Just as people wrongly think a subsistence strategy like hunter-gatherer means a limited style of culture, when it does not, because there is a diverse array of cultural styles that can and have operated under hunter-gatherer lifestyles, so too is there a diverse array of cultural styles that can be involved with a clothing strategy or style of being naked or partially clothed. Neither hunter-gatherer nor being naked or partially clothed inherently means simple culture; they are just different lifeways.
Two groups that were hunter-gatherer-fishers and not agricultural, yet both were complex societies: the Chumash people in southern California, who could be naked, and the Calusa people in southern Florida, who were minimally clothed, even partly naked. I will address both the Chumash and the Calusa cultures later to grasp their cultural complexity and thus dispel the notion of simplicity associated with clothing styles or subsistence strategies such as nakedness or hunter-gatherer lifestyles.
AI Overview: Naked or partially-clothed indigenous societies often possess complex social stratification, where status is conveyed through elaborate body art, jewelry, scarification, and specialized hairstyles rather than clothing. Historically, near-complete nudity was common in warm-climate hunter-gatherer and early agricultural societies, often coexisting with distinct social hierarchies, such as warrior castes or specialized labor groups.
Key Aspects of Stratification in Naked/Minimally Clothed Societies:
Costly Signaling: Body modification (scars, painting, piercing) requires significant time and skill, acting as a “costly signal” of prestige.
Warfare/Social Organization: In some cultures, specialized warriors or weapon-makers (castes) were created in stratified societies where individuals went naked.
Gender Stratification: In some cases, such as in West Africa, the lack of clothing for female slaves and servants served to mark their low status compared to adorned, higher-status women.
Ritual Status: In many African ethnic groups, nudity was associated with ritual practices, such as infertility rites (e.g., in Ghana), where nakedness was part of the traditional social order.
Examples of stratified indigenous cultures with minimal clothing include:
Igbo People (Nigeria): Historically, Igbo people wore minimal traditional attire. Elaborately decorated bodies of women marked their high status as eligible brides. Conversely, young men with lower status were often entirely naked while laboring.
Anaang People (Nigeria): Traditionally, children and young adults were naked or wore minimal waist beads until marriage. Status was displayed through body adornment and adherence to traditional marriage rituals, such as brides dancing nude to celebrate their status.
Himba People (Namibia): These herders of the Kaokoveld desert maintain strict social structures, with skin-colored clothing and complex hairstyles indicating marital status and age, often leaving the upper body exposed.
Zulu People (South Africa): Traditionally, Zulu girls participating in the “Reed Dance” are bare-chested, a practice that signifies status (virginity/status within the royal household).
Samburu and Turkana (Kenya): These groups traditionally dress for their hot climate, often working or bathing while completely naked, with social distinctions defined by specialized adornment rather than garments.
AI Overview: Several Indigenous cultures in the Americas, particularly in tropical and sub-tropical regions, practiced minimal clothing (often described as nudity by Europeans) while maintaining highly stratified societies. These societies frequently utilized body paint, jewelry, and specific adornments to signify social status rather than covering the body with textiles. These cultures, while sometimes appearing “naked” to early European observers, were often socially complex, politically organized, and strictly stratified.
Amazonian Region (Brazil & South America): Many Indigenous peoples of the Amazon, such as the Yanomami, maintained cultural traditions involving minimal dress suitable for hot, humid climates. These societies often had clear internal hierarchies and gender-specific roles.
Pacific Northwest Coast Tribes: Groups such as the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian, while using clothing for protection, lived in coastal regions where, prior to extensive European contact, men might wear little clothing in summer, particularly while fishing. Their society was highly stratified into nobles, commoners, and slaves.
Coastal Southwest Natives: Early European explorers, such as Alejandro Malaspina in 1791, observed that natives in the southwest (California coast) frequently wore little to no clothing, which caused discomfort among the European visitors.
Indigenous people of Florida: In the pre-colonial, warm, and humid environment, they frequently wore minimal clothing made from natural materials. Indigenous people in Florida, such as the Calusa and Timucua, historically wore minimal clothing—often breechcloths for men and skirts for women—due to the hot, humid climate, appearing “half-naked” to European observers. Minimal clothing was practical for the hot, humid climate and tropical environment, allowing for freedom of movement and easy maintenance.
Cultural Context of “Nakedness”: Prior to European arrival, many Indigenous populations did not associate nudity with shame or sin. Stratification was often displayed through regalia—specialized items like feathered headdresses, masks, or ceremonial items worn only by individuals of high status or specific roles.
Pre-Columbian Caribbean: Early reports and artistic depictions often showed Indigenous inhabitants of the Caribbean and Central America as naked or “next to naked,” despite having complex social structures.
Chumash people
“Because the climate in Chumash territory is mild, the people’s clothing was very simple. Men generally wore nothing more than a string around the waist; from it they hung tools and food. Sometimes they wrapped an animal skin around their hips if the weather was cool. If it was very cold, they might wear cloaks made from animal skins. Only the rich and powerful wore bear and other fur; an ankle-length fur cloak was a sign of a man’s high position in the village. The poor wore clothes made from grasses and shredded bark. Women wore two aprons—a large one hung from the waist in back and a smaller one from the front. They made these of buckskin, shredded bark, or grass, and hung a fringe of shells from them. Although people usually went barefoot, sometimes they wore deerskin socks or fiber sandals. Moccasins were used only on special occasions.” ref
“Although nudity was prevalent in the warm climate, there was some use of warmer clothing for winter and an abundance of ceremonial attire, displaying considerable social significance. Men wore a wraparound buckskin kilt when they wore anything. Men, while naked, would wear belts that could hold tools, and when cold, would wear capes, sometimes still while nude. Chumash women would often wear a skirt made of tule, sea grass, or shredded willow or sycamore bark. To hold the skirt down against the wind, they would attach small bitumen (glue) globules to the ends of the fibers.” ref, ref
AI Overview: Historically, Chumash people in California lived in a warm climate where everyday nudity or minimal clothing was common. Men often went nude, while women wore two-piece deer skin or plant fiber skirts. Clothing was primarily worn for protection, such as deerskin capes or feather robes during colder weather, rather than for modesty.
“The Chumash are a Native American people of the central and southern coastal regions of California, in portions of what is now Kern, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Los Angeles counties, extending from Morro Bay in the north to Malibu in the south to Mount Pinos in the east. Their territory includes three of the Channel Islands: Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and San Miguel; the smaller island of Anacapa was likely inhabited seasonally due to the lack of a consistent water source. Indigenous peoples have lived along the California coast for at least 11,000 years. Sites of the Millingstone Horizon date from 7000 to 4500 BCE and show evidence of a subsistence system focused on the processing of seeds with metates and manos.” ref
“During that time, people used bipointed bone objects and line to catch fish and began making beads from shells of the marine olive snail (Callianax biplicata). The name Chumash means “bead maker” or “seashell people” being that they originated near the Santa Barbara coast. The Chumash tribes near the coast benefited most with the “close juxtaposition of a variety of marine and terrestrial habitats, intensive upwelling in coastal waters, and intentional burning of the landscape made the Santa Barbara Channel region one of the most resource abundant places on the planet.” The Chumash lived in over 150 independent villages, speaking variations of the same language. Much of their culture consisted of basketry, bead manufacturing and trading, cuisine of local abalone and clam, herbalism using local herbs to produce teas and medical reliefs, rock art, and the scorpion tree.” ref
“The scorpion tree was significant to the Chumash, as shown in its arborglyph: a carving depicting a six-legged creature with a headdress including a crown and two spheres. The shamans participated in the carving which was used in observations of the stars and in part of the Chumash calendar. The Chumash resided between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the California coasts where a bounty of resources could be found. The tribe lived in an area of three environments: the interior, the coast, and the Northern Channel Islands. The interior is composed of the land outside the coast and spanning the wide plains, rivers, and mountains. The coast covers the cliffs, land close to the ocean, and the areas of the ocean from which the Chumash harvested. The Northern Channel Islands lie off the coast of the Chumash territory. All of the California coastal-interior has a Mediterranean climate due to the incoming ocean winds.” ref
“The mild temperatures, save for winter, made gathering easy; during the cold months, the Chumash harvested what they could and supplemented their diets with stored foods. What villagers gathered and traded during the seasons changed depending on where they resided. With coasts populated by masses of species of fish and land densely covered by trees and animals, the Chumash had a diverse array of food. Abundant resources and a winter rarely harsh enough to cause concern meant the tribe lived a sedentary lifestyle in addition to a subsistence existence. Villages in the three aforementioned areas contained remains of sea mammals, indicating that trade networks existed for moving materials throughout the Chumash territory. The Chumash were connected to extensive trade networks reaching into modern-day Arizona, from which pottery and textiles were traded in exchange for shell beads. The emergence of this trade network within the Chumash territory was facilitated by the existence of three distinct Chumash ecological groups including the island, coastal, and mainland Chumash. Access to distinct resources for these different groups made inter-Chumash trade a large part of life. Villages along the mainland coast emerged as intermediaries between groups.” ref
The closer a village was to the ocean, the greater its reliance on maritime resources. Due to advanced canoe designs, coastal and island people could procure fish and aquatic mammals from farther out. Shellfish were a good source of nutrition: relatively easy to find and abundant. Many of the favored varieties grew in tidal zones. Shellfish grew in abundance during winter to early spring; their proximity to shore made collection easier. Some of the consumed species included mussels, abalone, and a wide array of clams. Haliotis rufescens (red abalone) was harvested along the Central California coast in the pre-contact era. The Chumash and other California Indians also used red abalone shells to make a variety of fishhooks, beads, ornaments, and other artifacts.” ref
“Ocean animals such as otters and seals were thought to be the primary meal of coastal tribes people, but recent evidence shows the aforementioned trade networks exchanged oceanic animals for terrestrial foods from the interior. Any village could acquire fish, but the coastal and island communities specialized in catching not just smaller fish, but also the massive catches such as swordfish. This feat, difficult even for today’s technology, was made possible by the tomol plank canoe. Its design allowed for the capture of deepwater fish, and it facilitated trade routes between villages. coastal Chumash relied less on terrestrial resources than they did on maritime; vice versa for interior Chumash. Regardless, they consumed similar land resources. Like many other tribes, deer were the most important land mammal the Chumash pursued; deer were consumed in varying amounts across all regions, which cannot be said for other terrestrial animals. Interior Chumash placed greater value on the deer, to the extent of developing unique hunting practices for them.” ref
“They dressed as deer and grazed alongside the animals until the hunters were in range to use their arrows. Even Chumash close to the ocean pursued deer, though in fewer numbers. The villages also relied on smaller animals, such as rabbits and birds, to supplement their meat needs. Plant foods composed the rest of the Chumash diet, especially acorns, which were the staple food despite the work needed to remove their inherent toxins. They could be ground into a paste that was easy to eat and store for years. Coast live oak provided the best acorns; their mush would usually be served unseasoned with meat and fish. Estimates for the precontact populations of most Native groups in California have varied substantially. The anthropologist Alfred L. Kroeber thought the 1770 population of the Chumash might have been about 10,000. Alan K. Brown concluded that the population was about 15,000. Sherburne F. Cook, at various times, estimated the aboriginal Chumash as 8,000, 13,650, 20,400, or 18,500.” ref
“The Chumash were hunter-gatherers and were adept at fishing at the time of Spanish colonization. They are one of the relatively few New World peoples who regularly navigated the ocean (another was the Tongva, a neighboring tribe to the south). Some settlements built a plank boat (tomol), which facilitated the distribution of goods and could be used for whaling. The Chumash of the Northern Channel Islands were at the center of an intense regional trade network. Beads made from Callianax shells were manufactured on the Channel Islands and used as a form of currency by the Chumash. Shell beads were not just a form of currency; they also played a vital role in the Chumash social system. The bead exchanges helped people build social networks and accumulate wealth outside of food resources. This allowed the Chumash people to minimize the risk of food shortages in their tribe, and they were able to fall back on durable beads and their existing friends in other communities. Chumash chiefs and elite members were responsible for the redistribution of the shell beads, subsistence goods, and other items.” ref
“These shell beads were traded to neighboring groups and have been found throughout Alta California. Some items that were traded by the Chumash from the island to the Chumash mainland tribes included shell beads, digging stick weights (stone rings), and steatite Lolas (stone bowl), which originated mainly from Santa Catalina Island. The mainland tribes would, in return, export seeds, acorns, bows and arrows, fur, skin, roots, and baskets to the island. There was also trade from the mainland and inland areas, with items such as fish and beads. The interior citizens would trade fish, game, seeds, fruit, and fox-skin shawls to the coast. Fernando Librado (Chumash Elder) mentions that all the trade transactions took place on the mainland due to the location, since it was between the island and the interior.” ref
“Over the course of late prehistory, millions of shell beads were manufactured and traded from Santa Cruz Island. It has been suggested that exclusive control over stone quarries used to manufacture the drills needed in bead production could have played a role in the development of social complexity in Chumash society. The bead-making industry involved two distinct craft specializations: the production of tools used to make beads and the actual manufacturing of the beads themselves. Central to this industry was chert, a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock. The Chumash crafted small flakes of chert into microblades, which were essential for their bead production. These microblades were then used to create drills, the tools necessary for making holes in shells, transforming them into beads. Thus, chert microlithic tools played a crucial role in the bead-making process.” ref
“The regional diversity present within the Chumash territory spawned an intricate trade system connecting the island, coastal, and mainland groups. The villages of Xaxas and Muwu emerged as the most important trade hubs for the Chumash people. Their positioning relative to coastal and mainland trade routes and resources made these villages particularly powerful within the Chumash trade ecosystem. Foods historically consumed by the Chumash include several marine species, such as black abalone, the Pacific littleneck clam, red abalone, the bent-nosed clam, ostrea lurida oysters, angular unicorn snails, and the butternut clam. Acorns, an important plant food, were ground up and cooked into a soup. They also made flour from the dried fruits of the laurel sumac. Highly prized seafood, such as swordfish, was caught through the use of plank canoes and was likely shared by chiefs during communal feasts.” ref
“Feasts are a ritual activity of communal consumption of large quantities of food and drinks along with dances, music, and singing. They played a large role in political and social relations for the Chumash people. The feasts would be prepared over many days, mostly by women, and would coincide with major events such as childbirth, marriages, and chiefs’ birthdays. There are accounts of feasts being held for European expeditions passing through Chumash territories. There is evidence to suggest that a seafaring, fishing economy in the Channel Islands has been around for at least 12,000 years. This can be seen through various types of fishing projectile points as well as animal remains such as seal, shellfish, and fish all found at sites across the islands by archaeologists and researchers. Coastal people of California have been maintaining their food practices in various ways for a very long time.” ref
“Herbs used in traditional Chumash medicine include thick-leaved yerba santa, used to keep airways open for proper breathing; laurel sumac, the root bark of which was used to make a herbal tea for treating dysentery; and black sage, the leaves and stems of which were made into a strong sun tea. This was rubbed on the painful area or used to soak one’s feet. The plant contains diterpenoids, such as aethiopinone and ursolic acid, which are known pain relievers. The Chumash formerly practiced an initiation rite involving the use of sacred datura (mo’moy in their language). When a boy was 8 years old, his mother would give him a preparation of it to drink. This was supposed to be a spiritual challenge to help him develop the spiritual well-being required to become a man. Not all of the boys survived the poison. Remains of a developed Chumash culture, including rock paintings apparently depicting the Chumash cosmology, such as Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park, can still be seen.” ref
ref – All drawings are by J. Adams
1. “Chumash pictographs. (a) Sky, earth and sea. The sky and sea are anthropomorphic, whereas the earth has lines and circles, perhaps indicating villages and paths. (b) Swordfish, ‘elye’ wun in Chumash (pronounced ghaylyaykwune) was fabled to drive whales onto the beach and provide food for people during the winter. (c) Sun and moon. The sun is depicted as a whorl. The moon or momoy is depicted as a 10 or so pointed star. (d) Night sky is an intricate drawing of concentric designs with four direction indicators. (e) Beetle is a comical figure. Chumash legends describe a stink beetle that sticks its head in the ground and creates a bad smell all around it. The beetle is able to ignore everyone else and drive others away with the bad smell. (f) Frog is able to live in the water and air worlds. These worlds were seen as identical mirror images of each other by the Chumash. (g) Possible depiction of a uterus.” ref
2. Chumash pictographs that tell stories. (a) Sky Coyote and the Sun are playing peon as described in Spirit, Mind and Body in Chumash Healing. (b) Deer dance. Every fall, this dance may have been performed to thank God for deer. The dance is led by the paha, ceremonial leader. The dancers hold the deer skins on sticks and move their arms as they dance.” ref
“Some Chumash males had pierced noses, and many had pierced ears; the ear holes were large enough to hold containers for carrying tobacco. For special occasions, they painted their entire bodies. The paint served a practical purpose, since it acted as a sunscreen. Ceremonial costumes representing animals and birds might be made from an entire bearskin or from all the plumage taken from the giant California condor. The Chumash believed the universe was divided into three worlds: the Sky World, the World of the People (Earth), and the Lower World (where evil beings lived). According to Chumash tradition, animals were Earth’s first creatures. When death appeared on Earth, some animals rose into the sky to escape it and turned into heavenly bodies such as the Sun, Moon, Morning Star, Evening Star, and Sky Coyote.” ref
“The Chief of the Sky People was Eagle, who held up the sky with his wings. Eclipses occurred when Eagle covered the Moon with his wings. If the Sky People became upset, terrible storms rained down on the World of the People. And if the two serpents who held up the World of the People became restless and moved, earthquakes and other disturbances would shake the Earth. Dead people journeyed through the heavenly bodies before reaching the afterworld. A central feature of the Chumash religion was the consumption of a drug called toloache, which is obtained from a plant called jimsonweed. The drug causes those who take it to go into a trancelike state and see visions. Chumash religious leaders were priest-astrologers, who could read meanings in the positions of the heavenly bodies. Under the influence of toloache, the priest-astrologers painted pictographs in sacred caves. (See “Arts.”) The exact meaning of these pictographs is not known, but they may have been attempts to communicate with the spirit world. Toloache was also consumed by sons of wealthy families as part of their training for a religious society called an antap.” ref
“The smooth and irregularly shaped shallow sandstone cave contains numerous drawings apparently depicting the Chumash cosmology and other subjects created in mineral pigments and other media over a long period ranging from about 200 up to possibly 1000 years or more.” ref
“The Chumash are probably best known for the pictographs, which were brightly colored paintings of humans, animals, and abstract circles. They were thought to be part of religious rituals and astrononomical events. Rock art may have been created by shamans during vision quests, most commonly in the form of pictographs (paintings on rock), but sometimes petroglyphs (engravings on rock) as well. No one is absolutely certain about the meaning of the Chumash Rock art, but scholars generally agree that it is connected with religion and astronomy. The rock art sites are always found near streams, springs, or some other source of permanent water. In his research of southern California rock art, Grant recorded numerous sites from different areas that were all close to a water source. Chumash traditional narratives in oral history say that religious specialists, known as ‘alchuklash created the rock art.” ref
“Non-Chumash people call these practitioners medicine men or shamans.According to David Whitley, shamanism is “a form of worship based on direct, personal interaction between a shaman (or medicine man) and the supernatural (or sacred realm and its spirits).” In Chumash territory, the sites for the vision quests were usually located near the shaman’s village. The Chumash considered caves, rocks, and water sources quite powerful, and the shamans saw them as a “portal to the sacred realm…where they could enter the supernatural.” The way a shaman interacted with the supernatural was by entering a hallucinogenic trance, or altered state of consciousness. In this altered state, brought on either by surprisingly potent native tobacco or jimsonweed, shamans received visions and supernatural power from spirit helpers often in the forms of dangerous and powerful animals like rattlesnakes and grizzly bears.” ref
“Spirit helpers almost never took the form of an animal that was an important source of food, because it was ‘taboo for a shaman to eat meat from the species of his helper.’ The discovery of chewed quids (plant material chewed to extract a drug) in the ceiling of a site named Pinwheel Cave were identified as Datura wrightii. This match was the first confirmation of the consumption of an hallucinogen at any Chumash site (and possibly any in the world). Chumash rock art depicts images like humans, animals, celestial bodies, and other (at times ambiguous) shapes and patterns. These depictions vary considerably and appear to be in no particular order or arrangement. The colors of the paintings vary as well, from red or black monochromes (different shades of a single color) to elaborate polychromes (many various colors).” ref
“The Chumash made paint from a mixture of mineralized soil, stone mortar, and some kind of liquid binder like blood or oil from animals or mashed seeds. The addition of an oil binder helped to make the paint permanent and waterproof. Orange and red paint contained hematite or iron oxide, while yellow came from limonite, blue and green from copper or serpentine, white from kaolin clays or gypsum, and black from manganese or charcoal. Paint was applied with a person’s finger or a brush. Grant organized the types of images depicted in the paintings into two categories: representational and abstract. Representational images include squares, circles, and triangles, zigzags, crisscrosses, parallel lines, and pinwheels. Grant noted that in settled villages, abstract paintings were prominent, while the areas occupied by bands of hunting people reveal representational images. In the early 20th century, non-Natives began studying California rock art, including a number of archaeologists, such as Julian Steward and Alfred Kroeber.” ref
“Because of some commonly occurring symbols in paintings, it was believed that at least portions of the rock art depicted themes of fertility, water, and rain. At Painted Cave, a circle enclosing five spokes surrounded by other circles–some spoked, some rayed–is thought to represent the solar eclipse of November 24, 1677. Pinwheel shapes, dots, and concentric circles are believed to be celestial bodies. Figures combining human and animal features represent states of transformation that the ‘alchuklash experienced. Certain animals, such as rattlesnakes and frogs, are believed to represent spirit helpers. There are several sites with archaeoastronomy interpretations of glyphs. The site at Painted Rock (San Luis Obispo County, California) has an arborglyph that looks like a lizard with what seems to be Polaris, the North Star, and the constellation Ursa Major.” ref
“Condor cave in the San Rafael Mountains near Sisquoc River, has a cave entrance that lines up with the sun at dawn on the winter solstice. Inside the cave are motifs that are described as “a possible solar symbol”. Concerning the age of the paintings, Grant says, “a radiocarbon test on pigment from a Santa Barbara area pictograph site showed that the sample was ‘not over 2,000 years old.'” “The cave paintings of [Southern California]…represent a particular art, or local style or cult. An arborglyph on an oak tree in the Santa Lucia Range in San Luis Obispo County was discovered to be Chumash art. The tree, locally known as the “scorpion tree,” was originally believed to have been the work of cowboys. However, archaeologists believe it to be the only known Native American arborglyph in the western United States. The work on the tree is theorized to be correlated to the movement of celestial bodies. If true, it would demonstrate that Chumash art was likely used as astronomical calendars.” ref
“They had at least one god, whom they referred to as Sup or Achup. They also had people known as shamans, who represented the spirit world to their people and could perform important rituals and ceremonies. The shaman was often associated with a particular animal, such as a rattlesnake or a grizzly bear. People would call on the shaman to cure illnesses or bring good fortune, or to try to bring misfortune to their enemies. Chumash families were often grouped together into clans (organized by matrilineal clans and held a largely matrilocal, matriarchal society). A clan is a group of families with common ancestors (matrilineal Chumash family history). Oftentimes, these clans would be identified with an animal, such as the eagle or coyote. Villages would be made up of people of different clans, and it was common to marry someone from outside your clan. When two people got married, usually the husband moved to his wife’s village and lived among her relatives.” ref
AI Overview: Chumash taboos were deeply rooted in spiritual, social, and physical purity, centering on restrictions during life transitions and the respect for sacred spaces. Key taboos included strict dietary and behavior restrictions during menstruation and puberty, sacred silence or reverence at specific sites, and careful, expert-only handling of powerful substances like datura. Datura (toloache) was used for ceremonies to connect with guardian spirits, but casual or improper use was highly taboo and dangerous. Antaps (members of a specialized, elite religious society) maintained strict rituals, and tampering with, or disrespecting these practices was taboo. While not a “taboo” in the western sense, the cultural law of “moderation” meant it was forbidden to over-harvest, requiring people to take only what was necessary.
“Each village had a playground: a smooth level area big enough to play outdoor games such as shinny, kickball, and the hoop-and-pole game. Another area in the village was a ceremonial dance ground surrounded by a high fence of tule mats to serve as a windbreak. Inside was the siliyɨk or sacred enclosure, a semi-circular area, enclosed for privacy, where priests and shamans conducted religious rituals.” ref
“Chumash worldview is centered on the belief “that considers all things to be, in varying measure, alive, intelligent, dangerous, and sacred.” According to Thomas Blackburn in December’s Child: A Book of Chumash Oral Narratives published in 1980, the Chumash do not have a creation story like Tongva, Acjachemen, Quechnajuichom, and other Takic-speaking peoples. Rather, as summarized by Susan Suntree, “they assume that the universe with its three, or in some versions five, layers has always been here. Human beings occupy the Middle Region, which rests upon two giant snakes.” ref
“Chronological time is unimportant, though the past is divided into two sections: the universal flood that caused the First People to become the natural world and, thereafter the creation of human beings, the arrival of the Europeans, and the devastating consequences that followed.” The middle region (sometimes referred to as ‘antap), where humans and spirits of this world live and where shamans could travel in vision quests, is interconnected with the lower world (C’oyinahsup) through the springs and marsh areas and is connected to the upper world through the mountains. In the lower world live snakes, frogs, salamanders. The world trembles or has earthquakes when the snakes which support the world.” ref
“Water creatures are also in contact with the powers of the lower world and “were often depicted in rock art perhaps to bring more water to the Chumash or to appease underworld spirits’ at times of hunger or disease.” Itiashap is the home of the First People. Alapay is the upper world in Chumash cosmology where the “sky people” lived, who play an important role in the health of the people. Principle figures of the sky world include the Sun, the Moon, Lizard, Sky Coyote, and Eagle.” ref
“The Sun is the source of life and is also “a source of disease and death.” The Sky Coyote, also known as the Great Coyote of the Sky or Shnilemun, is considered to be a protector and according to Inseño Chumash lore, “looks out for the welfare of all in the world below him”. During the creation of mankind, the Sky Coyote was present among the other important cosmological figures. According to John M. Anderson in his work Chumash Demonology, the Eagle, also known as Slo’w, represents the ruler of Polaris. The Eagle also is the force that maintains momentum and order among the other stars so that they do not fall down on and destroy earth.” ref
“The Chumash cosmology is also centered around astronomy. Rock art and arborglyphs that have been found within Chumash sites are thought to have depicted Polaris (the North Star) and Ursa Major (the Big Dipper). Specialists Rex Saint-Onge, John R. Johnson, and Joseph R. Talaugon argue in their article Archaeoastronomical Implications of a Northern Chumash Arborglyph that these two astrological entities were paramount to the Chumash belief system as well as their perception of time. It is believed that the Chumash used these constellations to determine what time of the year it was, depending on the position of Ursa Major around Polaris.” ref
“Like other Native American universes, the Chumash mythical universe is ordered, but still very uncertain. Events occur at the whim of supernatural beings capable of kindness and malevolence. Supernatural beings can be both rational and irrational at times, as humans may be. Chumash narratives vary in plot, but the “hero’s journey” and “trickster’s story” appear frequently in Chumash oral culture. The motives inspiring the protagonist, however, appear dubious by Western standards. Whereas Western fictional heroes are called to action and make decisions based on a clear set of choices, Chumash protagonists act based on an abstruse imperative or “must.” ref
“Magic and death also appear commonly as literary devices. Conflict often arises between beings with innate magical powers and those who acquired their powers through magical objects or helpers. Death, wherever it occurred in native stories, was always reversible, and was usually undone with the aid of the aforementioned magical powers or special “medicines” bearing similar supernatural powers. Another commonly used literary device was inversion, where the opposite of what’s to be expected occurs, ex. supernatural beings consume only toxic materials, or events occurring at day versus night in the human world are chronologically switched in the underworld.” ref
“Time is not a strongly defined topic in Chumash folklore. Very little detail is placed on the creation of the universe and there’s little chronological order to narratives, suggesting that Chumash culture valued the idea of progress over time in a different way than the West. The universe was believed to have changed only very slightly in its history; one of the few transformative events was the Flood. The Flood was believed to have transformed the so-called “First People” into present-day plants and animals. Modern humans were created by supernatural powers, and death was introduced to deal with overpopulation. The Flood separated Chumash mythology into an unspecified, indeterminate past, and the world we see today.” ref
“Again, similar to Western folklore, Chumash narratives often began and ended with idiomatic phrases. “When Coyote was human” or, “Momoy was a rich Widow,” analogous to “Once upon a time” in Western culture, were introductions to stories about the two most commonly seen characters in Chumash narratives. As the West had, “and they lived happily ever after…,” so the Chumash had an idiomatic expression roughly translating to “I am finished, it is the end.” Most storytelling occurred at night, and some stories were told only in Winter. The Chumash highly valued storytellers, and certain narratives were made privy only to subjects of certain social status. Chumash storytellers would integrate stories from elsewhere into their own beliefs, but despite this, Chumash narratives are significantly distinct from those of neighboring cultures.” ref
The Middle World and the First People
“The Chumash believed their universe was divided into at least 3 worlds and groups of beings. The Middle world is occupied by humans. The first world above belongs to supernatural beings such as the Sun, and the Giant Eagle. The first world below is inhabited by monsters that enter the human world after dark. People were believed to be able to travel between worlds, but not without difficulty. Prior to the Flood, the First People dwelled in the Middle world. These people were thought to be largely humanoid with some floral or faunal characteristics related to the plants or animals they would become after the Flood.” ref
“Unlike other native groups, the Chumash excluded much of the animal kingdom from their folklore. Most of the animals mentioned are birds. Plants, reptiles, mammals, and insects are mentioned occasionally, and fish only have one representative among the First People. Bears, rattlesnakes, elk, whales, and other seemingly impressive animals don’t appear as characters in Chumash folklore. Among the First People, Coyote appears the most in Chumash narratives as the archetype hero/trickster. Coyote can be thought of as an analogy for man; he has conflicting virtues and vices. Often portrayed as an old man, Coyote is powerful and knowledgeable, but wasn’t born into the high social stratus of the supernatural beings like the Great Eagle.” ref
“Also featured prominently among the First People was Momoy. Momoy, depicted as an old woman, turned into Datura meteloides (a narcotic plant) after the Flood. She was a wealthy widow who lived in a faraway place alone or with a daughter. She herself doesn’t bear power within the universe, but she can take brief glimpses into the future, and inform individuals only the probable outcomes of their actions. One who drinks the water that Momoy uses to wash her hands will fall into a coma and receive visions pertaining to their future or destiny.” ref
“According to legends, the middle world was supported above the world below by two giant serpents, whose movements would cause earthquakes. The world above was held in place by the Giant Eagle. The middle world was believed to be flat and circular, with a number of islands floating on an ocean. The Chumash live on the largest, most central island. To the West exists the land of the dead, filled with souls waiting to be reborn. The land of the dead contains 3 areas similar to purgatory, heaven, and hell: wit, ʔayaya, and Šimilaqša.” ref
The afterlife
In Chumash belief, the soul is a separate entity from the body, but one only experiences their soul separating from their body at least 3 days after death, or as a harbinger of death. In the case where a living person saw their own soul, it was possible to avoid death by ingesting Momoy or toloache. Immediately following death, the soul oversees the destruction of their property and revisits locations frequented in life before heading westward to the land of the dead in a ball of light.” ref
“The soul first encounters two widows who live by merely smelling food and water and bathing themselves in a spring. The soul then travels to a ravine, where it must pass two deadly boulders and two giant ravens who attempt to peck out the eyes of the soul, replacing them with poppies. Then, the soul must pass a tall woman with a scorpion-like tail. She draws attention by clapping and will sting anyone who comes too near. Finally, the soul reaches the ocean spanned by a single bridge or pole. Beneath the consistently rising and falling bridge exists evil souls petrified from the neck down.” ref
“Two monsters attempt to scare the traveling soul, who, if lacking requisite knowledge or power, will fall into the sea and be transformed into a fish or amphibian. Souls who pass this final test enjoy Šimilaqša, a land ruled by a chief in a crystal house, the Sun. Here, one will eat, sleep, and play for eternity, or until they are reincarnated. The discussion of who enters Šimilaqša varies among Chumash groups. The Ventureño, for example, believe the spirits of children and those who drown do not enter Šimilaqša, but will be reincarnated after 12 years.” ref
The First World above and supernatural beings
“The world above was inhabited by supernatural beings such as the Sun, the Two Thunders, and the ʔelyeʔwun, or Giant Eagle. They generally exist in human form, but have supernatural powers and usually only intervene in human affairs to a minimal extent. They can be malevolent if so inclined and have more control over the universe than any other beings. The Sun was portrayed as an extremely old widower living with two daughters in a crystal house. He and his daughters subsist off human flesh and bones. He wears nothing but a feathered headband in which he tucks the bodies of small children. He carries a torch made of bark which he uses to light the world beneath him.” ref
“His daughters wear aprons made of live rattlesnakes. Every day, the Sun travels a path around the world and returns to his daughters with corpses to eat. Every day, the Sun plays peon with the Great Eagle against the Coyote of the Sky and the Morning Star. On the Winter solstice, the Moon decides who has won the game for the year. If the Sun wins, there will be a rainy year and bountiful crop yields. If the Sun loses, more people will suffer and die. Some Chumash families apparently stayed indoors all day during the Winter solstice. The Great Eagle was seen as a hands-off leader of the first people’s social order. The Great Eagle would spend most of his time in the first world meditating, lost in thought. His relatives, falcon, and two hawks play a more active leadership role.” ref
“The roles of everyone else of the first people follow no distinct hierarchy and reflect societal roles and positions of the Chumash themselves. The Coyote of the Sky appears to be one of the few supernatural powers largely trusted by the Chumash. The Coyote of the Sky was believed to support the welfare of the first people and humans below. The Inezeño view him as a father figure and pray to him specifically. The monsters of the world below, however, were thought to be intrinsically malevolent supernatural beings that always pose a threat to humans. They were often described as grotesque, nocturnal, and misshapen.” ref
Chumash Rainbow Bridge Creation Story
“The Chumash “Rainbow Bridge” creation story describes Limuw (Santa Cruz Island) as the birthplace of the Chumash people. Hutash (Mother Earth) created the people on the island with the seeds of a magic plant. Her husband, Alchupo’osh (Sky Snake, or the Milky Way) gifted the people fire, which allowed the island population to grow. Soon, Limuw was crowded, and the noise the humans made annoyed Hutash. She decided they needed a new, larger home, so she created a rainbow bridge connecting the island to the mainland. As the people crossed, some became dizzy looking down into the mist and fell into the ocean. Hutash took pity on them and transformed them into dolphins, who the Chumash today call their brothers and sisters.” ref
“The dark-green foliage and white, trumpet-shaped flowers of datura (momoy) are a common sight on the mainland, especially in places where the soil has been disturbed. Datura may originally have been imported to the Channel Islands by the Chumash, who used it for ritual as well as medicinal purposes. Datura, also known as jimsonweed or thornapple, contains several powerful alkaloids that can be highly toxic. Hallucinations of flying, dancing, and bodily dissolution are common symptoms of datura ingestion. Related species were used for ritual purposes among many societies in Asia, Africa, medieval Europe, and North America. In Chumash oral literature, datura was personified as an old woman named Momoy. Chumash shamans used datura to enter a hallucinogenic trance, during which they would consult with spiritual beings and diagnose serious illnesses. Datura was also used as an anesthetic for setting broken bones and treating severe wounds.” ref
“The Chumash were skillful observers of the night sky who developed myths to explain the conjunctions and relative motions of the celestial bodies. The study reveals that the major drive of astronomer-priests was not scientific understanding of the sky, but the prediction and justification of Earth events. Celestial objects were cast in the role of powerful, competitive sky beings. Their struggles in the heavens reflected conflicts and insecurities the priests themselves experienced. The behavior of the sky beings was believed to affect the outcome of human affairs, and, indeed, the balance of the entire universe. These deities were frequently indifferent to man; for example, Mars was identified as an aloof and sometimes threatening being, invested with awesome supernatural power.” ref
“As the dangerous giant condor Hol-hol, Mars and its retrograde motion probably inspired the Chumash belief that the bird-deity could travel quickly across the Upper World and seek out missing persons or objects. The Chumash also characterized the twin aspects of Venus (Evening and Morning Star) as separate beings with opposed benevolent and malevolent characteristics. Such details vividly convey the difference between our own habits of systematically classifying astronomical events.” ref
“The sun rises from the east and goes to the west, and all the spirits follow him. They leave their bodies. The sun reaches the door and enters, and the souls enter too. When it is time for the sun to fulfill his duty, he emerges, for he lights the abysses with his eye, and all who are in the dusk resurrect.” ref
“The Chumash were one of the largest Indian nations of California prior to the European invasion. They lived in large, permanent villages. The highly structured Chumash society was divided into a professional class and a workers’ class. The workers class included centuries-old basket-making and canoe-making guilds. “Stitching and gluing planks of redwood and pine together, the Chumash assembled ocean-going watercraft that were used for trade, transportation, and offshore fishing. Tomols required greater labor investment than other boat technologies; each one entailed approximately six months of effort by an experienced group of boat makers, as well as large quantities of driftwood, cordage, asphaltum, pine pitch, and chert drills.” ref
“These canoes were about 25 feet in length, 3-4 feet wide, and about 3 feet in depth. To make a canoe, planks were split from driftwood logs and then soaked for hours in boiling water to make them pliable. The planks used in these canoes were tied on all four sides by sewing rough, drilled holes with waxed milkweed twine. The bow and stern of the canoe were elevated, which made landing in the surf easier. The canoe was caulked with asphaltum, which was applied hot. Finally, the canoe was sanded with sharkskin and sealed with red ocher. The bow was decorated with white seashells. The canoes held 8-12 people.” ref
“With its higher sides, the tomol is seaworthy in open water, and it has a large carrying capacity. They were used for hauling cargo as well as serving as offshore fishing platforms. They are relatively easy to paddle, and a crew can maintain a speed of six to eight knots in calm conditions. The Chumash tomols wove the coastal and island villages together into a system of trade, travel, and fishing. With these ocean-going boats, the Chumash voyaged to the Channel Islands, Santa Catalina Island, and San Nicolas Island (65 miles offshore). The tomols were under the guidance of the Brotherhood of the Canoe, a kinship-based society. Those who owned tomols commanded wealth and prestige, and they wore bearskin capes to mark their status.” ref
“Southern California is the only place in Native North America where sewn-plank boat technology was present, yet this technique was common throughout Polynesia and Polynesian seafarers. These plank canoes were unique in North America, and were only known elsewhere in the hemisphere at a spot on the coast of Chile.” There was no single Chumash tribe, no governmental structure that united all of the Chumash villages. In terms of governmental structure, each village was an autonomous, self-governing unit.” ref
“Although specific villages were bound together through ceremonial obligations, marriages, and alliances, most operated independently from one another with respect to subsistence activities, political authority, and social identity. Chumash society is most commonly characterized as a simple chiefdom organized at the village level, with a few examples of paramount chiefs who exerted regional influence.” The Chumash chief – called wot – was a position which was inherited through the patrilineal line—that is, it was inherited from the father. While Chumash leaders inherited their positions patrilineally, there were some instances in which daughters or sisters became chiefs.” ref
“The primary duties of the wot were caring for the elderly and the indigent. Larger Chumash communities, such as Syuhtun and Shisholop, had several wot whose duties included the assigning of hunting and gathering areas and making sure that supplies were set aside for special occasions, such as religious and social festivals. The Chumash wot were assisted by special messengers –the ksen – and by ceremonial officials – the paxa. The paxa would oversee religious ceremonies such as the winter solstice rites and the fall acorn harvest festival.” ref
“Gambling was a common activity among California Indians. There were a number of gambling games that involved dice and games that involved guessing which hand held a marked stick or bone. The Chumash were great gamblers, and the men were constantly wagering shell money, which they kept strung around their topknots.” For the Chumash, the winter solstice was a particularly dangerous time, as this was when they needed to restore harmony and balance to the world so that the sun would begin to move north again. During this time, there were both public and private rituals that honored the dead and paid homage to the sun.” ref
“On the first day of the winter solstice ceremonies, all debts would be settled so that the new year would start fresh and clean. On the second day of the ceremony, the sun was spiritually pulled to the north. To do this, a hole about 12-18 inches across would be dug in the plaza. About 3:00 PM, a sunstick would be erected in this hole. Twelve dancers would circle the sunstick carrying feathers. The leader would then strike the sunstick twice to release its spiritual power, and then he would give a ritual speech.” ref
“Chumash sunsticks were made with small disks of stone, which were inserted in a shaft of wood. The stones were painted green or blue and would have a black crescent representing the moon. The sunstick as a whole represented the axis of the world. That night, the people would dance around the sunstick in a clockwise (sunwise) direction until mid-way through the night. At this time, they would reverse the direction and dance in a counterclockwise direction. During the dance, a man could choose any woman, married or not, by singing to her. When his song was over, she would go with him to engage in sexual intercourse.” ref
I think that the Chieftain thinking, of the complex fisher peoples of the Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast migrated south to the Californian Chumash and east to the Great Lakes (as seen in the mound-building cultures), then southeast, eventually reaching Florida, as seen with the Calusa.
“Chumash stories and folktales; variants of the same/similar legend are often told by American Indians from different tribes, especially if those tribes are kinfolk or neighbors. In particular, though these legends come from the Chumash tribe, the traditional stories of related tribes like the Salinan and Seri tribes are very similar. The Salinan language is considered by some linguists to be part of the Hokan family of languages, possibly related most closely to Chumash. Seri is considered by some linguists to be a member of the Hokan language family, possibly most closely related to the extinct California languages Salinan and Chumash.” ref, ref, ref
“Chumashan is an extinct and revitalizing family of languages that were spoken on the southern California coast by Native American Chumash people, from the Coastal plains and valleys of San Luis Obispo to Malibu, neighboring inland and Transverse Ranges valleys and canyons east to bordering the San Joaquin Valley, to three adjacent Channel Islands: San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz. The Chumashan languages may be, along with Yukian and perhaps languages of southern Baja California, such as Waikuri, one of the oldest language families established in California, before the arrival of speakers of Penutian, Uto-Aztecan, and perhaps even Hokan languages. Chumashan, Yukian, and southern Baja languages are spoken in areas with long-established populations of a distinct physical type. The population in the core Chumashan area has been stable for the past 10,000 years. However, the attested range of Chumashan is recent (within a couple of thousand years). There is internal evidence that Obispeño replaced a Hokan language and that Island Chumash mixed with a language very different from Chumashan; the islands were not in contact with the mainland until the introduction of plank canoes in the first millennium CE.” ref
“The Hokan languages are spoken in the southwestern and west coast US and in northwestern Mexico (Baja California and Sonora). The relationships between the different branches of the Hokan language family are tenuous and this grouping is considered hypothetical. Some linguists have proposed a distant relationship between the Hokan, Muskogean and Siouan languages.” ref
“The Hokan language family is a hypothetical grouping of a dozen small language families spoken mainly in California, Arizona, and Baja California. Some versions of the hypothesis also include languages spoken in Oaxaca and Honduras. Hokan languages’ sound correspondences in proposed lexical resemblance sets have added weight to the Hokan hypothesis, leading to its acceptance by many specialists in the languages of California, Oregon, and Mesoamerica. However, some skepticism remains among scholars. An automated computational analysis found lexical similarities among Seri, Yuman, and Tequistlatecan. However, since the analysis was automatically generated, the grouping could be either due to mutual lexical borrowing or genetic inheritance.” ref
“The geographic distribution of the Hokan languages suggests that they became separated around the Central Valley of California by the influx of later-arriving Penutian and other peoples; archaeological evidence summarized. These languages are spoken by Native American communities around and east of Mount Shasta, others near Lake Tahoe, the Pomo on the California coast, and the Yuman peoples along the lower Colorado River. Some linguists also include Chumash, between San Luis Obispo and Los Angeles, and other families, but the evidence is insubstantial, and most now restrict Hokan to some or all of the languages listed below. Linguists have suggested that Coahuilteco and Comecrudan spoken in southern Texas and northern Mexico belong to the Hokan language family. These languages are extinct, and confirmation of the relationship is lacking. Moreover, there are similarities between Proto-Hokan and Proto-Uto-Aztecan.” ref
“Penutian is a proposed grouping of language families that includes many Native American languages of western North America, predominantly spoken at one time in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California. The existence of a Penutian stock or phylum has been the subject of debate among linguists. Even the unity of some of its component families has been disputed. Some of the problems in the comparative study of languages within the phylum are the result of their early extinction and limited documentation.” ref
“Even where genetic relationship is clearly indicated … the evidence of diffusion of traits from neighboring tribes, related or not, is seen on every hand. This makes the task of determining the validity of the various alleged Hokan languages and the various alleged Penutian languages all the more difficult … [and] point[s] up once again that diffusional studies are just as important for prehistory as genetic studies and what is even more in need of emphasis, it points up the desirability of pursuing diffusional studies along with genetic studies. This is nowhere more necessary than in the case of the Hokan and Penutian languages wherever they may be found, but particularly in California where they may very well have existed side by side for many millennia.” ref
“Consensus was reached at a 1994 workshop on Comparative Penutian at the University of Oregon that the families within the proposed phylum’s California, Oregon, Plateau, and Chinookan clusters would eventually be shown to be genetically related. Subsequently, Marie-Lucie Tarpent reassessed Tsimshianic, a geographically isolated family in northern British Columbia, and concluded that its affiliation within Penutian is also probable. Plateau Penutian, Coast Oregon Penutian, and Yok-Utian (comprising the Utian and Yokutsan languages) are increasingly supported.” ref
“The Tsimshianic languages are a family of languages spoken in northwestern British Columbia and in Southeast Alaska on Annette Island and Ketchikan. All Tsimshianic languages are endangered, some with only around 400 speakers. Only around 2,170 people of the ethnic Tsimshian population in Canada still speak a Tsimshian language; about 50 of the 1,300 Tsimshian people living in Alaska still speak Coast Tsimshian. Tsimshianic languages are considered by most linguists to be an independent language family, with four main languages: Coast Tsimshian, Southern Tsimshian, Nisg̱a’a, and Gitksan. The Tsimshianic languages were included by Edward Sapir in his Penutian hypothesis, which is currently not widely accepted, at least in its full form. The Penutian connections of Tsimshianic have been reevaluated by Marie-Lucie Tarpent, who finds the idea probable, though others hold that the Tsimshianic family is not closely related to any other North American language.” ref
“The Tsimshian are an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace and Prince Rupert, and Metlakatla, Alaska on Annette Island, the only reservation in Alaska. Tsimshian society is matrilineal, kinship-based, which means identity, clans, and property pass through the maternal line. Their moiety-based societal structure is further divided into sub clans for certain lineages. The Tsimshian language has some 27 different terms for ‘chief,’ likely because it is a stratified and ranked society. The Tsimshian have a matrilineal kinship system, with a societal structure based on a tribe, house group, and clan system. Descent and property are transmitted through the maternal line. Hereditary chiefs obtain their rights through their maternal line through their mother’s brother. Although it is inherited, the protege must be trained for proper behavior and groomed well for specific obligations. No lineage should be sullied by inappropriate behaviors of high-ranking members.” ref
“Tsimshian religion centered on the “Lord of Heaven”, who aided people in times of need by sending supernatural servants to earth to aid them. Like all Northwest Coastal peoples, the Tsimshian harvested the abundant sea life, especially salmon. The Tsimshian became seafaring people, like the Haida. The Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast, the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian, are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, primarily residing in Southeast Alaska and British Columbia, sharing rich cultures rooted in matrilineal kinship, salmon fishing, and complex art forms like totem poles. Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and Eyak social systems are highly complex and speak four distinct languages. Each of these groups is organized into two equal halves, the Eagle and Raven moieties, which consist of several clans each. The clans are matrilineal, meaning that children inherit through their mother. Traditionally, marriages were arranged between members of the opposite moiety.” ref, ref, ref
Emergence of Chumash Chiefdoms
“Identifying the origins of simple chiefdoms in the archaeological record is a subject that has elicited significant debate among archaeologists working in the Chumash region. We address several significant issues raised by Arnold and Green concerning our interpretations of the mortuary data from the site of Malibu. We argue, contrary to their assertion of ambiguity, that when multiple lines of evidence are considered, a strong case can be made for the existence of sociopolitical complexity during the Middle period.” ref
“The social complexity of the prehistoric Chumash has been described as ‘hunter-gatherer’, ‘complex hunter-gatherer’, ‘transegalitarian’, and as ‘a simple chiefdom maritime culture’. When reviewing several types of archeological evidence of the emergence of Chumash social complexity before European contact in 1769, there is a lot of different thinking. The Chumash had an extraordinarily populous (15,000 to 20,000 people) and socially complex culture of sedentary complex hunter-gatherers who controlled regional trade networks, used currency, and had ocean voyaging boats. Like the Northwest Coast Indians, the Chumash had a stratified society based on economic and social stratification (wealth) but without significant political stratification of one community controlling another in a regional polity. Transegalitarian societies are between egalitarian hunter-gatherer groups and stratified chiefdoms. They feature private ownership of resources, low levels of sharing, and institutionalized hierarchies ultimately based on wealth (but also including ritual, kingship, and political dominance). The production and re-distribution of food surpluses, the use of prestige goods, and communal feasting patterns are characteristics of transegalitarian societies.” ref
“Characteristics of complex hunter-gatherers include: sedentism, intensified food production, food storage, increased population densities, production and trade of prestige items, warfare, and social hierarchies that may include “Big Man” leaders or hereditary chiefs and slavery. The community sizes of complex hunter-gatherers sometimes exceed 1,000 people. The term chiefdom is has been problematic as there has not been agreement on its features. Most chiefdoms were based on intensive agriculture, but there are some in North America that were based on abundant seafood sources and food storage, such as the Northwest Coast Indians and the Chumash. Simple chiefdoms have populations in the thousands and control one village in an exchange network. Complex chiefdoms have populations in the tens of thousands and generally control more than one village in a regional exchange network, such as the Chumash chiefdom of Santa Cruz Island. A chiefdom has been defined by some as an autonomous political unit comprising a number of villages or communities under the permanent control of a paramount chief.” ref
“For the Chumash, the material correlates of social complexity first appeared in the archeological record in significant abundance between CE 800-1350. This was during a period of global climate change, CE 1150-1300, which is known as the Medieval Warm Period. It was characterized in the Chumash settlement areas by resource stress with “epic droughts” and “low marine productivity” from evidence of “low lake levels and narrow tree ring bands.” The years during this period of climate change, CE 1150-1300, are known as the Middle-Late Transitional period of Chumash culture and are characterized in the archeological record of the Chumash with signs of increased specialized craft production and violence on Santa Cruz Island. It was during the Middle-Late Transitional Period that the intensive production of microliths (stone drills for shell bead production) and Olivella shell bead currency first appeared on Santa Cruz Island.” ref
“There is disagreement about when hereditary inequality appeared in the Chumash culture. With some ascribing status as early as the late Early period (5500-600 BCE), with a couple of burials containing more cylindrical clam beads than others. Many scholars criticized this assertion for its inadequate sample size (five burials) and the fact that the burials were never dated. More conclusive mortuary evidence shows that elite lineages didn’t appear until the Late and historic periods (CE 1300-1782) after the period of climate change and decreased terrestrial and marine food productivity. Others agree about climate change but disagree with her theory of ecological impacts of the Late and historic periods, saying that they were periods of increased productivity of marine resources during that time, which sustained population growth and sedentism, an intensification of fishing practices, more trade, and an increase in regional violence. According to a model of the emergence of social complexity, it is resource abundance with the intensification of fishing practices, food storage, and surplus that is necessary for “creating inequalities, hierarchy, and economic complexity.” ref
“With food surplus, social inequality, large population densities, and a regional trade network, could the pre-Columbian Chumash be categorized as a chiefdom? Some archeologists say “yes”. “There are no archaeological indicators of paramountcy in the region. However, at the time of European contact, island and coastal village population densities were significantly higher than normal for hunter-gatherer populations, with an estimated 4-9 persons per sq. km. The high population densities, sedentarism, and regional exchange networks of the Chumash indicate a “permanent administrative leadership” such as a simple chiefdom. As a simple chiefdom, Chumash society was composed of complex hunter-gatherer villages linked by an exchange network and individualizing village-based chiefdoms.” ref
“The Chumash shared many cultural traits, such as their religion, but they were not a “cultural or linguistic entity per se” since the Chumash settlements had diverse subsistence practices and languages. There are a total of three geographically based language dialects identified for the pre-Columbian Chumash: Northern Chumash (San Luis Obispo region), Central Chumash (Santa Barbara and Ventura regions), and Island Chumash. The social complexity and control of non-kin household labor by the Chumash was made possible, in part, by periodic population-food imbalances and the selective access items such as the seafaring tomols and the exchange of surplus in the form of their shell bead currency, prestige items, and food such as the plentiful marine foods (shellfish, pinnipeds, coastal and deep water fish). The surplus food was made more accessible by their specialized maritime technology, the tomol, and food storage of seasonal plant foods such as acorns, nuts, and seeds, such as chia.” ref
“The prehistoric Chumash controlled a vast exchange network, produced their own currency of shell beads, and had sophisticated food production and craft specialization. They technology and production of deep-sea wooden-plank boats called tomols was limited to guilds based on kinship. The tomols were status objects exclusive to the hereditary elites, as well as a valuable deep-sea fishing technology that produced food surpluses, which enabled complexity. The tomols allowed the pre-Columbian Chumash to safely ferry passengers from their settlements on the Channel Islands to the mainland and deliver people, trade goods, and food surpluses up and down the mainland coast as early as 11,000 to 13, 000 years ago.” ref
“There was no one ruler over all the Chumash people. Instead, each village had its own chief, or wot (rhymes with ‘boat’), who was the leader and moral authority for the village. Women sometimes served as wots. The assistant to the wot was known as the paha. He acted as master of ceremonies at festivals and gatherings. The ksen were messengers who traveled from place to place, making announcements and gathering news for the wot. The ‘antap was a group of advisors to the wot, and they also performed rituals. In this group were various kinds of people — doctors, astrologers, singers, and dancers. Some parts of the Chumash territory were organized into provinces, or groups of villages. The village wots formed a council which governed the province; one among them was chosen to be the paqwot, or ‘big chief’ who ruled over the others. His or her assistant, the paha, conducted the ceremonies for the province.” ref
“Like almost all other civilizations worldwide, the Chumash loved and fought, made alliances and waged war, took captives, and defended their homes. They were not passive figures in an imagined Eden but real, complex people shaped by the same forces that have shaped all of history. “In the popular imagination and in scholarly treatments, California Indians are frequently depicted as peaceable peoples, living in harmony with each other and the environment at the advert of European contact…Intervillage raids, ritualized battles, larger-scale hostilities among opposing allied groups, and even territorial conquest were all part of the spectrum of enmity relations in Native California.” ref
As detailed in “Ethnohistoric Descriptions of Chumash Warfare,” a different picture emerges—one of a complex, dynamic society in which intergroup conflict was a recurring reality. Far from being an aberration, warfare was an established part of Chumash life, driven by social, economic, and political forces. Spanish colonial accounts, mission records, and oral traditions all provide evidence of battles waged, alliances formed, and leaders who rose and fell in times of war. Like so many people worldwide, the Chumash fought for land, resources, honor, and survival.” ref
“The conflicts of the Chumash were not random skirmishes but varied engagements, ranging from small-scale raids to larger, coordinated assaults involving multiple villages. The Portolá Expedition of 1769–1770 recorded violent clashes, including the burning of five coastal towns by mountain tribes, destruction on a scale that left little doubt as to the severity of these conflicts. Spanish military records from 1790 tell of an attack on their soldiers by a coalition of at least 58 warriors from Chumash and Yokuts villages. This operation demonstrated both planning and cooperation between groups. Oral histories, passed down through generations, tell of ambushes, scalping, and ritual dismemberment, each detail adding depth to the reality of war in pre-contact California.” ref
“There was a strategy in these wars. Thomas Blackburn’s research into Chumash mythology suggests that smoke signals may have been used for communication, a tactical element that speaks to a level of organization beyond mere chance encounters. Battles, in some cases, were even prearranged. However, Chumash warfare was often shaped by opportunity—surprise attacks, retaliatory strikes, and swift movements rather than prolonged campaigns. The bow and arrow were the weapons of choice, and their presence was documented in both Spanish accounts and visual records, such as the ceremonial attire of Rafael Solares. The gruesome fate of soldier Gabriel Espinosa, who was left “pierced like a sieve with arrows”, is just one of many reminders that Chumash warriors were neither unarmed nor unskilled.” ref
“Like so many wars in human history, the conflicts of the Chumash were often fought over land and resources. The gathering grounds for seeds and the rights to certain territories were not just matters of survival, but also matters of sovereignty. In 1792, the Spanish naturalist José Longinos Martínez noted that even mere trespassing into another’s jurisdiction could be a battleground. Acorn groves and seed territories were vital lifelines worth defending at all costs. Mission Father José Señán, writing in 1815, echoed this point, describing how disputes over access to these resources frequently led to bloodshed.” ref
“However, not all conflicts were driven by material concerns. Some wars were personal. Revenge, that age-old catalyst for violence, played its part in Chumash warfare just as it had in countless other societies. A murder, an insult, an accusation of witchcraft—any of these could set a village on the path to war. In 1801, the ranchería (village) Eljman [He’lxman] was attacked and set on fire by warriors from the Sihuicon [Tsiwikon] and Atsililihu [Achililiwo]—two groups “inclined to commit murder in a most treacherous way and from merely superstitious motives”. Elsewhere, in an oral tradition recorded in later years, the Castac Chumash launched a raid on the coastal village of Muwu over the execution of a woman. This act highlights the profound connections between war, honor, and kinship. Even rivalries between chiefs, as described by Luisa Ygnacio, had the power to ignite feuds that could last for generations.” ref
“In Chumash society, war and leadership were closely intertwined. The villages—rancherías—were politically independent, each governed by a chief who held only limited authority in times of peace. But in times of war, these leaders came into their own. Pedro Fages, writing in 1775, observed that Chumash chiefs were chosen for their valor in battle, not for their ability to dictate laws. A leader like El Buchón, encountered by the Portolá Expedition, commanded both tribute and fear, his influence extending far beyond the boundaries of his village. Alliances were key. The 1790 coalition against the Spanish was not an isolated event—alliances, built through kinship and marriage, shaped the landscape of Chumash warfare. Some villages banded together in loose confederations, such as the one centered on Syuxtun, which opposed Dos Pueblos.” ref
“Others found themselves locked in long-standing rivalries, like those between Dos Pueblos and the Goleta towns. The patterns of these alliances and conflicts reveal a world of shifting loyalties, a balance of power not unlike that seen in the tribal wars of the Great Plains or the political struggles of medieval Europe. The myth of a peaceful pre-contact California does not hold up under scrutiny. Like all people, the Chumash lived in a world where war was sometimes necessary, sometimes inevitable. They did not have the standing armies of the Plains tribes or the vast war societies of the Iroquois, but their conflicts were neither trivial nor uncoordinated. Their wars were shaped by the demands of survival, by honor, by leadership, by old enmities and new ambitions. When told in its full complexity, history does not diminish a people—it enriches them. As seen through ethnohistoric evidence, the Chumash emerge not as passive figures in a vanished world but as actors in a grander human story—one of struggle, adaptation, and resilience.” ref
“Intervillage raids, ritualized battles, larger-scale hostilities among opposing allied groups, and even territorial conquest were all part of the spectrum of enmity relations in Native California. Yet it is true that despite the constant threat of raids from one’s enemies that existed for most California groups, there does not appear to have been that formal, institutionalized warrior class that existed in many other parts of Native America. The small-scale, localized nature of most California polities and reliance on intervillage economic exchange seem to have mitigated tendencies toward a pervasive culture of aggression and militarism.” ref
Chiefdoms are powers that are often believed to mobilize due to surplus labor, food, and prestige items. However, I see it as a cultural package that started with hunter-gather/fisher-foragers in west Siberia with the switch from a Matrilineal society to a patrilineal society from 8,000 to 7,000 years ago and from there spread this new war and powerful male thinking, but some Matrilineal societies changed to the war and power modal as well but kept being female-centered. I often talk as if they were completely wiped out by male clans, but not all were, and some became as horrible as male clans. One such major transfer of such ideas, which I think relates to the Tlingit (Matrilineal Na-Dene language connected to patrilineal Yeniseian languages such as the Ket People of Siberia with mostly to Y-DNA haplogroup Q-M242 linking Tlingit and South America) of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America, were a Slaveholding, matrilineal clan chiefdom. And like 90% of South America shares their DNA and also, to me, likely somewhat influenced all Mesoamerican cultures and Moundbuilding cultures that had “Big Men/Big Women” pre/proto-chiefdoms, chiefdoms, and then clan monarchs: Kings/Empresses.
Bands, Tribes, Chiefdoms
“Another means of identifying the boundaries between modern and traditional societies was the categorization of the differences between the manner of their social organization and their driving mechanism. Based on the multi-criteria approach the American Elman Service was the first anthropologist to define the division of society into four groups, while his typology also reflected its evolutionary aspect. The division into bands, tribes, chieftain units, and states is still in current use today, though not without certain reservations. Critics point in particular to the problems that are associated with attempts to apply a typology that was created in relation to recent pre-industrial populations to societies that are identified only in historical or archaeological sources.” ref
“Smaller groups of hunter-gatherers are referred to as bands. In general, their members were related either by blood or by marriage. The bands lacked any formal chieftains, nor were there any striking differences in regard to the ownership of property or of social status between the members. The fact that the bands were both quite small and mobile was also reflected in the size and structure of their settlements. Modern examples of bands of this nature are the Bushmen of southern Africa and the Hadza in Tanzania.” ref
“According to Elman Service, generally the tribes were more significant than the bands, but only rarely did the number of their members attain several thousand people. Their diet usually comprised domestic resources. They were both sedentarised farmers and migrant herders. The tribe comprised a collection of individual communities (families, villages, etc.) that were mutually linked by family ties, either real or declared (i.e. claimed). Tribes usually lacked both official representatives and a “Capital City” because there was no need for an economic base in order to create power structures. The settlements took the form of homesteads or of villages. According to Service, this grouping was supposed to represent some sort of transitional form, somewhere between a band and a chiefdom.” ref
“As social organizations, chiefdoms were made up of several branches of various kinship groups or conical clans. Their members were internally differentiated in them on the basis of their kinship with a real or a mythological ancestor who was viewed as being the founder. The political representative of a society of this nature was a chieftain who inherited his position from within a specific defined circle of relatives. Prestige and status in the society were derived from how close the relationship between the individual and the chieftain was. This was also reflected in the funeral rites. The centralization of power was manifested primarily in the area of spiritual ceremonies and rituals. The authority of the chieftain largely coincided with his priestly functions. Another feature, therefore, was also the existence of a permanent sacred place. It must be admitted that there could be a large number of chieftain systems with different mechanisms of functioning that could co-exist. Historical traces of this can be found on the northwest coast of North America, for example.” ref
“The last category is that of the early states. They gave rise to a complexity that characterizes the more intricate social formations. Though the early states retained a number of the features of the chieftain groups, unlike them, these were societies of a non-relational type (i.e., status was acquired based on qualities, not on origin) stratified into different social classes. This gave rise to an elite that included officials, soldiers, and priests. The top level of this imaginary pyramid was occupied by the King. He had explicitly been given the power to implement laws and to enforce them, even by violent means. The institution of donation also ended in the early stages and was replaced by the levying of taxes.” ref
“Usually, the early states were small in terms of the size of their territory, often consisting of a single dominant city together with its economic hinterland. Because the state-building process was also regionally contagious, so to speak, several states coexisted in the area more or less on a regular basis. Inevitably, together, they formed an interactive network that dynamically transformed its goals from peacekeeping to war. The King had become the King of Kings by conquering the neighboring rulers, and inevitably, his empires ceased to meet the requisite criteria for being an early stage.” ref
“All cultures have one element in common: they somehow exercise social control over their own members. Like the “invisible hand” of the market to which Adam Smith refers in analyzing the workings of capitalism, two forces govern the workings of politics: power—the ability to induce behavior of others in specified ways by means of coercion or use or threat of physical force—and authority—the ability to induce behavior of others by persuasion. Extreme examples of the exercise of power are the gulags (prison camps) in Stalinist Russia, the death camps in Nazi-ruled Germany and Eastern Europe, and so-called Supermax prisons such as Pelican Bay in California and the prison for “enemy combatants” in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by the United States. In all of these settings, prisoners comply or are punished or executed. At the other extreme are most forager societies, which typically exercise authority more often than power. Groups in those societies comply with the wishes of their most persuasive members.” ref
“In actuality, power and authority are points on a continuum, and both are present in every society to some degree. Even Hitler, who exercised absolute power in many ways, had to hold the Nuremberg rallies to generate popular support for his regime and persuade the German population that his leadership was the way to national salvation. In the Soviet Union, leaders had a great deal of coercive and physical power but still felt the need to hold parades and mass rallies on May Day every year to persuade people to remain attached to their vision of a communal society. At the other end of the political spectrum, societies that tend to use persuasion through authority also have some forms of coercive power. Among the Inuit, for example, individuals who flagrantly violated group norms could be punished, including by homicide.” ref
“A related concept in both politics and law is legitimacy: the perception that an individual has a valid right to leadership. Legitimacy is particularly applicable to complex societies that require centralized decision-making. Historically, the right to rule has been based on various principles. In agricultural states such as ancient Mesopotamia, the Aztec, and the Inca, justification for the rule of particular individuals was based on hereditary succession and typically granted to the eldest son of the ruler. Even this principle could be uncertain at times, as was the case when the Inca emperor Atahualpa had just defeated his rival and brother Huascar when the Spaniards arrived in Peru in 1533.” ref
“In many cases, supernatural beliefs were invoked to establish legitimacy and justify rule by an elite. Incan emperors derived their right to rule from the Sun God and Aztec rulers from Huitzilopochtli (Hummingbird-to-the-Left). European monarchs invoked a divine right to rule that was reinforced by the Church of England in Britain and by the Roman Catholic Church in other countries prior to the Reformation. In India, the dominance of the Brahmin elite over the other castes is justified by karma, cumulative forces created by good and evil deeds in past lives. Secular equivalents also serve to justify rule by elites; examples include the promise of a worker’s paradise in the former Soviet Union and racial purity of Aryans in Nazi Germany. In the United States and other democratic forms of government, legitimacy rests on the consent of the governed in periodic elections (though in the United States, the incoming president is sworn in using a Christian Bible despite the alleged separation of church and state).” ref
“In some societies, dominance by an individual or group is viewed as unacceptable. Christopher Boehm (1999) developed the concept of reverse dominance to describe societies in which people rejected attempts by any individual to exercise power. They achieved this aim using ridicule, criticism, disobedience, and strong disapproval and could banish extreme offenders. Richard Lee encountered this phenomenon when he presented the !Kung with whom he had worked over the preceding year with a fattened ox. Rather than praising or thanking him, his hosts ridiculed the beast as scrawny, ill fed, and probably sick. This behavior is consistent with reverse dominance.” ref
“Even in societies that emphasize equality between people, decisions still have to be made. Sometimes, particularly persuasive figures such as headmen make them, but persuasive figures who lack formal power are not free to make decisions without coming to a consensus with their fellows. To reach such a consensus, there must be general agreement. Essentially, then, even if in a backhanded way, legitimacy characterizes societies that lack institutionalized leadership. Another set of concepts refers to the reinforcements or consequences for compliance with the directives and laws of a society. Positive reinforcements are the rewards for compliance; examples include medals, financial incentives, and other forms of public recognition. Negative reinforcements punish noncompliance through fines, imprisonment, and death sentences. These reinforcements can be identified in every human society, even among foragers or others who have no written system of law. Reverse dominance is one form of negative reinforcement.” ref
“If cultures of various sizes and configurations are to be compared, there must be some common basis for defining political organization. In many small communities, the family functions as a political unit. As Julian Steward wrote about the Shoshone, a Native American group in the Nevada basin, “all features of the relatively simple culture were integrated and functioned on a family level. The family was the reproductive, economic, educational, political, and religious unit.” In larger more complex societies, however, the functions of the family are taken over by larger social institutions. The resources of the economy, for example, are managed by authority figures outside the family who demand taxes or other tribute. The educational function of the family may be taken over by schools constituted under the authority of a government, and the authority structure in the family is likely to be subsumed under the greater power of the state. Therefore, anthropologists need methods for assessing political organizations that can be applied to many different kinds of communities. This concept is called levels of socio-cultural integration.” ref
“Elman Service developed an influential scheme for categorizing the political character of societies that recognized four levels of socio-cultural integration: band, tribe, chiefdom, and state. A band is the smallest unit of political organization, consisting of only a few families and no formal leadership positions. Tribes have larger populations but are organized around family ties and have fluid or shifting systems of temporary leadership. Chiefdoms are large political units in which the chief, who usually is determined by heredity, holds a formal position of power. States are the most complex form of political organization and are characterized by a central government that has a monopoly over legitimate uses of physical force, a sizeable bureaucracy, a system of formal laws, and a standing military force.” ref
“Each type of political integration can be further categorized as egalitarian, ranked, or stratified. Band societies and tribal societies generally are considered egalitarian—there is no great difference in status or power between individuals and there are as many valued status positions in the societies as there are persons able to fill them. Chiefdoms are ranked societies; there are substantial differences in the wealth and social status of individuals based on how closely related they are to the chief. In ranked societies, there are a limited number of positions of power or status, and only a few can occupy them. State societies are stratified. There are large differences in the wealth, status, and power of individuals based on unequal access to resources and positions of power. Socio-economic classes, for instance, are forms of stratification in many state societies.” ref
“In a complex society, it may seem that social classes—differences in wealth and status—are, like death and taxes, inevitable: that one is born into wealth, poverty, or somewhere in between and has no say in the matter, at least at the start of life, and that social class is an involuntary position in society. However, is social class universal? As they say, let’s look at the record, in this case, ethnographies. We find that among foragers, there is no advantage to hoarding food; in most climates, it will rot before one’s eyes. Nor is there much personal property, and leadership, where it exists, is informal. In forager societies, the basic ingredients for social class do not exist. Foragers such as the !Kung, Inuit, and aboriginal Australians, are egalitarian societies in which there are few differences between members in wealth, status, and power. Highly skilled and less skilled hunters do not belong to different strata in the way that the captains of industry do from you and me. The less skilled hunters in egalitarian societies receive a share of the meat and have the right to be heard on important decisions. Egalitarian societies also lack a government or centralized leadership. Their leaders, known as headmen or big men, emerge by consensus of the group. Foraging societies are always egalitarian, but so are many societies that practice horticulture or pastoralism. In terms of political organization, egalitarian societies can be either bands or tribes.” ref
(List of matrilineal or matrilocal societies) “Matrilineal means kinship is passed down through the maternal line, the mother’s lineage, which can involve the inheritance of property and titles.” ref, ref
The above picture shows a Timucua queen or high-status woman being carried on a litter (palanquin) by her attendants.
“The Timucua people were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The various groups of Timucua spoke several dialects of the Timucua language. They sometimes formed loose political alliances, but did not operate as a single political unit. Timucua tribes, in common with other peoples in Florida, engaged in limited warfare with each other. The standard pattern was to raid a town by surprise, kill and scalp as many men of the town as possible during the battle, and carry away any women and children that could be captured. The victors in such battles did not try to pursue their defeated enemies, and there were no prolonged campaigns. The different tribes or chiefdoms of the Timucua, each of which spoke one of the nine or ten dialects of the Timucua language. Villages were divided into family clans, usually bearing animal names. Other villages bore the name of the residing chieftain. Children always belonged to their mother’s clan. Each village or small cluster of related villages had its own chief. Temporary alliances between villages for warfare were also formed. Ceremonial mounds might be in or associated with a village, but the mounds belonged to clans rather than villages.” ref
“The Timucua played two related but distinct ball games. Western Timucua played a game known as the “Apalachee ball game“. Despite the name, it was as closely associated with the western Timucua as it was with the Apalachee. It involved two teams of around 40 or 50 players kicking a ball at a goal post. Hitting the post was worth one point, while landing it in an eagle‘s nest at the top of the post was worth two; the first team to score eleven points was the victor. The western Timucua game was evidently less associated with religious significance, violence, and fraud than the Apalachee version, and as such missionaries had a much more difficult time convincing them to give it up. The eastern Timucua played a similar game in which balls were thrown, rather than kicked, at a goal post. The Timucua probably also played chunkey, as did the neighboring Apalachee and Guale peoples, but there is no firm evidence of this. Archery, running, and dancing were other popular pastimes.” ref
“In addition to agriculture, the Timucua men would hunt game (including alligators, manatees, and maybe even whales); fish in the many streams and lakes in the area; and collect freshwater and marine shellfish. The women gathered wild fruits, palm berries, acorns, and nuts; and baked bread made from the root koonti. Meat was cooked by boiling or over an open fire known as the barbacoa, the origin of the word barbecue. Fish were filleted and dried or boiled. Broths were made from meat and nuts. Fish and seafood, as their primary source of protein, were incredibly important to the Timucua diet. The Timucua were skilled at building canoes to catch fish. Shamans were involved in almost every part of life, from planting crops to helping women give birth. They performed blessings over simple tasks like choosing a new place to fish or turning maize into flour. Shamans were important on hunts, especially since hunts could be dangerous. During hunts, the shaman said several prayers to make sure that they did not do anything that would hurt the village. Something as simple as a Timucua man eating the meat of a deer he shot could mean that the man would never shoot another deer again.” ref, ref
“The Timucua worshipped the sun and the moon, the chief held the most religious power, and certain Timucua had more religious power than others. These Timucua were called shamans. Shamans could predict the future, curse people, control the weather, perform blessings, and cure people. Many shamans were doctors or herbalists, and would use the plants around them to help people with illnesses. Even though today we would not consider medicine religious, their beliefs about medicine and their beliefs about their gods could not be separated. The Timucua believed in omens, which meant they interpreted random events as having a deeper meaning about the future. For example, if someone saw a snake in the woods, something bad would happen. If they heard an owl hoot, that either meant something harmful was coming or that something bad would have happened, but the owl took pity on the person, and they were safe. An owl totem found in the St. Johns River proves how important the owl was to the Timucua. The totem likely belonged to a group of Timucua, likely called the “people of the owl. A great horned owl effigy found was carved from the heart of a southern yellow pine. Unique human eye inside a bird’s eye, five toes on each foot, and crossing diagonal lines on the back. Carbon dated to 1300 CE it eas found in St. Johns River near Hontoon Island.” ref
Calusa people
“Calusa men went nearly naked. They seem to have practiced human sacrifice of captives upon a wholesale scale, scalped and dismembered their slain enemies, and have repeatedly been accused of being cannibals. Although this charge is denied by Adair (1775), who was in position to know, the evidence of the mounds indicates that it was true in the earlier period.” ref
“The Calusa: “The Shell Indians” controlled most of South Florida. Calusa means “fierce people,” and they were described as a fierce, war-like people. Many smaller tribes were constantly watching for these marauding warriors. The Calusa lived on the coast and along the inner waterways. They built their homes on stilts and wove Palmetto leaves to fashion roofs, but they didn’t construct any walls. The Calusa Indians did not farm like the other Indian tribes in Florida. Instead, they fished for food on the coast, bays, rivers, and waterways. The men and boys of the tribe made nets from palm tree webbing to catch mullet, pinfish, pigfish, and catfish.” ref
“They used spears to catch eels and turtles. They made fish bone arrowheads to hunt for animals such as deer. The women and children learned to catch shellfish like conchs, crabs, clams, lobsters, and oysters. The Calusa are considered to be the first “shell collectors.” Shells were discarded into huge heaps. Unlike other Indian tribes, the Calusa did not make many pottery items. They used the shells for tools, utensils, jewelry, and ornaments for their shrines. Shell spears were made for fishing and hunting. Living and surviving on the coast caused the tribesmen to become great sailors.” ref
“They first encountered Europeans in 1513 when, with a fleet of 80 canoes, they boldly attacked Ponce de Leon, who was about to land on their coast, and after an all-day fight, compelled their enemy to withdraw. They murdered most of the priests, explorers, and adventurers who came among them or who were so unfortunate as to be shipwrecked on their coast.” ref
“The Calusa used wooden dugout canoes to aid them in fishing and for transport. As Cushing noted and as more recent studies have revealed, they dug extensive waterways or canals (sometimes as large as 4 feet deep, 20 feet wide, and 3 miles long) that crossed Key Marco and the rest of the region. When used for fishing or travel from one point to another, these canals must have provided protection from the wind. Tools for fishing were made of shell, wood, and plant materials and included hooks and spears, nets, net floats and sinkers, cord, and anchors. Archaeological and historical documentation reveal that Calusa society was highly structured, with individuals living in fixed settlements surrounding a large central town. Descriptions of the principal town of “Calos,” probably located on Mound Island in Estero Bay (roughly 50 kms north of Key Marco), were first recorded by Spanish missionaries in 1586.” ref
“According to these accounts, the Calusa had a head chief named Carlos (likely wrongly named by the Spanish) who lived in Calos and received tribute from surrounding villages. Tribute was offered in the form of prestige goods, such as feathers, mats, deerskins, food, and metals and captives recovered from Spanish shipwrecks. The chief had many wives: one principal wife and others given to him by surrounding villages. His status was reflected by his personal adornments, which included a golden headdress and beaded leg bands. The chief organized warfare and possessed special and traditional religious knowledge. He had a council which may have included one or more head priests and one or two high-ranking individuals involved in political and religious decision-making. The surrounding villages had local headmen who answered to the chief. The Jesuit Menendez noted that in the early hours of the morning, Carlos would sit on a stool with his people around him to discuss the ideas presented by the missionaries.” ref
“Large earthen mounds and ridges, accessed by canals, are believed to have been associated with Calusa ritual. The temple mounds, built by what must have been a well-organized work force, measured up to 30 feet high and were often topped with buildings of wood and thatch entered only by the elite. According to Menendez, in 1566 the town of Calos contained a central mound where special masks were kept and where human sacrifices were made. One ritual was witnessed in which a large procession of masked men came down from a mound, accompanied by hundreds of singing women. An anonymous account mentions an autumn ceremony in which dancers wore animal masks. Franciscan friar Fray Lopez, director of the unsuccessful 1697 mission attempt, described the Calusa temples as very tall and wide, with a mound in the middle and a structure on the mound enclosed with reed mats and containing benches around the walls. The walls were covered entirely with masks colored red, white, and black.” ref
“Cushing’s excavations brought to light at least 23 wooden masks and figureheads. Most spectacular are 9 carved and painted animal heads, some of which were probably worn as masks or headdresses on ceremonial occasions; others probably functioned as architectural elements. Though not all have survived, carvings included a sea turtle, alligator, pelican, fish-hawk, owl, bear, crab, wolf, wildcat, mountain lion, and a deer, many of which were painted black, white, gray-blue, and brownish-red. A variety of carving tools were also recovered. Illustrated here, the deer, pelican, wolf, alligator, and sea turtle reveal extraordinary realism, delicacy, and gracefulness of form—artistic qualities characteristic of the Mississippian Period and earlier ceramic, stone, and wood sculpture excavated in the area and at sites further north.” ref
“At least three of the animal figureheads were found in close association with wooden humanlike masks which Cushing understood to represent the human form of that animal. Perhaps a dancer wore the mask and carried the figurehead of the particular animal he was emulating. The two forms together may have indicated his transformation. One is left only to imagine how lifelike these wooden figureheads must have appeared when used on ceremonial occasions. When combined with historical and archaeological documentation, Cushing’s finds from Key Marco teach us about the Calusa Indians around the time of contact. The site of the excavation appears to be linked with Calusa ceremonialism and was one location at which wooden carvings, probably used in ritual, were housed. Although we cannot be sure what values the masks and animal figureheads held for the Calusa, they may have been markers of clan affiliation, and the animals represented most likely played important roles in Calusa mythology and religion. It is clear the Calusa possessed an extraordinary understanding of and sensitivity to their natural environment. The finds tell us of Calusa fishing techniques, of the tools used to produce their wooden carvings, of architecture, ceremonialism, and daily life.” ref
“Calusa’s before, they were fierce warriors who once resided in Southwest Florida before the devastating arrival of the Spanish caused their culture to become extinct in the mid-eighteenth century. Their population was well near 50,000 people, and they were known to be politically powerful and distant, according to the Spanish and smaller tribes who encountered them. Their appearance was distinct, as Calusa men were built tall and powerful with long hair that reached their hips. They didn’t wear much clothing due to Florida’s warm weather. Calusa men wore tanned deerskin breechcloths and belts that indicated their position in society, while Calusa women wore woven skirts made from palmetto leaves and Spanish moss. The Calusa were one of the few tribes known to be shell collectors. Since the soft limestone that surrounded them was unfit for tool and weapon production, they decided to use shells, wood, fish teeth, and bone for tools. The fishing nets they used to catch food were made from palm tree fibers. The Calusa also used shells for utensils, ornaments for shrines, jewelry, and other necessities. Living on the shell mounds in their stilt homes made from palmetto leaves, the Calusa lived primarily off of food from the coastal area. Unlike other Native American tribes, the Calusa didn’t farm – instead, they fished and ate shellfish.” ref
“At the time of European contact in the 16th and 17th centuries, the historic Calusa were the people of the Caloosahatchee culture. They developed a complex culture based on estuarine fisheries rather than agriculture. Their principal city of Calos was probably at Mound Key, and their territory reached at least from Charlotte Harbor to Marco Island. Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, a Spaniard who was held captive by Florida Indians from 1545 until 1566, described the Calusa realm as extending from Tanpa, at the mouth of Charlotte Harbor, down the coast to Muspa, at the southern end of Marco Island, and inland to Guacata on Lake Mayaimi (Lake Okeechobee). They had the highest population density of South Florida; estimates of total population at the time of European contact range from 10,000 to several times that, but these are speculative.” ref
“Calusa political influence and control also extended over other tribes in southern Florida, including the Mayaimi around Lake Okeechobee, and the Tequesta and Jaega on the southeast coast of the peninsula. Calusa influence may have also extended to the Ais tribe on the central east coast of Florida. European contact caused their extinction, through disease and violence. Early Spanish and French sources referred to the tribe, its chief town, and its chief as Calos, Calus, Caalus, and Carlos. Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, a Spaniard held captive by the Calusa in the 16th century, recorded that Calusa meant “fierce people” in their language. By the early 19th century, Anglo-Americans in the area used the term Calusa for the people. It is based on the Mvskoke and Mikasuki (languages of the present-day Seminole and Miccosukee nations) ethnonym for the people who had lived around the Caloosahatchee River (also from the Creek language).” ref
“Paleo-Indians entered what is now Florida at least 12,000 years ago. By around 5000 BCE, people started living in villages near wetlands. Favored sites were likely occupied for multiple generations. Florida’s climate had reached its current conditions, and the sea had risen close to its present level by about 3000 BCE. People commonly occupied both fresh and saltwater wetlands. Because they relied on shellfish, they accumulated large shell middens during this period. Many people lived in large villages with ceremonial earthwork mounds, such as those at Horr’s Island. People began firing pottery in Florida by 2000 BCE. By about 500 BCE, the Archaic culture, which had been fairly uniform across Florida, shifted into more distinct regional cultures.” ref
“Some Archaic artifacts have been found in the region later occupied by the Calusa, including one site classified as early Archaic, and dated before 5000 BC. There is evidence that the people intensively exploited Charlotte Harbor aquatic resources before 3500 BCE. Undecorated pottery belonging to the early Glades culture appeared in the region around 500 BCE. Pottery distinct from the Glades tradition developed in the region around CE 500, marking the beginning of the Caloosahatchee culture. This lasted until about 1750, and included the historic Calusa people. By 880, a complex society had developed with high population densities. Later periods in the Caloosahatchee culture are defined in the archaeological record by the appearance of pottery from other traditions.” ref
“The Caloosahatchee culture inhabited the Florida west coast from Estero Bay to Charlotte Harbor and inland about halfway to Lake Okeechobee, roughly covering what are now Charlotte and Lee counties. At the time of first European contact, the Caloosahatchee culture region formed the core of the Calusa domain. Artifacts related to fishing changed slowly over this period, with no obvious breaks in tradition that might indicate a replacement of the population. Between 500 and 1000, the undecorated, sand-tempered pottery that had been common in the area was replaced by Belle Glade Plain pottery. This was made with clay containing spicules from freshwater sponges (Spongilla), and it first appeared inland in sites around Lake Okeechobee. This change may have resulted from the people’s migration from the interior to the coastal region, or may reflect trade and cultural influences.” ref
“Little change in the pottery tradition occurred after this. The Calusa were descended from people who had lived in the area for at least 1,000 years prior to European contact, and possibly for much longer than that. The Calusa had a stratified society, consisting of “commoners” and “nobles” in Spanish terms. While no evidence shows that the Calusa had institutionalized slavery, studies show they used captives for work or even sacrifice. A few leaders governed the tribe. They were supported by the labor of the majority of the Calusa. The leaders included the paramount chief or “king”, a military leader (capitán general in Spanish), and a chief priest. The capital of the Calusa, and from where the rulers administered, was Mound Key, near present-day Estero, Florida. An eyewitness account from 1566 mentioned a “king’s house” on Mound Key that was large enough for “2,000 people to stand inside.” ref
“In 1564, according to a Spanish source, the priest was the chief’s father, and the military leader was his cousin. The Spanish documented four cases of known succession to the position of paramount chief, recording most names in Spanish form. Senquene succeeded his brother (name unknown), and was in turn succeeded by his son Carlos. Carlos was succeeded by his cousin (and brother-in-law) Felipe, who was in turn succeeded by another cousin of Carlos, Pedro. The Spanish reported that the chief was expected to take his sister as one of his wives. The contemporary archaeologists MacMahon and Marquardt suggest this statement may have been a misunderstanding of a requirement to marry a “clan-sister”. The chief also married women from subject towns and allied tribes. This use of marriages to secure alliances was demonstrated when Carlos offered his sister Antonia in marriage to Spanish explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés in 1566.” ref
“The Calusa wore minimal clothing. The men wore deerskin breechcloths. The Spanish left fewer descriptions of Calusa women’s attire. At the time, most Indigenous women of Florida wore skirts made from Spanish moss. The Calusa painted their bodies on a regular basis, but did not tattoo themselves. The men wore their hair long. The missionaries recognized that having a Calusa man cut his hair upon converting to Christianity (and European style) would be a great sacrifice. Little was recorded of jewelry or other ornamentation among the Calusa. During Menéndez de Avilés’s visit in 1566, the chief’s wife was described as wearing pearls, precious stones, and gold beads around her neck. The heir of the chief wore gold in an ornament on his forehead and beads on his legs. Ceremonial or other artistic masks have been discovered and were previously described by the Spanish, who first encountered the Calusa. Some of these masks had moving parts that used pull strings and hinges so that a person could alter the look of a mask while wearing it.” ref
“The Calusa believed that three supernatural beings ruled the world, that people had three souls, and that souls migrated to animals after death. The most powerful ruler governed the physical world, the second-most powerful ruled human governments, and the last helped in wars, choosing which side would win. The Calusa believed that the three souls were the pupil of a person’s eye, his shadow, and his reflection. The soul in the eye’s pupil stayed with the body after death, and the Calusa would consult with that soul at the graveside. The other two souls left the body after death and entered into an animal. If a Calusa killed such an animal, the soul would migrate to a lesser animal and eventually be reduced to nothing. Calusa ceremonies included processions of priests and singing women. The priests wore carved masks, which were, at other times, hung on the walls inside a temple.” ref
“Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, an early chronicler of the Calusa, described “sorcerers in the shape of the devil, with some horns on their heads,” who ran through the town yelling like animals for four months at a time. The Calusa remained committed to their belief system despite Spanish attempts to convert them to Catholicism. The “nobles” resisted conversion in part because their power and position were intimately tied to the belief system; they were intermediaries between the gods and the people. Conversion would have destroyed the source of their authority and legitimacy. The Calusa resisted physical encroachment and spiritual conversion by the Spanish and their missionaries for almost 200 years.” ref
“After suffering decimation by disease, the tribe was destroyed by Creek and Yamasee raiders early in the 18th century. Evidence shows that the Calusa buried their dead in mounds. After death, a body was placed in a charnel house to let the flesh fall away naturally, or in some cases, a medicine man with long fingernails would scrape the flesh from the bone. Afterward, the bones were gathered up, placed in a basket, and buried in a mound. These mounds were both for burials and religious ceremonies, as the Calusa gathered atop them on “Holy Days to sacrifice aromatic plants and honey.” ref
“The Caloosahatchee culture region lasted from 500 BCE to 1750, and has been divided into five periods based on ceramic styles. Its territory consisted of the coast from what is now southern Sarasota County through all of Charlotte and Lee counties to the northern edge of Collier County, approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Marco Island, and about 90 kilometres (56 mi) inland from the coast. The area from Charlotte Harbor to the Ten Thousand Islands has been informally called the Calusa region. At the time of first European contact, the Caloosahatchee culture region formed the core of the Calusa domain.” ref
“Some Archaic artifacts have been found in the Caloosahatchee culture region, including one site classified as early Archaic. There is evidence that Charlotte Harbor aquatic resources were being intensively exploited before 3500 BCE. Undecorated pottery belonging to the early Glades culture appeared in the region around 500 BCE. Pottery distinct from the Glades tradition developed in the Caloosahatchee region around 500 CE, and a complex society with high population densities developed by 800 CE. Later periods in the Caloosahatchee culture are defined by the appearance of pottery from other traditions in the archaeological record.” ref
“The people of the Caloosahatchee culture built mounds. Some of the mounds in Caloosahatchee settlements were undisturbed shell middens, but other were constructed from midden and earth materials. The hundreds of sites identified range from simple small middens to complex sites with earthwork platform mounds, plazas, “water courts”, causeways, and canals. Mound Key, in the middle of Estero Bay, covers 70–80 acres (28–32 ha), and includes mounds up to 31 feet (9.4 m) tall. A canal penetrates more than halfway into Mound Key, passing between two mounds and ending in a roughly rectangular pool.” ref
“The Caloosahatchee people derived 80% to 90% of their animal food from fish. Shellfish, including crabs were also important. Minor components of their diet included white-tailed deer, other mammals, waterfowl such as ducks, American alligators, turtles, West Indian manatees and sea urchins. Plants collected as food included various wild roots, mastic fruit, prickly pear cactus fruit, palm fruits, sea grapes, hogplum, and cocoplum.” ref
“Tools and ornaments made of wood, bone, stone and shell have been found. Perforated stones and plummets (oblong stones with a groove incised around one end) of limestone are thought to have been used as fishing net weights. Dippers, cups, spoons, beads, cutting-edge tools, and hammers were made from shells. Awls, beads, pendants, pins, gorges, barbs, and points were made from bone. Ceremonial tablets were incised on non-native stone (presumably imported from other areas).” ref
“From the Archaic peoples of the peninsula, two major tribes emerged in the area: the Calusa and the Tequesta. The earliest written descriptions of these people come from Spanish explorers who sought to convert and conquer them. Although they lived in complex societies, few traces of their existence remain today. The Calusa were more powerful in number and political structure. Their territory was centered around modern-day Fort Myers, and extended as far north as Tampa, as far east as Lake Okeechobee, and as far south as the Keys.” ref
“Fiber-tempered pottery of the Orange series appeared in northern Florida around 2000 or 1500 BCE. Late Orange series pottery shifted to a semi-fiber-tempered type, in which both fiber and sand were used as temper. Semi-fiber-tempered pottery began appearing in southern Florida sites at the end of the late Archaic. As the Archaic ended coastal estuaries became increasingly productive, leading to a cultural adaptation that primarily harvested food sources from coastal waters, with hunting of land animals and gathering of wild plants secondary.” ref
“Pottery making in southern Florida had shifted to using sand as tempering at the end of the Archaic (between 1000 and 500 BCE in southern Florida). Based primarily on differences in pottery styles, archaeologists have defined three cultures for the post-Archaic period for the region; the Belle Glade (or Okeechobee) culture, the Caloosahatchee culture, and the Glades culture. The Caloosahatchee culture area, which was inhabited by the Calusa people at the time of European contact, is not part of the Everglades.” ref
“The cultures of southern Florida shared many features. One difference is in the construction and use of mounds. Many sites in the Belle Glade culture area, such as Fort Center, have elaborate earthworks consisting of mounds, ponds, borrow pits, ditches, canals, and embankments, often arranged in geometric shapes. Sites in the Caloosahatchee culture area include many structures, primarily of shell.” ref
“Aside from large middens, constructed structures include platform mounds, causeways, and canals such as the Pine Island Canal. Many sites in the culture area, such as Mound Key and the Pineland site, developed into Shell works, elaborate constructions of shell consisting of some combination of mounds, borrow pits, canals, causeways, cisterns, crescents, sunken plazas, ponds, ramps, raised platforms, ridges, rings, walls, and “water courts”. During his second visit to South Florida, Ponce de León was killed by the Calusa, and the tribe gained a reputation for violence, causing future explorers to avoid them.” ref
“In the more than 200 years the Calusa had relations with the Spanish, they were able to resist their attempts to missionize them. The Calusa were referred to as Carlos by the Spanish, which may have sounded like Calos, a variation of the Muskogean word kalo meaning “black” or “powerful”. The Calusa, like their predecessors, were hunter-gatherers who existed on small game, fish, turtles, alligators, shellfish, and various plants.” ref
“Finding little use for the soft limestone of the area, they made most of their tools from bone or teeth, although they also found sharpened reeds effective. Weapons consisted of bows and arrows, atlatls, and spears. Most villages were located at the mouths of rivers or on key islands. Canoes were used for transportation, as evidenced by shell mounds in and around the Everglades that border canoe trails. South Florida tribes often canoed through the Everglades, but rarely lived in them. Canoe trips to Cuba were also common.” ref
“Calusa villages often had more than 200 inhabitants, and their society was organized in a hierarchy. Apart from the cacique, other strata included priests and warriors. Family bonds promoted the hierarchy, and marriage between siblings was common among the elite. Fontaneda wrote, “These Indians have no gold, no silver, and less clothing. They go naked except for some breech cloths woven of palms, with which the men cover themselves; the women do the like with certain grass that grows on trees. This grass looks like wool, although it is different from it”. Only one instance of structures was described: Carlos met Menéndez in a large house with windows and room for over a thousand people.” ref
“The Calusa existed as a complex chiefdom centered around the capital of Calos on what today is Mound Key, Florida. Here, the head of Calusa society, the Paramount Chief, ruled over all of Calusa territory, with the name of the city being shared by the ruler. Underneath the paramount chief were the Nobles and Priests, who included village chiefs who were leaders of independent settlements but ultimately loyal to the chief in Calos, and the priests who served the deities of the Calusa religion. Underneath these were the average Calusa men and women, and below these were the slaves. Originally, the slaves of Calusa were other natives taken from raids by the Calusa braves on other territories, usually as a means of gathering resources or of reminding the village occupants of the power of the Calusa to ensure the continued payment of tribute to Calos.” ref
“However, shortly before the arrival of León in Florida, the Calusa began to find slaves coming from native groups that had already been conquered by the Spanish. From these early foreign slaves, the Calusa leaders learned both the Spanish language and the potential threat these foreigners could pose, resulting in them becoming much more hostile to the Spanish presence prior to the Spanish’s arrival. After Spanish colonization began, the Calusa began taking more and more Spaniards as slaves. Originally, these slaves tended to come from captured sailors from shipwrecks, like the former Calusa slave Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, who later became one of the primary sources for the Spanish in understanding Calusa society. From 1565 onward, the Spanish sailor-slaves were supplemented by missionaries taken captive in Calusa territory while attempting to establish missions at nearby missions (more on that later). The result of these Spanish slaves was that certain Spanish nuances, such as the abhorrence for the Palmetto berries, began to enter into the Spanish society, as well as the emergence of the Spanish language as a secondary language amongst the upper echelons of Calusa society.” ref
“Pedro Menendez de Aviles and his founding of St. Augustine in 1565 opened a new stage in the introduction of Spanish influence into the Calusa societal organization. This new stage was the introduction of the Spanish into the Calusa’s long-standing practice of political marriages. The Calusa were divided into several matrilineal-based clans that all vied for power within Calusa society. In order to keep peace and a balance of power between the individual clans, therefore, political marriage was often practiced, as the marrying off of sisters and daughters to other clans formed bonds between the clans that prevented one clan from attempting to overthrow another.” ref
“Upon his arrival, and in an attempt to shore up the struggling relations between the Spanish Empire and the Calusa, Aviles decided to take part in this political marriage system by seeking and 9. obtaining the hand of Paramount Chief Carlos’s sister in marriage, with his new Calusa wife eventually converting to Christianity and adopting the name Dona Antonia, thus introducing Spanish nobility into the families of the Calusa, although this would be short-lived as the intervention of some of Aviles’s soldiers in a dispute between Felipe, Carlos’s heir, and other Calusa nobles resulted in the death of Carlos, Felipe, and half of the nobles of Calos, creating a power vacuum that, once filled, increased hostilities between the two groups.” ref
“In terms of ornamentation and jewelry, the Calusa were affected in two main forms. The first form consisted of the jewelry used by the Calusa in order to distinguish social ranking and class within the community, while the second consisted of the body painting practiced by the Calusa. For the Calusa, jewelry was the primary means of displaying the social ranking and wealth of an individual. Normally, this consisted of a beaded headpiece or leg band made using beads of shell, bone, and wood. The Calusa worshipped a trio of deity spirits that, divided, governed all main aspects of Calusa life. The chief of these deities governed the physical world, including the seasons and the fish spawns. The second deity governed over Human affairs, advising priests and nobles on matters of governance and law. The third and final deity governed the sphere of war and battle, determining the victor in wars and raids as well as being responsible for determining those who would live and those who would die.” ref
“Unlike Christianity, the Calusa believed that mankind possessed a three-part soul, one existing in the eye, one in the shadow, and one in the reflection. Upon a person’s death, the soul in the person’s eye remained with the body, while the other two parts in the shadow and reflection were reincarnated as animals. Priests, using traditional rituals, could communicate and even control the remaining part of the soul. This gave priests, alongside the nobles who received the guidance of the second deity spirit, immense influence within the community, and thus became the primary force behind their authority.” ref
“Christian missionaries, therefore, served to threaten the nobles and priests’ traditional power base, turning them completely against the idea of Christianity, and treating any Calusa who dared to attempt to convert very harshly. This is partially why the Calusa were so averse to opening trade with the Spanish: the leaders feared losing their power. 16. The penalty for Calusa, who did attempt to convert, was thus extreme. Even the family of the Paramount Chief was not immune: the dispute that resulted in some of Aviles’ soldiers accidentally killing Felipe and Carlos was part of an attempted coup by the other nobles to remove Felipe from succession in order to prevent a Christian from attaining the Chiefdom.” ref
AI Overview: Historical accounts and archaeological interpretations suggest that the Calusa people of Southwest Florida, like many indigenous groups in warm climates, wore minimal clothing, which European observers sometimes described as “nakedness” or total nudity, particularly during certain activities. Calusa men generally wore tanned deerskin breechcloths, while women wore skirts made from woven palmetto leaves or Spanish moss. However, early European observers frequently reported that the Calusa, “without exception, walk naked,” or topless. The perception of “nakedness” was often emphasized by European explorers during encounters or ceremonial activities. Early Spanish explorers, such as Ponce de León, interacted with a population that was physically adorned rather than clothed, which likely included body paint and shells. Rituals were central to Calusa life, occurring at major ceremonial centers like Mound Key. Shamans and participants in these religious ceremonies often wore masks, indicating that while clothes were minimal, the rituals were highly involved.
“Researchers of the tribes that inhabited Florida before the arrival of Europeans use different terms todescribe the organization of government in the territory occupied by the Calusa people: “kingdom”, “state”, “weak tributary state” or “complex chiefdom”. However, some scientists demand to use the term “weakly hierarchically organized complex state structure” or, as defined by Gailey and Patterson, “a weak state based on tribute”. One can argue as much as one like about what is called a “state”, but neither in world science nor in international law does there exist a single and universally recognized definition of this concept that would be precisely formulated and reflect all the meanings: spiritual, legal, synchronous, functional, ritual, patriotic, social, demographic, socio-cultural, institutional.” ref
“But if we consider the state as a political form of organization of society in a certain territory, a sovereign form of government with an apparatus of management and coercion, to which the entire population of the country is subordinated, then the political form of the Calusa people can be completely inscribed in such a framework. the concept of the state. And we urge those scientists who demand a “thorough” explanation of the difference between a “state” and a “weak hierarchically organized complex state structure” not to “rack their brains”, since this is not the end of this monograph.” ref
Recent discussions in the scientific community, which have not yet been completed, suggest that at various points in the history of Calusa, it can be classified first as a simple chiefdom, then as a complex chiefdom (or supreme chiefdom), and after the 1500s it is possible to talk about Calusa as a “weak state and kingdom, based on tribute. “Nevertheless, we believe that by the middle of the XVI century, the Calusa was a “kingdom” or “very complex chiefdom” of a fishermen-hunter-gatherers society with a level of political integration that has no analogy among different societies and non-agricultural societies; and the Calusa society based its power on tribute and marriage unions. The warriors of Calusa, dressed in the skins of a red wolf and a black bear, hold in their hands an atlatl spear thrower, a sword with shark teeth, and an axe made of a large shell.” ref
“Mound Key (a 30-foot-high, human-made island of shells and sand) was thought to be the seat of the powerful Calusa kingdom (a fisher-gatherer-hunter society that attained unusual social complexity), and recent archaeological research there has confirmed it was in fact the capital and also revealed the extent of ancient landscape alteration, monumental construction and engineering ingenuity that allowed the Calusa’s population to grow to an estimated 20,000 without reliance on agriculture. Indeed, given the results of recent research, they are now considered one of the most politically complex groups of non-agriculturalists in the ancient world.” ref
“After CE 1000, the Calusa began to grow in size and complexity, wielding their military might, trading widely, and collecting tribute along those trade routes that extended for hundreds of miles. They built massive mounds of shells and sand, dug large canals, engineered sophisticated fish corrals, held elaborate ceremonies, created remarkable works of art, such as intricately carved wooden masks, and traversed the waters in canoes made from hollowed-out logs. Known as the first shell collectors, the Calusa used shells as tools, utensils, building materials, vessels for domestic and ceremonial use, and for personal adornment.” ref
“For a long time, societies that relied on fishing, hunting, and gathering were assumed to be less advanced,” said Marquardt. “But our work over the past 35 years has shown the Calusa developed a politically complex society with sophisticated architecture, religion, a military, specialists, long-distance trade, and social ranking – all without being farmers.“The fact that the Calusa were fishers, not farmers, created tension between them and the Spaniards, who arrived in Florida when the Calusa kingdom was at its zenith,” Thompson said. Radiocarbon dating of carbonized wood, a deer bone, and a shell verified the fort’s mid-16th-century date. The archaeologists were surprised to discover that the Spanish used a primitive shell concrete known as tabby to stabilize the wall posts of their wooden structures.” ref
“Tabby was an Old World concrete consisting of lime from burned shells mixed with sand, ash, water, and broken shells. Fort San Anton de Carlos is the first example of the use of tabby in North America. “Tabby,” also called “tabbi” or “tapia,” is made by burning shells to create lime, which is then mixed with sand, ash, water, and broken shells. At Mound Key, the Spaniards used primitive tabby as a mortar to stabilize the posts in the walls of their wooden structures. Tabby was later used by the English in their American colonies and in Southern plantations. “Figuring out how to shore up the walls of wooden buildings using a very early kind of tabby architecture is impressive and represents creative thinking and ingenuity in an unfamiliar and challenging setting,” said Marquardt.” ref
“Radiocarbon dating of organic materials associated with the watercourts indicates they were built between CE 1300 and 1400, toward the end of a second phase of construction on the king’s house. Fish stored in the watercourts likely fed the workers who built the massive palace. Around CE 1250, the area experienced a drop in sea level that, according to research team member Karen Walker, collections manager at the Florida Museum of Natural History, may have impacted fish populations enough to have prompted the Calusa to design and build the watercourts.” ref
“The archaeology of the Calusa is important worldwide in that it illustrates the development of very pronounced hierarchy, inequality, monumentality and large-scale infrastructure by hunter-gatherer-fisher societies,” said Chris Rodning of Tulane University, who was not involved with this research. The immensity of the king’s house, as well as the huge shell mounds and the canals required “large amounts of labor and mechanisms to mobilize and to organize that labor” that he thinks are indicative of a lower class that worked at the behest of the Calusa’s elites. Such hierarchy and inequality are generally characteristics of societies that practice agriculture, he observed. “The Calusa case also illustrates remarkably sophisticated engagements with, and long-term large-scale management of, coastal and estuarine environments.” ref
26:00 to 26:50 “We know the Calusa were polytheistic, but we don’t understand their pantheon as information is vague. They had at least three deities or three classes of deities in a hierarchical structure. 1. Sky god(s)? The highest god controlled the celestial bodies of the sky and time, as well as superior to the other two. One gets the impression that he, she or they were in control of nature or natural forces. 2. Political god(s)? Higher ranked than the third god(s) of the three deities or three classes of deities in a hierarchical structure, who controlled empires, republics, and kingdoms. 3. The third and lowest god was the god of war, with the power to bring victory to one side in battle.” – The Calusa: Fishermen Kings of Florida
“Similar to the ceremonial masks, the Calusa also practiced body painting. Unlike many of the other tribal groups in Southern Florida, however, the Calusa did not practice full-blown tattooing, but rather used dyes made from local plants in order to paint intricate designs associated with Calusa spiritual beliefs upon their body.” ref
“For these native people, the universe was morally significant, and human beings had duties of an ethical nature not only toward each other but toward every living thing on the earth. Nature was viewed as the ultimate source of life, and it required care and reverence. Unlike the European creation myth, which begins with a supreme being, in the native Floridian cosmology, all life comes from the earth. Earth is viewed not as creation, but as the creator.3 Earth assumes the role of mother of all living things. This miracle was recreated every spring when seeds were put into the earth, which soon produced food. Logic told Indians that just as the earth supported their existence in the present, so had it done since the beginning of time. The native Floridian mythology created an ethical system that was closely linked to the care of the natural environment. This extended to the animal life around them. Therefore, there were guidelines for every aspect of the hunt.” ref
“There were even taboos against boasting about hunting prowess. The natives also had strict rules regarding killing animals at improper times. For example, it was wrong to kill a bear while it hibernated, or to kill any pregnant animal, or any animal, male or female, when it had young ones in its care.5 Early tribal people also believed that mistreating a species would incur a punishment that would continue after the act. For example, a fisherman’s bad luck might be connected to an offensive act committed against a creature of the sea.6 There were also rules among early tribes against making denigrating comments about natural formations. Lakes, mountains, rivers, and other earthly temples of nature remained sacred. Even disease was connected to the natural order. In one explanation, disease came from a time when hunters killed too many animals, and the animals declared war on humans. They stopped speaking to humans, and they left them with disease. The plants took pity on the humans, however, and gave them cures for these diseases.” ref
“The artifact that most clearly depicts the tribal cosmos is the totem. When the French leader Ren6 de Laudonnidre arrived in North Florida in 1565, the Timucuans showed him a stone column left by the French a few years earlier. The cacique (the chief) explained how they had been worshiping this artifact because it resembled a totem to them.’ The totem played an important part in the belief system of the earliest tribes, and it demonstrated in another manner the close link between all of living nature. Although to an outsider a totem may seem like a random collection of images, it was in fact a well-thought-out depiction of real connections in the universe. Differentiation of characters existed, but these distinctions were merely temporal. The totem symbolized the underlying spirit that connected all of nature. Therefore, if a person is depicted as “bearlike” in a totem, it means that the particular person on the totem shared common spiritual characteristics with the bear.9 Other people and families may demonstrate a spiritual oneness with other creatures. For example, one might share the spirit of the eagle, or the owl, or the rabbit. These descriptions are not mere metaphors, but rather an expression of the spiritual substance of an individual.” ref
“A final important aspect of the earliest native beliefs which all tribes seemed to share was a sense of the sacredness of place. All land was sacred, but there were certain areas more sacred than others. Waterfalls, underwater caves, mountains, geysers, and natural springs all evoked special attraction.” It was from places such as these that people derived their spiritual strength and sense of connection between Mother Earth and the human spirit. Significant natural places provide what the theologian Mircea Eliade described as an axis mundi or a place where the sacred connects to the profane.” It is necessary to understand this profound devotion to the sacredness of space in order to understand the devastating effect that removal had on later tribal people. The native Floridians’ economic system was rooted in their mythology. This system, which saw the earth as mother and saw a link between every living thing, created an economic system which supported a population in Florida that varied in estimates from 300,000 to a million.” ref
But is Atlantis real?
No. Atlantis (an allegory: “fake story” interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning) can’t be found any more than one can locate the Jolly Green Giant that is said to watch over frozen vegetables. Lol
May Reason Set You Free
There are a lot of truly great things said by anarchists in history, and also some deeply vile things, too, from not supporting Women’s rights to Anti-Semitism. There are those who also reject those supporting women’s rights as well as fight anti-Semitism. This is why I push reason as my only master, not anarchist thinking, though anarchism, to me, should see all humans everywhere as equal in dignity and rights.
We—Cory and Damien—are following the greatness that can be found in anarchist thinking.
As an Anarchist Educator, Damien strives to teach the plain truth. Damien does not support violence as my method to change. Rather, I choose education that builds Enlightenment and Empowerment. I champion Dignity and Equality. We rise by helping each other. What is the price of a tear? What is the cost of a smile? How can we see clearly when others pay the cost of our indifference and fear? We should help people in need. Why is that so hard for some people? Rich Ghouls must End. Damien wants “billionaires” to stop being a thing. Tax then into equality. To Damien, there is no debate, Capitalism is unethical. Moreover, as an Anarchist Educator, Damien knows violence is not the way to inspire lasting positive change. But we are not limited to violence, we have education, one of the most lasting and powerful ways to improve the world. We empower the world by championing Truth and its supporters.
Anarchism and Education
“Various alternatives to education and their problems have been proposed by anarchists which have gone from alternative education systems and environments, self-education, advocacy of youth and children rights, and freethought activism.” ref
“Historical accounts of anarchist educational experiments to explore how their pedagogical practices, organization, and content constituted a radical alternative to mainstream forms of educational provision in different historical periods.” ref
“The Ferrer school was an early 20th century libertarian school inspired by the anarchist pedagogy of Francisco Ferrer. He was a proponent of rationalist, secular education that emphasized reason, dignity, self-reliance, and scientific observation. The Ferrer movement’s philosophy had two distinct tendencies: non-didactic freedom from dogma and the more didactic fostering of counter-hegemonic beliefs. Towards non-didactic freedom from dogma, and fulfilled the child-centered tradition.” ref
Teach Real History: all our lives depend on it.
Damien sees lies about history as crimes against humanity. And we all must help humanity by addressing “any and all” who make harmful lies about history.
Dylan Violette (CopperViolette) (in Maine) and Damien Marie AtHope (in Texas) seek to learn more about the indigenous peoples of the Americas (First Nations/Native Americans) where they both live.
Native Americans in Maine are: collectively known as the Wabanaki or “People of the Dawnland.” Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians (Maliseet/Wolastoqiyik), Miꞌkmaq Nation (concentrated in Northern Maine, specifically Aroostook County), Passamaquoddy Tribe (with communities at Motahkomikuk/Indian Township and Sipayik/Pleasant Point), and Penobscot Nation (headquartered on Indian Island).
Native Americans in Texas: More than 30 organizations claim to represent historic tribes within Texas; however, these groups are unrecognized, meaning they do not meet the minimum criteria of federally recognized tribes and are not state-recognized tribes. There are three federally recognized tribes in Texas, each with their own reservation:
- Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas: Located near Livingston in the Big Thicket area, the reservation is the oldest in Texas.
- Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas: Based in Eagle Pass, the tribe maintains strong cultural ties and resides on a reservation along the Rio Grande on the U.S.-Mexico border.
- Ysleta del Sur Pueblo (Tigua): Located in El Paso, this is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in Texas, established in 1682.
Before European settlement, numerous tribes lived across the varied Texas landscape, developing distinct cultures
Southeastern & East Texas: The Caddo built large, permanent villages and elaborate ceremonial mounds, developing extensive trade networks. Other groups included the Atakapa and Wichita peoples.
Gulf Coast: Tribes like the Karankawa and Coahuiltecans were semi-nomadic, adapting to the coastal environment through fishing, hunting, and gathering.
Plains (North & West Texas): The powerful, horse-mounted Comanche and Kiowa dominated a vast territory known as the Comanchería, hunting bison and conducting trade and raids. The Apache, including the Lipan and Mescalero groups, were also prominent in West and Central Texas before being pushed out by the Comanche and later by Anglo settlers.
West Texas: The Jumano people lived along rivers and practiced farming and extensive trading before eventually joining Apache groups.
Damien and Dylan live around a 33 hr. drive apart.
Dylan Violette (CopperViolette) (in Maine) is close to the Mi’kmaq. He passes by their reservation whenever he heads south (the nearest city is that way; He is almost in the middle of nowhere).
Damien Marie AtHope (in Texas) lives in Corpus Christi, which is in the Gulf Coast Tribes area, like the Karankawa and Coahuiltecans. (I was living in Florida, but moved to Texas)
My favorite “Graham Hancock” Quote?
“In what archaeologists have studied, yes, we can say there is NO Evidence of an advanced civilization.” – (Time 1:27) Joe Rogan Experience #2136 – Graham Hancock & Flint Dibble
People don’t commonly teach religious history, even that of their own claimed religion. No, rather they teach a limited “pro their religion” history of their religion from a religious perspective favorable to the religion of choice.
Do you truly think “Religious Belief” is only a matter of some personal choice?
Do you not see how coercive one’s world of choice is limited to the obvious hereditary belief, in most religious choices available to the child of religious parents or caregivers? Religion is more commonly like a family, culture, society, etc. available belief that limits the belief choices of the child and that is when “Religious Belief” is not only a matter of some personal choice and when it becomes hereditary faith, not because of the quality of its alleged facts or proposed truths but because everyone else important to the child believes similarly so they do as well simply mimicking authority beliefs handed to them. Because children are raised in religion rather than being presented all possible choices but rather one limited dogmatic brand of “Religious Belief” where children only have a choice of following the belief as instructed, and then personally claim the faith hereditary belief seen in the confirming to the belief they have held themselves all their lives. This is obvious in statements asked and answered by children claiming a faith they barely understand but they do understand that their family believes “this or that” faith, so they feel obligated to believe it too. While I do agree that “Religious Belief” should only be a matter of some personal choice, it rarely is… End Hereditary Religion!
Animism: Respecting the Living World by Graham Harvey
“How have human cultures engaged with and thought about animals, plants, rocks, clouds, and other elements in their natural surroundings? Do animals and other natural objects have a spirit or soul? What is their relationship to humans? In this new study, Graham Harvey explores current and past animistic beliefs and practices of Native Americans, Maori, Aboriginal Australians, and eco-pagans. He considers the varieties of animism found in these cultures as well as their shared desire to live respectfully within larger natural communities. Drawing on his extensive casework, Harvey also considers the linguistic, performative, ecological, and activist implications of these different animisms.” ref
We are like believing machines; we vacuum up ideas, like Velcro sticks to almost everything. We accumulate beliefs that we allow to negatively influence our lives, often without realizing it. Our willingness must be to alter skewed beliefs that impede our balance or reason, which allows us to achieve new positive thinking and accurate outcomes.
My thoughts on Religion Evolution with external links for more info:
- (Pre-Animism Africa mainly, but also Europe, and Asia at least 300,000 years ago), (Pre-Animism – Oxford Dictionaries)
- (Animism Africa around 100,000 years ago), (Animism – Britannica.com)
- (Totemism Europe around 50,000 years ago), (Totemism – Anthropology)
- (Shamanism Siberia around 30,000 years ago), (Shamanism – Britannica.com)
- (Paganism Turkey around 12,000 years ago), (Paganism – BBC Religion)
- (Progressed Organized Religion “Institutional Religion” Egypt around 5,000 years ago), (Ancient Egyptian Religion – Britannica.com)
- (CURRENT “World” RELIGIONS after 4,000 years ago) (Origin of Major Religions – Sacred Texts)
- (Early Atheistic Doubting at least by 2,600 years ago) (History of Atheism – Wikipedia)
“Religion is an Evolved Product” and Yes, Religion is Like Fear Given Wings…
Atheists talk about gods and religions for the same reason doctors talk about cancer, they are looking for a cure, or a firefighter talks about fires because they burn people and they care to stop them. We atheists too often feel a need to help the victims of mental slavery, held in the bondage that is the false beliefs of gods and the conspiracy theories of reality found in religions.
Understanding Religion Evolution:
- Pre-Animism (at least 300,000 years ago)
- Animism (Africa: 100,000 years ago)
- Totemism (Europe: 50,000 years ago)
- Shamanism (Siberia: 30,000 years ago)
- Paganism (Turkey: 12,000 years ago)
- Progressed organized religion (Egypt: 5,000 years ago), (Egypt, the First Dynasty 5,150 years ago)
- CURRENT “World” RELIGIONS (after 4,000 years ago)
- Early Atheistic Doubting (at least by 2,600 years ago)
“An Archaeological/Anthropological Understanding of Religion Evolution”
It seems ancient peoples had to survived amazing threats in a “dangerous universe (by superstition perceived as good and evil),” and human “immorality or imperfection of the soul” which was thought to affect the still living, leading to ancestor worship. This ancestor worship presumably led to the belief in supernatural beings, and then some of these were turned into the belief in gods. This feeble myth called gods were just a human conceived “made from nothing into something over and over, changing, again and again, taking on more as they evolve, all the while they are thought to be special,” but it is just supernatural animistic spirit-belief perceived as sacred.
Quick Evolution of Religion?
Pre-Animism (at least 300,000 years ago) pre-religion is a beginning that evolves into later Animism. So, Religion as we think of it, to me, all starts in a general way with Animism (Africa: 100,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in supernatural powers/spirits), then this is physically expressed in or with Totemism (Europe: 50,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in mythical relationship with powers/spirits through a totem item), which then enlists a full-time specific person to do this worship and believed interacting Shamanism (Siberia/Russia: 30,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in access and influence with spirits through ritual), and then there is the further employment of myths and gods added to all the above giving you Paganism (Turkey: 12,000 years ago) (often a lot more nature-based than most current top world religions, thus hinting to their close link to more ancient religious thinking it stems from). My hypothesis is expressed with an explanation of the building of a theatrical house (modern religions development). Progressed organized religion (Egypt: 5,000 years ago) with CURRENT “World” RELIGIONS (after 4,000 years ago).
Historically, in large city-state societies (such as Egypt or Iraq) starting around 5,000 years ago culminated to make religion something kind of new, a sociocultural-governmental-religious monarchy, where all or at least many of the people of such large city-state societies seem familiar with and committed to the existence of “religion” as the integrated life identity package of control dynamics with a fixed closed magical doctrine, but this juggernaut integrated religion identity package of Dogmatic-Propaganda certainly did not exist or if developed to an extent it was highly limited in most smaller prehistoric societies as they seem to lack most of the strong control dynamics with a fixed closed magical doctrine (magical beliefs could be at times be added or removed). Many people just want to see developed religious dynamics everywhere even if it is not. Instead, all that is found is largely fragments until the domestication of religion.
Religions, as we think of them today, are a new fad, even if they go back to around 6,000 years in the timeline of human existence, this amounts to almost nothing when seen in the long slow evolution of religion at least around 70,000 years ago with one of the oldest ritual worship. Stone Snake of South Africa: “first human worship” 70,000 years ago. This message of how religion and gods among them are clearly a man-made thing that was developed slowly as it was invented and then implemented peace by peace discrediting them all. Which seems to be a simple point some are just not grasping how devastating to any claims of truth when we can see the lie clearly in the archeological sites.
I wish people fought as hard for the actual values as they fight for the group/clan names political or otherwise they think support values. Every amount spent on war is theft to children in need of food or the homeless kept from shelter.
Here are several of my blog posts on history:
- To Find Truth You Must First Look
- (Magdalenian/Iberomaurusian) Connections to the First Paganists of the early Neolithic Near East Dating from around 17,000 to 12,000 Years Ago
- Natufians: an Ancient People at the Origins of Agriculture and Sedentary Life
- Possible Clan Leader/Special “MALE” Ancestor Totem Poles At Least 13,500 years ago?
- Jewish People with DNA at least 13,200 years old, Judaism, and the Origins of Some of its Ideas
- Baltic Reindeer Hunters: Swiderian, Lyngby, Ahrensburgian, and Krasnosillya cultures 12,020 to 11,020 years ago are evidence of powerful migratory waves during the last 13,000 years and a genetic link to Saami and the Finno-Ugric peoples.
- The Rise of Inequality: patriarchy and state hierarchy inequality
- Fertile Crescent 12,500 – 9,500 Years Ago: fertility and death cult belief system?
- 12,400 – 11,700 Years Ago – Kortik Tepe (Turkey) Pre/early-Agriculture Cultic Ritualism
- Ritualistic Bird Symbolism at Gobekli Tepe and its “Ancestor Cult”
- Male-Homosexual (female-like) / Trans-woman (female) Seated Figurine from Gobekli Tepe
- Could a 12,000-year-old Bull Geoglyph at Göbekli Tepe relate to older Bull and Female Art 25,000 years ago and Later Goddess and the Bull cults like Catal Huyuk?
- Sedentism and the Creation of goddesses around 12,000 years ago as well as male gods after 7,000 years ago.
- Alcohol, where Agriculture and Religion Become one? Such as Gobekli Tepe’s Ritualistic use of Grain as Food and Ritual Drink
- Neolithic Ritual Sites with T-Pillars and other Cultic Pillars
- Paganism: Goddesses around 12,000 years ago then Male Gods after 7,000 years ago
- First Patriarchy: Split of Women’s Status around 12,000 years ago & First Hierarchy: fall of Women’s Status around 5,000 years ago.
- Natufians: an Ancient People at the Origins of Agriculture and Sedentary Life
- J DNA and the Spread of Agricultural Religion (paganism)
- Paganism: an approximately 12,000-year-old belief system
- Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Pre-Capitalism)
- Shaman burial in Israel 12,000 years ago and the Shamanism Phenomena
- Need to Mythicized: gods and goddesses
- 12,000 – 7,000 Years Ago – Paleo-Indian Culture (The Americas)
- 12,000 – 2,000 Years Ago – Indigenous-Scandinavians (Nordic)
- Norse did not wear helmets with horns?
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic Skull Cult around 11,500 to 8,400 Years Ago?
- 10,400 – 10,100 Years Ago, in Turkey the Nevail Cori Religious Settlement
- 9,000-6,500 Years Old Submerged Pre-Pottery/Pottery Neolithic Ritual Settlements off Israel’s Coast
- Catal Huyuk “first religious designed city” around 9,500 to 7,700 years ago (Turkey)
- Cultic Hunting at Catal Huyuk “first religious designed city”
- Special Items and Art as well as Special Elite Burials at Catal Huyuk
- New Rituals and Violence with the appearance of Pottery and People?
- Haplogroup N and its related Uralic Languages and Cultures
- Ainu people, Sámi people, Native Americans, the Ancient North Eurasians, and Paganistic-Shamanism with Totemism
- Ideas, Technology and People from Turkey, Europe, to China and Back again 9,000 to 5,000 years ago?
- First Pottery of Europe and the Related Cultures
- 9,000 years old Neolithic Artifacts Judean Desert and Hills Israel
- 9,000-7,000 years-old Sex and Death Rituals: Cult Sites in Israel, Jordan, and the Sinai
- 9,000-8500 year old Horned Female shaman Bad Dürrenberg Germany
- Neolithic Jewelry and the Spread of Farming in Europe Emerging out of West Turkey
- 8,600-year-old Tortoise Shells in Neolithic graves in central China have Early Writing and Shamanism
- Swing of the Mace: the rise of Elite, Forced Authority, and Inequality begin to Emerge 8,500 years ago?
- Migrations and Changing Europeans Beginning around 8,000 Years Ago
- My “Steppe-Anatolian-Kurgan hypothesis” 8,000/7,000 years ago
- Around 8,000-year-old Shared Idea of the Mistress of Animals, “Ritual” Motif
- Pre-Columbian Red-Paint (red ochre) Maritime Archaic Culture 8,000-3,000 years ago
- 7,522-6,522 years ago Linear Pottery culture which I think relates to Arcane Capitalism’s origins
- Arcane Capitalism: Primitive socialism, Primitive capital, Private ownership, Means of production, Market capitalism, Class discrimination, and Petite bourgeoisie (smaller capitalists)
- 7,500-4,750 years old Ritualistic Cucuteni-Trypillian culture of Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine
- Roots of a changing early society 7,200-6,700 years ago Jordan and Israel
- Agriculture religion (Paganism) with farming reached Britain between about 7,000 to 6,500 or so years ago and seemingly expressed in things like Western Europe’s Long Barrows
- My Thoughts on Possible Migrations of “R” DNA and Proto-Indo-European?
- “Millet” Spreading from China 7,022 years ago to Europe and related Language may have Spread with it leading to Proto-Indo-European
- Proto-Indo-European (PIE), ancestor of Indo-European languages: DNA, Society, Language, and Mythology
- The Dnieper–Donets culture and Asian varieties of Millet from China to the Black Sea region of Europe by 7,022 years ago
- Kurgan 6,000 years ago/dolmens 7,000 years ago: funeral, ritual, and other?
- 7,020 to 6,020-year-old Proto-Indo-European Homeland of Urheimat or proposed home of their Language and Religion
- Ancient Megaliths: Kurgan, Ziggurat, Pyramid, Menhir, Trilithon, Dolman, Kromlech, and Kromlech of Trilithons
- The Mytheme of Ancient North Eurasian Sacred-Dog belief and similar motifs are found in Indo-European, Native American, and Siberian comparative mythology
- Elite Power Accumulation: Ancient Trade, Tokens, Writing, Wealth, Merchants, and Priest-Kings
- Sacred Mounds, Mountains, Kurgans, and Pyramids may hold deep connections?
- Between 7,000-5,000 Years ago, rise of unequal hierarchy elite, leading to a “birth of the State” or worship of power, strong new sexism, oppression of non-elites, and the fall of Women’s equal status
- Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite & their slaves
- Hell and Underworld mythologies starting maybe as far back as 7,000 to 5,000 years ago with the Proto-Indo-Europeans?
- The First Expression of the Male God around 7,000 years ago?
- White (light complexion skin) Bigotry and Sexism started 7,000 years ago?
- Around 7,000-year-old Shared Idea of the Divine Bird (Tutelary and/or Trickster spirit/deity), “Ritual” Motif
- Nekhbet an Ancient Egyptian Vulture Goddess and Tutelary Deity
- 6,720 to 4,920 years old Ritualistic Hongshan Culture of Inner Mongolia with 5,000-year-old Pyramid Mounds and Temples
- First proto-king in the Balkans, Varna culture around 6,500 years ago?
- 6,500–5,800 years ago in Israel Late Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Period in the Southern Levant Seems to Express Northern Levant Migrations, Cultural and Religious Transfer
- KING OF BEASTS: Master of Animals “Ritual” Motif, around 6,000 years old or older…
- Around 6000-year-old Shared Idea of the Solid Wheel & the Spoked Wheel-Shaped Ritual Motif
- “The Ghassulian Star,” a mysterious 6,000-year-old mural from Jordan; a Proto-Star of Ishtar, Star of Inanna or Star of Venus?
- Religious/Ritual Ideas, including goddesses and gods as well as ritual mounds or pyramids from Northeastern Asia at least 6,000 years old, seemingly filtering to Iran, Iraq, the Mediterranean, Europe, Egypt, and the Americas?
- Maykop (5,720–5,020 years ago) Caucasus region Bronze Age culture-related to Copper Age farmers from the south, influenced by the Ubaid period and Leyla-Tepe culture, as well as influencing the Kura-Araxes culture
- 5-600-year-old Tomb, Mummy, and First Bearded Male Figurine in a Grave
- Kura-Araxes Cultural 5,520 to 4,470 years old DNA traces to the Canaanites, Arabs, and Jews
- Minoan/Cretan (Keftiu) Civilization and Religion around 5,520 to 3,120 years ago
- Evolution Of Science at least by 5,500 years ago
- 5,500 Years old birth of the State, the rise of Hierarchy, and the fall of Women’s status
- “Jiroft culture” 5,100 – 4,200 years ago and the History of Iran
- Stonehenge: Paganistic Burial and Astrological Ritual Complex, England (5,100-3,600 years ago)
- Around 5,000-year-old Shared Idea of the “Tree of Life” Ritual Motif
- Complex rituals for elite, seen from China to Egypt, at least by 5,000 years ago
- Around 5,000 years ago: “Birth of the State” where Religion gets Military Power and Influence
- The Center of the World “Axis Mundi” and/or “Sacred Mountains” Mythology Could Relate to the Altai Mountains, Heart of the Steppe
- Progressed organized religion starts, an approximately 5,000-year-old belief system
- China’s Civilization between 5,000-3,000 years ago, was a time of war and class struggle, violent transition from free clans to a Slave or Elite society
- Origin of Logics is Naturalistic Observation at least by around 5,000 years ago.
- Paganism 5,000 years old: progressed organized religion and the state: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Kings and the Rise of the State)
- Ziggurats (multi-platform temples: 4,900 years old) to Pyramids (multi-platform tombs: 4,700 years old)
- Did a 4,520–4,420-year-old Volcano In Turkey Inspire the Bible God?
- Finland’s Horned Shaman and Pre-Horned-God at least 4,500 years ago?
- 4,000-year-Old Dolmens in Israel: A Connected Dolmen Religious Phenomenon?
- Creation myths: From chaos, Ex nihilo, Earth-diver, Emergence, World egg, and World parent
- Bronze Age “Ritual” connections of the Bell Beaker culture with the Corded Ware/Single Grave culture, which were related to the Yamnaya culture and Proto-Indo-European Languages/Religions
- Low Gods (Earth/ Tutelary deity), High Gods (Sky/Supreme deity), and Moralistic Gods (Deity enforcement/divine order)
- The exchange of people, ideas, and material-culture including, to me, the new god (Sky Father) and goddess (Earth Mother) religion between the Cucuteni-Trypillians and others which is then spread far and wide
- Koryaks: Indigenous People of the Russian Far East and Big Raven myths also found in Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and other Indigenous People of North America
- 42 Principles Of Maat (Egyptian Goddess of the justice) around 4,400 years ago, 2000 Years Before Ten Commandments
- “Happy Easter” Well Happy Eostre/Ishter
- 4,320-3,820 years old “Shimao” (North China) site with Totemistic-Shamanistic Paganism and a Stepped Pyramid
- 4,250 to 3,400 Year old Stonehenge from Russia: Arkaim?
- 4,100-year-old beaker with medicinal & flowering plants in a grave of a woman in Scotland
- Early European Farmer ancestry, Kelif el Boroud people with the Cardial Ware culture, and the Bell Beaker culture Paganists too, spread into North Africa, then to the Canary Islands off West Africa
- Flood Accounts: Gilgamesh epic (4,100 years ago) Noah in Genesis (2,600 years ago)
- Paganism 4,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism)
- When was the beginning: TIMELINE OF CURRENT RELIGIONS, which start around 4,000 years ago.
- Early Religions Thought to Express Proto-Monotheistic Systems around 4,000 years ago
- Kultepe? An archaeological site with a 4,000 years old women’s rights document.
- Single God Religions (Monotheism) = “Man-o-theism” started around 4,000 years ago with the Great Sky Spirit/God Tiān (天)?
- Confucianism’s Tiān (Shangdi god 4,000 years old): Supernaturalism, Pantheism or Theism?
- Yes, Your Male God is Ridiculous
- Mythology, a Lunar Deity is a Goddess or God of the Moon
- Sacred Land, Hills, and Mountains: Sami Mythology (Paganistic Shamanism)
- Horse Worship/Sacrifice: mythical union of Ruling Elite/Kingship and the Horse
- The Amorite/Amurru people’s God Amurru “Lord of the Steppe”, relates to the Origins of the Bible God?
- Bronze Age Exotic Trade Routes Spread Quite Far as well as Spread Religious Ideas with Them
- Sami and the Northern Indigenous Peoples Landscape, Language, and its Connection to Religion
- Prototype of Ancient Analemmatic Sundials around 3,900-3,150 years ago and a Possible Solar Connection to gods?
- Judaism is around 3,450 or 3,250 years old. (“Paleo-Hebrew” 3,000 years ago and Torah 2,500 years ago)
- The Weakening of Ancient Trade and the Strengthening of Religions around 3000 years ago?
- Are you aware that there are religions that worship women gods, explain now religion tears women down?
- Animistic, Totemistic, and Paganistic Superstition Origins of bible god and the bible’s Religion.
- Myths and Folklore: “Trickster gods and goddesses”
- Jews, Judaism, and the Origins of Some of its Ideas
- An Old Branch of Religion Still Giving Fruit: Sacred Trees
- Dating the BIBLE: naming names and telling times (written less than 3,000 years ago, provable to 2,200 years ago)
- Did a Volcano Inspire the bible god?
- Dené–Yeniseian language, Old Copper Complex, and Pre-Columbian Mound Builders?
- No “dinosaurs and humans didn’t exist together just because some think they are in the bible itself”
- Sacred Shit and Sacred Animals?
- Everyone Killed in the Bible Flood? “Nephilim” (giants)?
- Hey, Damien dude, I have a question for you regarding “the bible” Exodus.
- Archaeology Disproves the Bible
- Bible Battle, Just More, Bible Babble
- The Jericho Conquest lie?
- Canaanites and Israelites?
- Accurate Account on how did Christianity Began?
- Let’s talk about Christianity.
- So the 10 commandments isn’t anything to go by either right?
- Misinformed christian
- Debunking Jesus?
- Paulism vs Jesus
- Ok, you seem confused so let’s talk about Buddhism.
- Unacknowledged Buddhism: Gods, Savior, Demons, Rebirth, Heavens, Hells, and Terrorism
- His Foolishness The Dalai Lama
- Yin and Yang is sexist with an ORIGIN around 2,300 years ago?
- I Believe Archaeology, not Myths & Why Not, as the Religious Myths Already Violate Reason!
- Archaeological, Scientific, & Philosophic evidence shows the god myth is man-made nonsense.
- Aquatic Ape Theory/Hypothesis? As Always, Just Pseudoscience.
- Ancient Aliens Conspiracy Theorists are Pseudohistorians
- The Pseudohistoric and Pseudoscientific claims about “Bakoni Ruins” of South Africa
- Why do people think Religion is much more than supernaturalism and superstitionism?
- Religion is an Evolved Product
- Was the Value of Ancient Women Different?
- 1000 to 1100 CE, human sacrifice Cahokia Mounds a pre-Columbian Native American site
- Feminist atheists as far back as the 1800s?
- Promoting Religion as Real is Mentally Harmful to a Flourishing Humanity
- Screw All Religions and Their Toxic lies, they are all fraud
- Forget Religions’ Unfounded Myths, I Have Substantiated “Archaeology Facts.”
- Religion Dispersal throughout the World
- I Hate Religion Just as I Hate all Pseudoscience
- Exposing Scientology, Eckankar, Wicca and Other Nonsense?
- Main deity or religious belief systems
- Quit Trying to Invent Your God From the Scraps of Science.
- Archaeological, Scientific, & Philosophic evidence shows the god myth is man-made nonsense.
- Ancient Alien Conspiracy Theorists: Misunderstanding, Rhetoric, Misinformation, Fabrications, and Lies
- Misinformation, Distortion, and Pseudoscience in Talking with a Christian Creationist
- Judging the Lack of Goodness in Gods, Even the Norse God Odin
- Challenging the Belief in God-like Aliens and Gods in General
- A Challenge to Christian use of Torture Devices?
- Yes, Hinduism is a Religion
- Trump is One of the Most Reactionary Forces of Far-right Christian Extremism
- Was the Bull Head a Symbol of God? Yes!
- Primate Death Rituals
- Christian – “God and Christianity are objectively true”
- Australopithecus afarensis Death Ritual?
- You Claim Global Warming is a Hoax?
- Doubter of Science and Defamer of Atheists?
- I think that sounds like the Bible?
- History of the Antifa (“anti-fascist”) Movements
- Indianapolis Anti-Blasphemy Laws #Free Soheil Rally
- Damien, you repeat the golden rule in so many forms then you say religion is dogmatic?
- Science is a Trustable Methodology whereas Faith is not Trustable at all!
- Was I ever a believer, before I was an atheist?
- Atheists rise in reason
- Mistrust of science?
- Open to Talking About the Definition of ‘God’? But first, we address Faith.
- ‘United Monarchy’ full of splendor and power – Saul, David, and Solomon? Most likely not.
- Is there EXODUS ARCHAEOLOGY? The short answer is “no.”
- Lacking Proof of Bigfoots, Unicorns, and Gods is Just a Lack of Research?
- Religion and Politics: Faith Beliefs vs. Rational Thinking
- Hammer of Truth that lying pig RELIGION: challenged by an archaeologist
- “The Hammer of Truth” -ontology question- What do You Mean by That?
- Navigation of a bad argument: Ad Hominem vs. Attack
- Why is it Often Claimed that Gods have a Gender?
- Why are basically all monotheistic religions ones that have a male god?
- Shifting through the Claims in support of Faith
- Dear Mr. AtHope, The 20th Century is an Indictment of Secularism and a Failed Atheist Century
- An Understanding of the Worldwide Statistics and Dynamics of Terrorist Incidents and Suicide Attacks
- Intoxication and Evolution? Addressing and Assessing the “Stoned Ape” or “Drunken Monkey” Theories as Catalysts in Human Evolution
- Sacred Menstrual cloth? Inanna’s knot, Isis knot, and maybe Ma’at’s feather?
- Damien, why don’t the Hebrews accept the bible stories?
- Dealing with a Troll and Arguing Over Word Meaning
- Knowledge without Belief? Justified beliefs or disbeliefs worthy of Knowledge?
- Afrocentrism and African Religions
- Crecganford @crecganford offers history & stories of the people, places, gods, & culture
- Empiricism-Denier?
I am not an academic. I am a revolutionary that teaches in public, in places like social media, and in the streets. I am not a leader by some title given but from my commanding leadership style of simply to start teaching everywhere to everyone, all manner of positive education.
To me, Animism starts in Southern Africa, then to West Europe, and becomes Totemism. Another split goes near the Russia and Siberia border becoming Shamanism, which heads into Central Europe meeting up with Totemism, which also had moved there, mixing the two which then heads to Lake Baikal in Siberia. From there this Shamanism-Totemism heads to Turkey where it becomes Paganism.
Not all “Religions” or “Religious Persuasions” have a god(s) but
All can be said to believe in some imaginary beings or imaginary things like spirits, afterlives, etc.
Paganism 12,000-4,000 years old
12,000-7,000 years old: related to (Pre-Capitalism)
7,000-5,000 years old: related to (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves!
5,000 years old: related to (Kings and the Rise of the State)
4,000 years old: related to (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism)
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Low Gods “Earth” or Tutelary deity and High Gods “Sky” or Supreme deity
“An Earth goddess is a deification of the Earth. Earth goddesses are often associated with the “chthonic” deities of the underworld. Ki and Ninhursag are Mesopotamian earth goddesses. In Greek mythology, the Earth is personified as Gaia, corresponding to Roman Terra, Indic Prithvi/Bhūmi, etc. traced to an “Earth Mother” complementary to the “Sky Father” in Proto-Indo-European religion. Egyptian mythology exceptionally has a sky goddess and an Earth god.” ref
“A mother goddess is a goddess who represents or is a personification of nature, motherhood, fertility, creation, destruction or who embodies the bounty of the Earth. When equated with the Earth or the natural world, such goddesses are sometimes referred to as Mother Earth or as the Earth Mother. In some religious traditions or movements, Heavenly Mother (also referred to as Mother in Heaven or Sky Mother) is the wife or feminine counterpart of the Sky father or God the Father.” ref
“Any masculine sky god is often also king of the gods, taking the position of patriarch within a pantheon. Such king gods are collectively categorized as “sky father” deities, with a polarity between sky and earth often being expressed by pairing a “sky father” god with an “earth mother” goddess (pairings of a sky mother with an earth father are less frequent). A main sky goddess is often the queen of the gods and may be an air/sky goddess in her own right, though she usually has other functions as well with “sky” not being her main. In antiquity, several sky goddesses in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Near East were called Queen of Heaven. Neopagans often apply it with impunity to sky goddesses from other regions who were never associated with the term historically. The sky often has important religious significance. Many religions, both polytheistic and monotheistic, have deities associated with the sky.” ref
“In comparative mythology, sky father is a term for a recurring concept in polytheistic religions of a sky god who is addressed as a “father”, often the father of a pantheon and is often either a reigning or former King of the Gods. The concept of “sky father” may also be taken to include Sun gods with similar characteristics, such as Ra. The concept is complementary to an “earth mother“. “Sky Father” is a direct translation of the Vedic Dyaus Pita, etymologically descended from the same Proto-Indo-European deity name as the Greek Zeûs Pater and Roman Jupiter and Germanic Týr, Tir or Tiwaz, all of which are reflexes of the same Proto-Indo-European deity’s name, *Dyēus Ph₂tḗr. While there are numerous parallels adduced from outside of Indo-European mythology, there are exceptions (e.g. In Egyptian mythology, Nut is the sky mother and Geb is the earth father).” ref
Tutelary deity
“A tutelary (also tutelar) is a deity or spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of “tutelary” expresses the concept of safety and thus of guardianship. In late Greek and Roman religion, one type of tutelary deity, the genius, functions as the personal deity or daimon of an individual from birth to death. Another form of personal tutelary spirit is the familiar spirit of European folklore.” ref
“A tutelary (also tutelar) in Korean shamanism, jangseung and sotdae were placed at the edge of villages to frighten off demons. They were also worshiped as deities. Seonangshin is the patron deity of the village in Korean tradition and was believed to embody the Seonangdang. In Philippine animism, Diwata or Lambana are deities or spirits that inhabit sacred places like mountains and mounds and serve as guardians. Such as: Maria Makiling is the deity who guards Mt. Makiling and Maria Cacao and Maria Sinukuan. In Shinto, the spirits, or kami, which give life to human bodies come from nature and return to it after death. Ancestors are therefore themselves tutelaries to be worshiped. And similarly, Native American beliefs such as Tonás, tutelary animal spirit among the Zapotec and Totems, familial or clan spirits among the Ojibwe, can be animals.” ref
“A tutelary (also tutelar) in Austronesian beliefs such as: Atua (gods and spirits of the Polynesian peoples such as the Māori or the Hawaiians), Hanitu (Bunun of Taiwan‘s term for spirit), Hyang (Kawi, Sundanese, Javanese, and Balinese Supreme Being, in ancient Java and Bali mythology and this spiritual entity, can be either divine or ancestral), Kaitiaki (New Zealand Māori term used for the concept of guardianship, for the sky, the sea, and the land), Kawas (mythology) (divided into 6 groups: gods, ancestors, souls of the living, spirits of living things, spirits of lifeless objects, and ghosts), Tiki (Māori mythology, Tiki is the first man created by either Tūmatauenga or Tāne and represents deified ancestors found in most Polynesian cultures). ” ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Mesopotamian Tutelary Deities can be seen as ones related to City-States
“Historical city-states included Sumerian cities such as Uruk and Ur; Ancient Egyptian city-states, such as Thebes and Memphis; the Phoenician cities (such as Tyre and Sidon); the five Philistine city-states; the Berber city-states of the Garamantes; the city-states of ancient Greece (the poleis such as Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and Corinth); the Roman Republic (which grew from a city-state into a vast empire); the Italian city-states from the Middle Ages to the early modern period, such as Florence, Siena, Ferrara, Milan (which as they grew in power began to dominate neighboring cities) and Genoa and Venice, which became powerful thalassocracies; the Mayan and other cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica (including cities such as Chichen Itza, Tikal, Copán and Monte Albán); the central Asian cities along the Silk Road; the city-states of the Swahili coast; Ragusa; states of the medieval Russian lands such as Novgorod and Pskov; and many others.” ref
“The Uruk period (ca. 4000 to 3100 BCE; also known as Protoliterate period) of Mesopotamia, named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this period saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia and the Sumerian civilization. City-States like Uruk and others had a patron tutelary City Deity along with a Priest-King.” ref
“Chinese folk religion, both past, and present, includes myriad tutelary deities. Exceptional individuals, highly cultivated sages, and prominent ancestors can be deified and honored after death. Lord Guan is the patron of military personnel and police, while Mazu is the patron of fishermen and sailors. Such as Tu Di Gong (Earth Deity) is the tutelary deity of a locality, and each individual locality has its own Earth Deity and Cheng Huang Gong (City God) is the guardian deity of an individual city, worshipped by local officials and locals since imperial times.” ref
“A tutelary (also tutelar) in Hinduism, personal tutelary deities are known as ishta-devata, while family tutelary deities are known as Kuladevata. Gramadevata are guardian deities of villages. Devas can also be seen as tutelary. Shiva is the patron of yogis and renunciants. City goddesses include: Mumbadevi (Mumbai), Sachchika (Osian); Kuladevis include: Ambika (Porwad), and Mahalakshmi. In NorthEast India Meitei mythology and religion (Sanamahism) of Manipur, there are various types of tutelary deities, among which Lam Lais are the most predominant ones. Tibetan Buddhism has Yidam as a tutelary deity. Dakini is the patron of those who seek knowledge.” ref
“A tutelary (also tutelar) The Greeks also thought deities guarded specific places: for instance, Athena was the patron goddess of the city of Athens. Socrates spoke of hearing the voice of his personal spirit or daimonion:
You have often heard me speak of an oracle or sign which comes to me … . This sign I have had ever since I was a child. The sign is a voice which comes to me and always forbids me to do something which I am going to do, but never commands me to do anything, and this is what stands in the way of my being a politician.” ref
“Tutelary deities who guard and preserve a place or a person are fundamental to ancient Roman religion. The tutelary deity of a man was his Genius, that of a woman her Juno. In the Imperial era, the Genius of the Emperor was a focus of Imperial cult. An emperor might also adopt a major deity as his personal patron or tutelary, as Augustus did Apollo. Precedents for claiming the personal protection of a deity were established in the Republican era, when for instance the Roman dictator Sulla advertised the goddess Victory as his tutelary by holding public games (ludi) in her honor.” ref
“Each town or city had one or more tutelary deities, whose protection was considered particularly vital in time of war and siege. Rome itself was protected by a goddess whose name was to be kept ritually secret on pain of death (for a supposed case, see Quintus Valerius Soranus). The Capitoline Triad of Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva were also tutelaries of Rome. The Italic towns had their own tutelary deities. Juno often had this function, as at the Latin town of Lanuvium and the Etruscan city of Veii, and was often housed in an especially grand temple on the arx (citadel) or other prominent or central location. The tutelary deity of Praeneste was Fortuna, whose oracle was renowned.” ref
“The Roman ritual of evocatio was premised on the belief that a town could be made vulnerable to military defeat if the power of its tutelary deity were diverted outside the city, perhaps by the offer of superior cult at Rome. The depiction of some goddesses such as the Magna Mater (Great Mother, or Cybele) as “tower-crowned” represents their capacity to preserve the city. A town in the provinces might adopt a deity from within the Roman religious sphere to serve as its guardian, or syncretize its own tutelary with such; for instance, a community within the civitas of the Remi in Gaul adopted Apollo as its tutelary, and at the capital of the Remi (present-day Rheims), the tutelary was Mars Camulus.” ref
Household deity (a kind of or related to a Tutelary deity)
“A household deity is a deity or spirit that protects the home, looking after the entire household or certain key members. It has been a common belief in paganism as well as in folklore across many parts of the world. Household deities fit into two types; firstly, a specific deity – typically a goddess – often referred to as a hearth goddess or domestic goddess who is associated with the home and hearth, such as the ancient Greek Hestia.” ref
“The second type of household deities are those that are not one singular deity, but a type, or species of animistic deity, who usually have lesser powers than major deities. This type was common in the religions of antiquity, such as the Lares of ancient Roman religion, the Gashin of Korean shamanism, and Cofgodas of Anglo-Saxon paganism. These survived Christianisation as fairy-like creatures existing in folklore, such as the Anglo-Scottish Brownie and Slavic Domovoy.” ref
“Household deities were usually worshipped not in temples but in the home, where they would be represented by small idols (such as the teraphim of the Bible, often translated as “household gods” in Genesis 31:19 for example), amulets, paintings, or reliefs. They could also be found on domestic objects, such as cosmetic articles in the case of Tawaret. The more prosperous houses might have a small shrine to the household god(s); the lararium served this purpose in the case of the Romans. The gods would be treated as members of the family and invited to join in meals, or be given offerings of food and drink.” ref
“In many religions, both ancient and modern, a god would preside over the home. Certain species, or types, of household deities, existed. An example of this was the Roman Lares. Many European cultures retained house spirits into the modern period. Some examples of these include:
- Brownie (Scotland and England) or Hob (England) / Kobold (Germany) / Goblin / Hobgoblin
- Domovoy (Slavic)
- Nisse (Norwegian or Danish) / Tomte (Swedish) / Tonttu (Finnish)
- Húsvættir (Norse)” ref
“Although the cosmic status of household deities was not as lofty as that of the Twelve Olympians or the Aesir, they were also jealous of their dignity and also had to be appeased with shrines and offerings, however humble. Because of their immediacy they had arguably more influence on the day-to-day affairs of men than the remote gods did. Vestiges of their worship persisted long after Christianity and other major religions extirpated nearly every trace of the major pagan pantheons. Elements of the practice can be seen even today, with Christian accretions, where statues to various saints (such as St. Francis) protect gardens and grottos. Even the gargoyles found on older churches, could be viewed as guardians partitioning a sacred space.” ref
“For centuries, Christianity fought a mop-up war against these lingering minor pagan deities, but they proved tenacious. For example, Martin Luther‘s Tischreden have numerous – quite serious – references to dealing with kobolds. Eventually, rationalism and the Industrial Revolution threatened to erase most of these minor deities, until the advent of romantic nationalism rehabilitated them and embellished them into objects of literary curiosity in the 19th century. Since the 20th century this literature has been mined for characters for role-playing games, video games, and other fantasy personae, not infrequently invested with invented traits and hierarchies somewhat different from their mythological and folkloric roots.” ref
“In contradistinction to both Herbert Spencer and Edward Burnett Tylor, who defended theories of animistic origins of ancestor worship, Émile Durkheim saw its origin in totemism. In reality, this distinction is somewhat academic, since totemism may be regarded as a particularized manifestation of animism, and something of a synthesis of the two positions was attempted by Sigmund Freud. In Freud’s Totem and Taboo, both totem and taboo are outward expressions or manifestations of the same psychological tendency, a concept which is complementary to, or which rather reconciles, the apparent conflict. Freud preferred to emphasize the psychoanalytic implications of the reification of metaphysical forces, but with particular emphasis on its familial nature. This emphasis underscores, rather than weakens, the ancestral component.” ref
“William Edward Hearn, a noted classicist, and jurist, traced the origin of domestic deities from the earliest stages as an expression of animism, a belief system thought to have existed also in the neolithic, and the forerunner of Indo-European religion. In his analysis of the Indo-European household, in Chapter II “The House Spirit”, Section 1, he states:
The belief which guided the conduct of our forefathers was … the spirit rule of dead ancestors.” ref
“In Section 2 he proceeds to elaborate:
It is thus certain that the worship of deceased ancestors is a vera causa, and not a mere hypothesis. …
In the other European nations, the Slavs, the Teutons, and the Kelts, the House Spirit appears with no less distinctness. … [T]he existence of that worship does not admit of doubt. … The House Spirits had a multitude of other names which it is needless here to enumerate, but all of which are more or less expressive of their friendly relations with man. … In [England] … [h]e is the Brownie. … In Scotland this same Brownie is well known. He is usually described as attached to particular families, with whom he has been known to reside for centuries, threshing the corn, cleaning the house, and performing similar household tasks. His favorite gratification was milk and honey.” ref
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
“These ideas are my speculations from the evidence.”
I am still researching the “god‘s origins” all over the world. So, you know, it is very complicated, but I am smart and willing to look, DEEP, if necessary, which going very deep does seem to be needed here, when trying to actually understand the evolution of gods and goddesses. I am sure of a few things and less sure of others, but even in stuff I am not fully grasping I still am slowly figuring it out, to explain it to others. But as I research more, I am understanding things a little better, though I am still working on understanding it all or something close and thus always figuring out more.
Sky Father/Sky God?
“Egyptian: (Nut) Sky Mother and (Geb) Earth Father” (Egypt is different but similar)
Turkic/Mongolic: (Tengri/Tenger Etseg) Sky Father and (Eje/Gazar Eej) Earth Mother *Transeurasian*
Hawaiian: (Wākea) Sky Father and (Papahānaumoku) Earth Mother *Austronesian*
New Zealand/ Māori: (Ranginui) Sky Father and (Papatūānuku) Earth Mother *Austronesian*
Proto-Indo-European: (Dyḗus/Dyḗus ph₂tḗr) Sky Father and (Dʰéǵʰōm/Pleth₂wih₁) Earth Mother
Indo-Aryan: (Dyaus Pita) Sky Father and (Prithvi Mata) Earth Mother *Indo-European*
Italic: (Jupiter) Sky Father and (Juno) Sky Mother *Indo-European*
Etruscan: (Tinia) Sky Father and (Uni) Sky Mother *Tyrsenian/Italy Pre–Indo-European*
Hellenic/Greek: (Zeus) Sky Father and (Hera) Sky Mother who started as an “Earth Goddess” *Indo-European*
Nordic: (Dagr) Sky Father and (Nótt) Sky Mother *Indo-European*
Slavic: (Perun) Sky Father and (Mokosh) Earth Mother *Indo-European*
Illyrian: (Deipaturos) Sky Father and (Messapic Damatura’s “earth-mother” maybe) Earth Mother *Indo-European*
Albanian: (Zojz) Sky Father and (?) *Indo-European*
Baltic: (Perkūnas) Sky Father and (Saulė) Sky Mother *Indo-European*
Germanic: (Týr) Sky Father and (?) *Indo-European*
Colombian-Muisca: (Bochica) Sky Father and (Huythaca) Sky Mother *Chibchan*
Aztec: (Quetzalcoatl) Sky Father and (Xochiquetzal) Sky Mother *Uto-Aztecan*
Incan: (Viracocha) Sky Father and (Mama Runtucaya) Sky Mother *Quechuan*
China: (Tian/Shangdi) Sky Father and (Dì) Earth Mother *Sino-Tibetan*
Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian: (An/Anu) Sky Father and (Ki) Earth Mother
Finnish: (Ukko) Sky Father and (Akka) Earth Mother *Finno-Ugric*
Sami: (Horagalles) Sky Father and (Ravdna) Earth Mother *Finno-Ugric*
Puebloan-Zuni: (Ápoyan Ta’chu) Sky Father and (Áwitelin Tsíta) Earth Mother
Puebloan-Hopi: (Tawa) Sky Father and (Kokyangwuti/Spider Woman/Grandmother) Earth Mother *Uto-Aztecan*
Puebloan-Navajo: (Tsohanoai) Sky Father and (Estsanatlehi) Earth Mother *Na-Dene*
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“In Australian Aboriginal mythology, Baiame (or Biame, Biami, Baayami, Baayama, Byamee) is the creator god and sky father, and Birrangulu, or Birrahgnooloo, a “fertility spirit” with powers over water (can send floods if properly asked), maintenance of the earthly landscape, and one of his two wives, can be seen as the mother from the sky, often being identified as an emu. By coming to earth (and possibly staying on earth), she may have become the earth mother and is said to be the mother of Daramulum. Daramulum (variations: Darhumulan, Daramulan, Dhurramoolun or Dharramaalan), a sky hero shapeshifter associated with an emu-wife. In other stories, Dharramalan is said to be the brother of Baiame. The Baiame story tells how Baiame came down from the sky to the land and created rivers, mountains, and forests in all the lands. When he had finished, he returned to the sky, and people called him the Sky Hero, or All Father, or Sky Father. He then gave the people their laws of life, traditions, songs, and culture of several Aboriginal Australian peoples of south-eastern Australia, such as the Wonnarua, Kamilaroi, Guringay, Eora, Darkinjung, and Wiradjuri peoples.” ref, ref, ref
“There are Australian Aborigines who believed that the Sun Mother created all the animals, plants, and bodies of water on earth upon the urging of the Father of All Spirits. These two divine beings did not actually have children. Only their names reflected the mother-father theme. However, the Sun Mother was portrayed as one who gives life to the sleeping spirits. A human mother also gives life to a spirit.” ref
Hinduism around 3,700 to 3,500 years old. ref
Judaism around 3,450 or 3,250 years old. (The first writing in the bible was “Paleo-Hebrew” dated to around 3,000 years ago Khirbet Qeiyafa is the site of an ancient fortress city overlooking the Elah Valley. And many believe the religious Jewish texts were completed around 2,500) ref, ref
Judaism is around 3,450 or 3,250 years old. (“Paleo-Hebrew” 3,000 years ago and Torah 2,500 years ago)
“Judaism is an Abrahamic, its roots as an organized religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Some scholars argue that modern Judaism evolved from Yahwism, the religion of ancient Israel and Judah, by the late 6th century BCE, and is thus considered to be one of the oldest monotheistic religions.” ref
“Yahwism is the name given by modern scholars to the religion of ancient Israel, essentially polytheistic, with a plethora of gods and goddesses. Heading the pantheon was Yahweh, the national god of the Israelite kingdoms of Israel and Judah, with his consort, the goddess Asherah; below them were second-tier gods and goddesses such as Baal, Shamash, Yarikh, Mot, and Astarte, all of whom had their own priests and prophets and numbered royalty among their devotees, and a third and fourth tier of minor divine beings, including the mal’ak, the messengers of the higher gods, who in later times became the angels of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Yahweh, however, was not the ‘original’ god of Israel “Isra-El”; it is El, the head of the Canaanite pantheon, whose name forms the basis of the name “Israel”, and none of the Old Testament patriarchs, the tribes of Israel, the Judges, or the earliest monarchs, have a Yahwistic theophoric name (i.e., one incorporating the name of Yahweh).” ref
“El is a Northwest Semitic word meaning “god” or “deity“, or referring (as a proper name) to any one of multiple major ancient Near Eastern deities. A rarer form, ‘ila, represents the predicate form in Old Akkadian and in Amorite. The word is derived from the Proto-Semitic *ʔil-, meaning “god”. Specific deities known as ‘El or ‘Il include the supreme god of the ancient Canaanite religion and the supreme god of East Semitic speakers in Mesopotamia’s Early Dynastic Period. ʼĒl is listed at the head of many pantheons. In some Canaanite and Ugaritic sources, ʼĒl played a role as father of the gods, of creation, or both. For example, in the Ugaritic texts, ʾil mlk is understood to mean “ʼĒl the King” but ʾil hd as “the god Hadad“. The Semitic root ʾlh (Arabic ʾilāh, Aramaic ʾAlāh, ʾElāh, Hebrew ʾelōah) may be ʾl with a parasitic h, and ʾl may be an abbreviated form of ʾlh. In Ugaritic the plural form meaning “gods” is ʾilhm, equivalent to Hebrew ʾelōhîm “powers”. In the Hebrew texts this word is interpreted as being semantically singular for “god” by biblical commentators. However the documentary hypothesis for the Old Testament (corresponds to the Jewish Torah) developed originally in the 1870s, identifies these that different authors – the Jahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomist, and the Priestly source – were responsible for editing stories from a polytheistic religion into those of a monotheistic religion. Inconsistencies that arise between monotheism and polytheism in the texts are reflective of this hypothesis.” ref
Jainism around 2,599 – 2,527 years old. ref
Confucianism around 2,600 – 2,551 years old. ref
Buddhism around 2,563/2,480 – 2,483/2,400 years old. ref
Christianity around 2,o00 years old. ref
Shinto around 1,305 years old. ref
Islam around 1407–1385 years old. ref
Knowledge to Ponder:
Stars/Astrology:
- Possibly, around 30,000 years ago (in simpler form) to 6,000 years ago, Stars/Astrology are connected to Ancestors, Spirit Animals, and Deities.
- The star also seems to be a possible proto-star for Star of Ishtar, Star of Inanna, or Star of Venus.
- Around 7,000 to 6,000 years ago, Star Constellations/Astrology have connections to the “Kurgan phenomenon” of below-ground “mound” stone/wood burial structures and “Dolmen phenomenon” of above-ground stone burial structures.
- Around 6,500–5,800 years ago, The Northern Levant migrations into Jordon and Israel in the Southern Levant brought new cultural and religious transfer from Turkey and Iran.
- “The Ghassulian Star,” a mysterious 6,000-year-old mural from Jordan may have connections to the European paganstic kurgan/dolmens phenomenon.
“Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Different cultures have employed forms of astrology since at least the 2nd millennium BCE, these practices having originated in calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications. Most, if not all, cultures have attached importance to what they observed in the sky, and some—such as the Hindus, Chinese, and the Maya—developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations. Western astrology, one of the oldest astrological systems still in use, can trace its roots to 19th–17th century BCE Mesopotamia, from where it spread to Ancient Greece, Rome, the Islamicate world and eventually Central and Western Europe. Contemporary Western astrology is often associated with systems of horoscopes that purport to explain aspects of a person’s personality and predict significant events in their lives based on the positions of celestial objects; the majority of professional astrologers rely on such systems.” ref
Around 5,500 years ago, Science evolves, The first evidence of science was 5,500 years ago and was demonstrated by a body of empirical, theoretical, and practical knowledge about the natural world. ref
Around 5,000 years ago, Origin of Logics is a Naturalistic Observation (principles of valid reasoning, inference, & demonstration) ref
Around 4,150 to 4,000 years ago: The earliest surviving versions of the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, which was originally titled “He who Saw the Deep” (Sha naqba īmuru) or “Surpassing All Other Kings” (Shūtur eli sharrī) were written. ref
Hinduism:
- 3,700 years ago or so, the oldest of the Hindu Vedas (scriptures), the Rig Veda was composed.
- 3,500 years ago or so, the Vedic Age began in India after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization.
Judaism:
- around 3,000 years ago, the first writing in the bible was “Paleo-Hebrew”
- around 2,500 years ago, many believe the religious Jewish texts were completed
Myths: The bible inspired religion is not just one religion or one myth but a grouping of several religions and myths
- Around 3,450 or 3,250 years ago, according to legend, is the traditionally accepted period in which the Israelite lawgiver, Moses, provided the Ten Commandments.
- Around 2,500 to 2,400 years ago, a collection of ancient religious writings by the Israelites based primarily upon the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh, or Old Testament is the first part of Christianity’s bible.
- Around 2,400 years ago, the most accepted hypothesis is that the canon was formed in stages, first the Pentateuch (Torah).
- Around 2,140 to 2,116 years ago, the Prophets was written during the Hasmonean dynasty, and finally the remaining books.
- Christians traditionally divide the Old Testament into four sections:
- The first five books or Pentateuch (Torah).
- The proposed history books telling the history of the Israelites from their conquest of Canaan to their defeat and exile in Babylon.
- The poetic and proposed “Wisdom books” dealing, in various forms, with questions of good and evil in the world.
- The books of the biblical prophets, warning of the consequences of turning away from God:
- Henotheism:
- Exodus 20:23 “You shall not make other gods besides Me (not saying there are no other gods just not to worship them); gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves.”
- Polytheism:
- Judges 10:6 “Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him.”
- 1 Corinthians 8:5 “For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords.”
- Monotheism:
- Isaiah 43:10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.
Around 2,570 to 2,270 Years Ago, there is a confirmation of atheistic doubting as well as atheistic thinking, mainly by Greek philosophers. However, doubting gods is likely as old as the invention of gods and should destroy the thinking that belief in god(s) is the “default belief”. The Greek word is apistos (a “not” and pistos “faithful,”), thus not faithful or faithless because one is unpersuaded and unconvinced by a god(s) claim. Short Definition: unbelieving, unbeliever, or unbelief.
Expressions of Atheistic Thinking:
- Around 2,600 years ago, Ajita Kesakambali, ancient Indian philosopher, who is the first known proponent of Indian materialism. ref
- Around 2,535 to 2,475 years ago, Heraclitus, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher, a native of the Greek city Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Anatolia, also known as Asia Minor or modern Turkey. ref
- Around 2,500 to 2,400 years ago, according to The Story of Civilization book series certain African pygmy tribes have no identifiable gods, spirits, or religious beliefs or rituals, and even what burials accrue are without ceremony. ref
- Around 2,490 to 2,430 years ago, Empedocles, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek city in Sicily. ref
- Around 2,460 to 2,370 years ago, Democritus, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher considered to be the “father of modern science” possibly had some disbelief amounting to atheism. ref
- Around 2,399 years ago or so, Socrates, a famous Greek philosopher was tried for sinfulness by teaching doubt of state gods. ref
- Around 2,341 to 2,270 years ago, Epicurus, a Greek philosopher known for composing atheistic critics and famously stated, “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him god?” ref
This last expression by Epicurus, seems to be an expression of Axiological Atheism. To understand and utilize value or actually possess “Value Conscious/Consciousness” to both give a strong moral “axiological” argument (the problem of evil) as well as use it to fortify humanism and positive ethical persuasion of human helping and care responsibilities. Because value-blindness gives rise to sociopathic/psychopathic evil.
“Theists, there has to be a god, as something can not come from nothing.”
Well, thus something (unknown) happened and then there was something. This does not tell us what the something that may have been involved with something coming from nothing. A supposed first cause, thus something (unknown) happened and then there was something is not an open invitation to claim it as known, neither is it justified to call or label such an unknown as anything, especially an unsubstantiated magical thinking belief born of mythology and religious storytelling.
Dylan Violette (CopperViolette)
Psychology Minor and Philosophy Student who’s interested in archaeology, history, and astronomy.
Current Research Interests: The Archaic Era in North America; Long-Distance Trading Across the Americas; Eurasian Prehistory. Current Research Focus: The Eastern Archaic and the Megalithic Builders (10,000 – 1,177 B.C.E.).
Dylan Violette and I decided to blog jointly and will start doing videos together as well. Cory has had to step away from our joint endeavors we did for years, as he has issues he needs to focus on, and my friend Dylan is willing to step in and help me continue making thoughtful videos together.
Our Joint Academia Articles:
While hallucinogens are associated with shamanism, it is alcohol that is associated with paganism.
The Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries Shows in the prehistory series:
Show two: Pre-animism 300,000 years old and animism 100,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show tree: Totemism 50,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show four: Shamanism 30,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show five: Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show six: Emergence of hierarchy, sexism, slavery, and the new male god dominance: Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves!
Prehistory: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” the division of labor, power, rights, and recourses: VIDEO
Pre-animism 300,000 years old and animism 100,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Totemism 50,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Shamanism 30,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Pre-Capitalism): VIDEO
Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves: VIEDO
Paganism 5,000 years old: progressed organized religion and the state: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Kings and the Rise of the State): VIEDO
Paganism 4,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism): VIEDO
I do not hate simply because I challenge and expose myths or lies any more than others being thought of as loving simply because of the protection and hiding from challenge their favored myths or lies.
The truth is best championed in the sunlight of challenge.
An archaeologist once said to me “Damien religion and culture are very different”
My response, So are you saying that was always that way, such as would you say Native Americans’ cultures are separate from their religions? And do you think it always was the way you believe?
I had said that religion was a cultural product. That is still how I see it and there are other archaeologists that think close to me as well. Gods too are the myths of cultures that did not understand science or the world around them, seeing magic/supernatural everywhere.
I personally think there is a goddess and not enough evidence to support a male god at Çatalhöyük but if there was both a male and female god and goddess then I know the kind of gods they were like Proto-Indo-European mythology.
This series idea was addressed in, Anarchist Teaching as Free Public Education or Free Education in the Public: VIDEO
Our 12 video series: Organized Oppression: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of power (9,000-4,000 years ago), is adapted from: The Complete and Concise History of the Sumerians and Early Bronze Age Mesopotamia (7000-2000 BC): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szFjxmY7jQA by “History with Cy“
Show #1: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Samarra, Halaf, Ubaid)
Show #2: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power
Show #3: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Uruk and the First Cities)
Show #4: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (First Kings)
Show #5: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Early Dynastic Period)
Show #6: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power
Show #7: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Sargon and Akkadian Rule)
Show #9: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Gudea of Lagash and Utu-hegal)
Show #12: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Aftermath and Legacy of Sumer)
The “Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries”
Cory Johnston ☭ Ⓐ Atheist Leftist @Skepticallefty & I (Damien Marie AtHope) @AthopeMarie (my YouTube & related blog) are working jointly in atheist, antitheist, antireligionist, antifascist, anarchist, socialist, and humanist endeavors in our videos together, generally, every other Saturday.
Why Does Power Bring Responsibility?
Think, how often is it the powerless that start wars, oppress others, or commit genocide? So, I guess the question is to us all, to ask, how can power not carry responsibility in a humanity concept? I know I see the deep ethical responsibility that if there is power their must be a humanistic responsibility of ethical and empathic stewardship of that power. Will I be brave enough to be kind? Will I possess enough courage to be compassionate? Will my valor reach its height of empathy? I as everyone, earns our justified respect by our actions, that are good, ethical, just, protecting, and kind. Do I have enough self-respect to put my love for humanity’s flushing, over being brought down by some of its bad actors? May we all be the ones doing good actions in the world, to help human flourishing.
I create the world I want to live in, striving for flourishing. Which is not a place but a positive potential involvement and promotion; a life of humanist goal precision. To master oneself, also means mastering positive prosocial behaviors needed for human flourishing. I may have lost a god myth as an atheist, but I am happy to tell you, my friend, it is exactly because of that, leaving the mental terrorizer, god belief, that I truly regained my connected ethical as well as kind humanity.
Cory and I will talk about prehistory and theism, addressing the relevance to atheism, anarchism, and socialism.
At the same time as the rise of the male god, 7,000 years ago, there was also the very time there was the rise of violence, war, and clans to kingdoms, then empires, then states. It is all connected back to 7,000 years ago, and it moved across the world.
Cory Johnston: https://damienmarieathope.com/2021/04/cory-johnston-mind-of-a-skeptical-leftist/?v=32aec8db952d
The Mind of a Skeptical Leftist (YouTube)
Cory Johnston: Mind of a Skeptical Leftist @Skepticallefty
The Mind of a Skeptical Leftist By Cory Johnston: “Promoting critical thinking, social justice, and left-wing politics by covering current events and talking to a variety of people. Cory Johnston has been thoughtfully talking to people and attempting to promote critical thinking, social justice, and left-wing politics.” http://anchor.fm/skepticalleft
Cory needs our support. We rise by helping each other.
Cory Johnston ☭ Ⓐ @Skepticallefty Evidence-based atheist leftist (he/him) Producer, host, and co-host of 4 podcasts @skeptarchy @skpoliticspod and @AthopeMarie
Damien Marie AtHope (“At Hope”) Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist. Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Poet, Philosopher, Advocate, Activist, Psychology, and Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Historian.
Damien is interested in: Freedom, Liberty, Justice, Equality, Ethics, Humanism, Science, Atheism, Antiteism, Antireligionism, Ignosticism, Left-Libertarianism, Anarchism, Socialism, Mutualism, Axiology, Metaphysics, LGBTQI, Philosophy, Advocacy, Activism, Mental Health, Psychology, Archaeology, Social Work, Sexual Rights, Marriage Rights, Woman’s Rights, Gender Rights, Child Rights, Secular Rights, Race Equality, Ageism/Disability Equality, Etc. And a far-leftist, “Anarcho-Humanist.”
I am not a good fit in the atheist movement that is mostly pro-capitalist, I am anti-capitalist. Mostly pro-skeptic, I am a rationalist not valuing skepticism. Mostly pro-agnostic, I am anti-agnostic. Mostly limited to anti-Abrahamic religions, I am an anti-religionist.
Around 10,000 years ago, ideas went into Africa. Around 10,000 to 9,000 years ago, these ideas from the Middle East were in Siberia then moved to China and to the Americas by around 9,000 years ago. Religious ideas also left the Middle East from 9,000 to 8,000 years ago to Europe. Around 8,000 years ago, new ideas got to Ukraine but didn’t spread far. From 8,000 to 7,000 years ago, ideas again entered Africa with evolved beliefs from the Middle East. By 7,000 years ago, evolved deities from the Middle East moved again to Europe and Ukraine. And 7,000 years ago, the Siberian sun god of the sky, with a warrior culture, armed forts, and pre-kurgans, moved from Siberia to Ukraine and then returned to the Middle East around 6,000 years ago, influencing the Sumerian religious ideas. 6,000 to 5,000 years ago, these new Siberian influenced ideas from the Middle East were also in Africa. Then new evolved ideas moved back out of from Ukraine to the East by 5,500 to 5,000 years ago to Siberia, then China, and the Americas. Ideas from Ukraine went into Europe as well. Then, 5,000 to 4,000 years ago, the new ideas, now somewhat evolved again, from Siberia headed back to Europe, and so did ideas from the Middle East. ETC. This is just a rough outline to grasp some of the details, as I feel I understand them. There is a bit more, but this gives a good idea of how complicated it was.
I think the person, snakes, and two birds seen at Körtik Tepe is the oldest known Neolithic archaeological site in Turkey, more than 12,000 years old, were likely related to the Orion constellation as a shamanic figure holding a snake, referencing the use of the Milky Way to communicate with the gods and ancestors, as well as soul travel via the Milky Way. The big snake to me would reference the Milky Way itself and the two birds, either the star Venus and the moon, or some aspect of the sun, and the moon, but the sun aspect was likely not the noon sun by itself, as I see that as gaining prominence at a later date. And I think the other figures, also related to the Orion constellation, either as a deity or a deity of the stars, put Orion there. I assume, as seen at Tell Fekheriye, Syria, 11,000 to 9,000 years old, involving two standing figures on “step stools of power” that by 11,000 years ago were at least two sky deities, such as something similar to both a sky father and a sky mother deity, at this time, related to the stars, or planets (also seen as stars or star-like). But we must remember that planets were seen as star-related in mythology.
High Gods and a Divine Couple (universal mommy and daddy)?
I think high gods started with a divine couple, a sky god (sky father) “Day sky, often the Sun” and a sky goddess (sky mother) “Night sky, often the Noon” around 11,000 years ago or older, associated with pre-pastoralism animal management, early herding, and proto-pastoralism, of big-horned goats, big-horned sheep, both domesticated around 11,000 years ago, and cattle domesticated around 10,000 years ago or a little older, especially so with cattle, the last three. Then, as farming and agriculture grew and the domestication of grains emerged a little after 10,000 to 9,000 years ago, and along came a new Earth goddess (Earth Mother), who then commonly took the place of the older sky goddess (sky mother) as the wife or consort to the sky god (sky father). This younger divine couple, a sky god (sky father) and Earth goddess (Earth Mother), becomes the norm the world over. Spread largely with the spread of farming and agriculture to me.
The myths of (Sky Father) and Earth Mothers in general are found throughout the world, and I think started in the Middle East, with their origins around 11,000 years ago or older. Though totem couple artifacts are seen in Siberia’s Lake Baikal area with the Ancient North Eurasians Mal’ta–Buret’ culture (24,000 years ago) and seem to trace back to at least Russia, above the area between north of the Black Sea and the Caucasus mountains at the Kostenki site 25,000 years ago, a time when Kostenki is related to the eastern Gravettian culture, because the Kostenki site started with Aurignacian culture. I think the couple theme, though it seems to have evidence dating back to at least 25,000 years ago in portable totem pole-like figurines, was not considered deities until they evolved in the Middle East, due to different lifestyles creating a motivation for different thinking, a transition from hunting and gathering to herding and farming.
Damien Marie AtHope (Said as “At” “Hope”)/(Autodidact Polymath but not good at math):
Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist, Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Jeweler, Poet, “autodidact” Philosopher, schooled in Psychology, and “autodidact” Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Pre-Historian (Knowledgeable in the range of: 1 million to 5,000/4,000 years ago). I am an anarchist socialist politically. Reasons for or Types of Atheism
My Website, My Blog, & Short-writing or Quotes, My YouTube, Twitter: @AthopeMarie, and My Email: damien.marie.athope@gmail.com