with artistic renderings and stone monuments I think. I don't think they had ceramics.

[Montegriffo]

They had gourds that were preserved with artistic renderings and stone monuments I think. I don't think they had ceramics.

No metals then. I guess you need them to be abundant like in Cornwall over here. Tin you could pick up out of the river beds, copper too. Plus gold.
Where did StA go? He's good at this stuff.

[SuburbanFarmer]

They had gourds that were preserved with artistic renderings and stone monuments I think. I don't think they had ceramics.

No metals then. I guess you need them to be abundant like in Cornwall over here. Tin you could pick up out of the river beds, copper too. Plus gold.
Where did StA go? He's good at this stuff.

Why don't we see advanced prehistoric societies in California? Where are their piles of gold?

Perhaps it was just too common to have value in that area?

[Montegriffo]

They had gourds that were preserved with artistic renderings and stone monuments I think. I don't think they had ceramics.

No metals then. I guess you need them to be abundant like in Cornwall over here. Tin you could pick up out of the river beds, copper too. Plus gold.
Where did StA go? He's good at this stuff.

Why don't we see advanced prehistoric societies in California? Where are their piles of gold?

Perhaps it was just too common to have value in that area?

Not much good for anything other than jewellery and speaker jack plugs. Far too soft to make useful tools out of.

[SuburbanFarmer]

No metals then. I guess you need them to be abundant like in Cornwall over here. Tin you could pick up out of the river beds, copper too. Plus gold.
Where did StA go? He's good at this stuff.

Why don't we see advanced prehistoric societies in California? Where are their piles of gold?

Perhaps it was just too common to have value in that area?

Not much good for anything other than jewellery and speaker jack plugs. Far too soft to make useful tools out of.

Of course, but the Aztecs, Mayans, and everybody else that formed a settled community (except the Calusa) had gold stockpiles, used it as money, etc... You'd expect Californian tribes to have massive power, in any kind of trading network among Native Americans, but I've never heard of anything significant being found there.

[Montegriffo]

Why don't we see advanced prehistoric societies in California? Where are their piles of gold?

Perhaps it was just too common to have value in that area?

Not much good for anything other than jewellery and speaker jack plugs. Far too soft to make useful tools out of.

Of course, but the Aztecs, Mayans, and everybody else that formed a settled community (except the Calusa) had gold stockpiles, used it as money, etc... You'd expect Californian tribes to have massive power, in any kind of trading network among Native Americans, but I've never heard of anything significant being found there.

Obviously not bread heads in California then, until the white trash arrived.
Money doesn't build a civilisation, tools and grain storage does, hence the question about ceramics.

[Montegriffo]

Anything to add to this StA? Seems like one of your subjects.

[Speaker to Animals]

Anything to add to this StA? Seems like one of your subjects.

There were some relatively sophisticated cultures living in the Southwest, but no civilizations. There seems to be a periodic drought in the North American west that wrecks developing cultures. We just have not yet seen it. Had they irrigation and aqueduct technology, then maybe they could have survived it. Not sure about that. The big droughts in North America don't seem anything like what hits the Peruvian coast every 500-800 years. That could be really difficult when it arrives for contemporary global civilization.

The Mississippian Culture seemed to have come very close to civilization status, but they collapsed before then. The natives we found when we came here were the scattered remnants of those people.

My impression of the evidence is that the Americas are kind of a trap. The offer abundant resources for complex cultures to grow large and develop into civilizations. But the Americas also possess a dark side that tends to wreck those cultures. We have not been here long enough to witness something like this yet, so it's difficult for modern Americans to really think about this stuff.

But the evidence is clear. Both continents are littered with the remains of rising cultures cut down in short order, or collapsed civilizations. It's almost like the Fermi Paradox.

North American collapses are more interesting in that it doesn't just seem to be one thing like the Super El Nino of the Andes.


Another interesting disappearance is the Amazon civilization. For years archaeologists didn't believe it could really have existed. But we now know the reports were based on a real civilization there. Unclear why they disappeared. I have my doubts about the disease theories that abound.

[Montegriffo]

I suppose young civilisations are at their weakest.Ability to store food in large amounts is an undervalued asset. Maybe potters are as valuable as warriors for civilisation to progress. Stored food is an insurance against crop failure but only in the short term. I dunno, interesting though. Ta.