Introduction
Due to the recent 2012 emotions (& a very bad movie :), I'll try to give here a short and easy overview of the real Maya calendar and the Mayan script that were in "official" use from (at least) the 3rd century BC until AD 1697. It begins with an introduction to the Mesoamerican setting in which script and calendar evolved.
Vanwege de recente 2012 "perikelen" (en een bijzonder slechte film ;), zal ik proberen hier een klein overzichtje te geven van de echte Mayakalender, hun schrift ("officieel" in gebruik van de 3de euw voor Chr. tot 1697 na Chr.) en, om mee te beginnen, een kleine introductie van de Mesoamerikaanse wereld waarin schrift en kalender ontstonden.
Porque había muchas emociones recientemente (ya estamos en 2010! Solamente dos años antes el año 2012!!) y una película horrible, comenzaré aquí con una descripción pequeña al calendario y escritura maya (la escritura que era "oficial" a partir del tercer siglo a.C. hasta 1697 d.C.). También daré una introducción del mundo mesoamericano en el cual los dos originaron.
Mesoamerica writing(s) and calendar(s)
In Mesoamerica (by most specialists described as the southern half of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and the western/northern parts of Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica) writing probably started somewhere between 1000 and 500 BC. There is much debate about "the first" & "the first true" writing, especially after the 2006 discovery of the so called Cascajal Block.
Cascajal Block (+/-950BC): first mesoamerican writing?
Mesoamerica is home to many different native nations. The Mayas and Aztecs are the two famous ones but most people don't realize that they don't have much in common (except that both are living in what today is Mexico). Their language is completely different (and of course also very different from Spanish) as well as their cultures. Most interseting perhaps is that the Aztecs are much "younger" as a culture than "the Mayas". When the Spaniards arrived in 1519, the Aztec empire was not even a century old while "Maya culture" on the other hand, was already +/- 2000 years old by then.
The Mayas weren't the only ones to invent a script. Nor were they the first. The Cascajal Block (if genuine) in about 500 years older than the first Mayan writings and looks nothing like it.
Calendar: counting
The Mesoamerican calendar was, simply said, based on lunar and solar features, just like almost every modern calendar (be it Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, etc). In its basic form it is one single system, but the easiest way to explain it is to separate it in two. This is what specialists call the Long Count (started at a particular point in time), and the Short one (a system that rotates). Compare this with the modern Gregorian Calendar most people use today. That one has a "Long Count" which starts with the birth of Christ, and a "short" one, that starts the 1st of January, and ends on the 31st of December, only to begin again on the 1st of January.
Thus, the date: 25/12/2009 (or 12/25/2009) is a single date with "two" counting systems in it. It's the 25th day of December (a day that returns every 365 days), in the year 2009 after Christ (a date/year that appears only once).
There even is a third "short count" in the Gregorian calender: the week. A week has seven days, and after the seventh, the first one reappears. In the mean time however, this is also a "long" count, since the first Monday (let's say: Monday the first) is not exactly the same as the following one (Monday the eighth). Then again, a "Monday the first" may well reappear later, in another month or year.
So, just like the Maya/Mesoamerican one, the Gregorian calender is ONE calender with different counting systems.
Maya counting First something has to be said about the numbers people used. Of course the different cultures used different signs to annotate numbers, but they all used some basic forms.
A dot . represented 1 A bar __ was used to annotate 5
2 dots meant two, 2 bars was 10. Etc... More was not needed. There also was a zero (which was quite unique in the world and invented in the centuries before christ).
The Mayan system
In our system (which the West borrowed from the Arabs/Hindus), 56, actually is 5 tens ("fif-ty" in English: "fif' = 5, "ty" = 10) + 6. The number 83: 8 times 10 + 3 ("eigh"-"ty" + three)". This means we have a base 10 system.
In French (from France) however 83 is with base 20: 4 times 20 + 3 ("quatre-vingt -trois"). This way of counting numbers (in Europe still in use in the Celtic languages) was the normal way of counting in Mesoamerica. We count in tens, and after that: 10 x 10 (100) 10 x 10 x 10 (1000) 10 x 10 x10 x 10 (10.000) etc
In Mesoamerica they did the same with 20: 20 x 20 = 400 (they actually used 20 x 18 = 360 here, for the reason see below) 20 x 20 x 18 = 7200 20 x 20 x 20 x 18 = 144.000 20 x 20 x 20 x 20 x 18 = 2.880.000
So, with this basic kind of maths, plus the help of the "number" zero, people could add, subtract, and multiply numbers quite easily. An example can be seen here. To write down 5209, the Mayans did this:
That's 13 times 400 (5200) + 0 times 20 (0) + 9.
Maya calender These basic numbers got their own "day names". We don't know all the original ones, and some Mayan ones got a new "Mayanist" name. To give the 5 most common:
1 day = K'IN (original name, meaning: Sun) 20 days (= 20 K'ins) = WINAL 360 days = 18! Winals = 1 TUN (they took 18 instead of 20 because 360 is almost a solar year) 20 Tuns = 360 days x 20 = 7200 days = 1 KATUN 20 Katuns = 7200 days x 20 = 144.000 days = 1 BAKTUN
Calendar: two in one Like I said above, although there was one basic calendar, it's much more easy to explain it as if there were two: a Long Count, and a "short" one. To begin with the "short" one.
The "short" one was the one most used, in almost all Mesoamerican cultures. Again we can devide it in two, a "solar" count (365 days, now called Haab in the Maya calendar), and a "lunar" count (260 days, now called Tzolk'in in the Maya calendar). Since 20 was the number to work with, the 365 days were devided into 18 "months" of 20 days (360 : 20 = 18) + another "month" of 5 extra days. The Tzolk'in 260-days count was devided into 13 times 20 day signs (260 : 20 = 13).
An example for the Tzolk'in count: When we combine the 20 lunar days (I give them here the names A to T) with the numbers, 1 to 13 , and we get this:
A1, B2, C3, D4, E5, F6, G7, H8, I9, J10, K11, L12, M13, and then (since we only have 13 numbers) N1, followed by O2, P3, Q4, R5, S6, and T7. After that we have exhausted all 20 day signs, so we are back with A. So the next one is A8, followed by B9, C10, D11, E12, F13, and... G1, etc, etc, until all combinations have been tried and we're back with A1. That is after 260 days...
Interpolating the Haab and Tzolk'in (other peoples, like the Aztecs, of course used other names) calendars, the Mesoamericans created a time cycle of 52 years (18.980 days), which is called the Calendar Round. Again, all combinations are used then, and we can start all over again. This is what we can compare with a century.
With all this information people (mostly priests and nobility of course) could calculate with huge numbers. The nobles could also commemorate important events, like battles, or festivities.
Revisa parlamento venezolano normativas sobre indígenas
Caracas, 18 nov (PL)
Una comisión del parlamento venezolano revisó hoy el Anteproyecto de Ley de Coordinación de la Jurisdicción Especial Indígena con el Sistema de Justicia y el artículo 17 del Proyecto de Ley del Artesano Indígena.
El mencionado artículo fue diferido por la plenaria de la Asamblea Nacional para la sesión de este jueves, informó este miércoles el vicepresidente de la Comisión de Pueblos Indígenas, Egildo Palau.
Según Palau, analizaron dos anteproyectos elaborados en la referida comisión sobre la Ley de Coordinación de la Jurisdicción Especial Indígena con el Sistema de Justicia, los cuales se enviarán a la Subcomisión de Legislación Indígena para presentar el definitivo.
Recordó que esta normativa plantea como objetivo "el establecimiento de los principios y mecanismos de coordinación de la jurisdicción especial indígena con el sistema judicial nacional, basado en el reconocimiento del carácter multiétnico y pluricultural de la sociedad venezolana".
A su juicio se avanza en este sentido tras realizar dos consultas en torno a este texto legal, además de efectuarse un taller en octubre de tres días donde participaron especialistas en la materia y representantes indígenas, quienes aportaron sus ideas sobre el tema. http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=138960&Itemid=1
“El movimiento indígena puso en contradicción las normas de los DD. HH internacionales" Por Manuel LONKOPAN ((i)) Pueblos Originarios
Así lo señaló el Ex Relator de Derechos Humanos y Libertades Fundamentales de los Indígenas de las Naciones Unidades, Rodolfo Stavenhagen quien visitó el martes 17 de octubre la ciudad de La Plata, invitado a la “Jornada de Pueblos Originarios y Derechos Humanos. Debates contemporáneos”, actividad organizada por el Instituto de Derecho Humano de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Sociales perteneciente a la Universidad Nacional de esta ciudad y el Movimiento Internacional Contra el Racismo y la Discriminación. En un auditorio repleto del Colegio de Abogados de la Provincia de Buenos Aires Stavenhagen brindo una conferencia referida a los derechos internacionales de los pueblos originarios y sus implicancias en los países de Latinoamérica.
Continuó su presentación señalando que “la visión que tienen nuestros países sobre los pueblos originarios en general es un pensamiento ligado al pasado ya superado, en el mejor de los casos pertenecen a los museos y en los textos de historia brillan por su ausencia”. Pero a juicio del ex relator esto ha cambiado en las últimas décadas, “por eso hoy podemos hablar de un fenómeno sociológico, político, jurídico de emergencia como son los movimientos indígenas en América latina y que son parte de nuestra sociedad” señaló a los asistentes.
La irrupción de los pueblos originarios ha ido configurando un nuevo mapa político en los Estados de Latinoamérica y que pone en crisis las constituciones de los países, “un ejemplo claro es Bolivia donde se ha declarado un estado multicultural y nueva política de estado hacia los pueblos originarios”. Es decir se esta cuestionando el modelo básico de estos Estados por el sector social emergente que representan los pueblos originarios a poco de cumplirse el bicentenario, y esto no es menor y menos aun casual a juicio del representante de Naciones Unidas en cuestiones indígenas.
Esto obliga además a repensar la concepción que se tiene de los conceptos de los “Derechos Humanos”, para tomar en consideración estos fenómenos históricamente nuevos referido a la presencia de los pueblos originarios, “estos no sucede solo a nivel de los países, sino también hacia el interior de las estructura de las instituciones de los derechos humanos. Hoy se puede afirmar que los pueblos indígenas son nuevos sujetos del derecho internacional” señaló.
Desde las primeras declaraciones en términos de Derecho Humano de Naciones Unidas no aparecían los derechos indígenas, puesto que esta se contrapone con la concepción colectiva de los pueblos originarios, “el Derecho Humano tiene como espíritu el resguardo individual de los hombres y mujeres sin discriminación, eso es importante porque hasta mediado del siglo XX muchos países no aceptaban esto. La importancia del reconocimiento de la Naciones Unidas a los derechos indígenas, puso en evidencia la contradicción de las normas con la realidad, porque por primera vez se habla de derechos colectivos, la ley es igual para todos pero la sociedad de cada país no es heterogénea. Lo indígena no es solamente un atributo individual, es mucho más, es sentirse parte de una identidad colectiva, no solo histórica sino también geográfica, donde la territorialidad es parte esencial de la identidad” enfatizó. Y reconoció que este no es un debate acabado en términos de los derechos humanos a nivel internacional.
“Mucho se ha discutido que hacer ante esto”, señaló Stavenhagen, “porque hay una desigualdad en los hechos, los pueblos originarios buscan igualdad pero también plantean sus diferencias culturales y sociales traídas de las culturas ancestrales de esos territorios que pertenecen y hoy están bajo las jurisprudencia de los países”. Esto comenzó a cuestionar el modelo, por las crecientes demandas de los pueblos originarios a la opinión pública, a sus propios gobiernos y principalmente hacia el sistema internacional, reconoció el Ex Relator de la ONU.
Esto se refleja en la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Indígena del 13 de septiembre del año 2007, donde 147 países lo ratificaron positivamente. Para Rodolfo Stavenhagen esto abrió una nueva perspectiva en término de los derechos indígena a nivel internacional. “hay un reconocimiento a la libre determinación de los pueblos, muchos países se oponen a esto y es obvio que lo hagan, pero la declaración trata de delimitar esto porque no se trata de separación o fragmentación de los estados nacionales, sino lo que sea plantea es en términos de los derechos humanos y es importante porque se trata de la libre decisión de los pueblos sobre su propio existir, sus propios futuros y al manejo de las políticas publicas, de sus recursos naturales a nivel interno y regional” señaló. Esto esta plasmado en el Articulo 4 de la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Indígenas, donde además reconoce la autonomía y autogobierno derivados de la autodeterminación de cada pueblo.
A diferencia de la ONU la Organización de Estados Americanos aún continua discutiendo una declaración, “son nuestros gobiernos y ahí esta nuestra responsabilidad como ciudadanos, que señales les mandamos en materia de derechos humanos sobre los pueblos originarios” enfatizó.
Existe muchos avances en los últimos 20 años referido a derechos indígenas a nivel internacional, pero también hay mucho retroceso en reformas legislativas en America latina, “todavía en nuestros parlamentos hay voces que de ninguna manera quieren reconocer estos derechos y hay acciones de gobierno, como es el caso de Chile donde se emplea legislaciones dictatoriales de la época de Pinochet para castigar y criminalizar a los indígenas que procuran defender sus territorios ante los embates de la globalización y explotación de sus recursos naturales”, señaló Stavenhagen.
Todo este proceso conforma un panorama nuevo que está en pleno desarrollo, preocupa que “la opinión publica de nuestros países parece ser que no se ha dado cuenta” y esto se refleja en la “visión que todavía tenemos a través de los medios, a través de los discursos oficiales es que se tiene esta visión de vestigio del pasado y que los pueblos originario son los menos valorados en la concepción de la nación y de la sociedad” señaló. http://www.mapuexpress.net/?act=news&id=4989
Cerca de 600 indígenas participam de conferência nacional para discutir educação nas aldeias A qualificação de professores e a adequação da infraestrutura das escolas são hoje os maiores desafios para levar o ensino fundamental às populações indígenas, de acordo com o coordenador-geral de educação indígena da Secretaria de Educação Continuada, Alfabetização e Diversidade (Secad) do Ministério da Educação, Gersem Baniwa.
O país tem hoje cerca de 2,6 mil escolas para uma população de mais de 200 mil indígenas. Dos 12 mil professores de áreas indígenas, 36% pertencem às comunidades. Segundo Baniwa, a maioria dos docentes precisa de aperfeiçoamento adequado para compreender e implementar características interculturais.
O especialista lembra que, há alguns anos, os professores davam aulas em português para um público que preferia falar a língua nativa e esse era um dos motivos para que os alunos não conseguissem aprender. Ele afirma que os educadores, em vista da realidade cultural desse público, têm que primeiro educá-los na sua língua para depois então alfabetizá-los na língua portuguesa.
Baniwa acredita que a realização da 1ª Conferência Nacional de Educação Escolar Indígena (Coneei), que tem início hoje (16), em Luziânia, é um marco histórico uma vez que discutirá as reivindicações das comunidades - que já fizeram 18 conferências regionais para pautar seus interesses na área de educação. O evento reunirá especialistas, educadores e comunidades indígenas de todo o país e se estenderá até a sexta-feira (20), com a presença de 600 delegados, que representam 210 povos.
O trabalho direcionado aos índios é feito pelo MEC com apoio da Fundação Nacional do Índio (Funai). A educação indígena, hoje, segundo o professor, abandonou a visão integracionista do passado e procura dar foco na valorização das culturas.
Segundo Baniwa, já foi possível avançar significativamente na qualidade do material didático específico, entretanto, é preciso "melhorar mais pois os avanços dos últimos dez anos vêm em contraponto a centenas de anos em que os índios não contavam com apoio educacional". O fornecimento de material didático específico para indígenas é uma das grandes reivindicações dos povos tradicionais.
O coordenador destacou que o ministro da Educação, Fernando Haddad, está organizando um programa que pretende levar educação volante, em barcos, para populações nômades que se deslocam de suas aldeias sazonalmente, procurando sustento de acordo com a propensão de cada lugar ao longo do ano. A ideia é construir barcos que atendam às populações que se dedicam ao extrativismo da castanha, da piaçava ou que mudam de local quando os rios estão cheios. http://noticias.terra.com.br/brasil/noticias/0,,OI4104718-EI306,00.html
Newest discovery (excavations started in 2004) at the Maya city of Kaan (Snake), better known as Calakmul. Together with Mutal (better known as Tikal) it was the mightiest city in the Classic Period (+/- AD 300 - 900). The mural was found in the south façade of Building 1, in the area known as North Acropolis or Chik Naab. So the Sombrero really IS Mexican ;)
Nieuwste ontdekking (eerste werk aan deze ontdekking begon in 2004) in de Mayastad Kaan (Slang), beter bekend onder de naam Calakmul. Samen met Mutal (beter bekend onder de naam Tikal) was het de machtigste stad uit de Klassieke Periode (+/- 300 - 900 na Chr.). De muur is gevonden in de zuidelijke façade van Gebouw 1 van de Noordelijke Acropolis/Chik Naab. Dus de Sombrero is écht Mexicaans! :)
Nuevo descubrimiento (localizado en 2004) en la ciudad Maya de Kaan (Serpiente, conocido como Calakmul. Junto con Mutal (Tikal), Kaan era la ciudad más poderosa del Período Clásico (+/- 300 - 900 d.C.). Se trata de un mural en la fachada sur del Edificio I, en el área conocida como la Acrópolis Norte o Chik Naab ¡Pues, el sombrero sí es mexicano! :)
Praeterea scitio, in Fundaribus, qui tractus est inter Mexicum, & Dariem, fodinas esse orichalci: quòd nullo igni, nullis Hispanicis atribus hactenus liquescere potuit.
Julius Caesar Scaliger (1557)
(Furtherore, in the foundries, it is known that there are deposits of a metal, which is mined between Mexico and Panama, that hitherto cannot be melted by fire nor by any Spanish techniques.)
This silver-like metal can be seen here. Although Europeans found it in South America between 1500 and 1550, they only learned to work with it in the late 18th century. Today it is more expansive than the gold and silver the Spaniards were looking for... They called it "little silver" because they couldn't melt it (+/- 1750 degrees celsius, versus iron 1540 degrees celsius); thus found it worthless... "plat-ina".
Platina was probably discovered by native Ecuadorians (of the so called La Tolita-Tumaco culture) around 700 BC. The Ecuadorian-Colombian border area remained the principal mining area until the arrival of the Spaniards.
Native Metallurgy: a world to discover
It is often assumed that American metallurgy before 1492 was somehow inferior to the metallurgy that was in use in the "Old World". One of the arguments is that the Amerindians lacked iron or bronze. The reasoning goes as follows: in Eurasia there was a Stone Age, a Copper Age, a Bronze Age, and an Iron Age. The Iron Age (which had started around 1500 BC) ended when the Roman Empire took over in Europe, around the time of Christ. In 1492, when Columbus entered the Americas, he was greeted by natives still living in the Stone Age. As a matter of fact, the superior European weapons, like the steel swords of Toledo, were one reason why the Spaniards conquered most of the American continent within 50 to 100 years. Today, remnants of the Stone Age Tribes that once inhabited America, can be found in the Amazonian rainforest.
Unfortunately, there is more than one error in this story.
Metallurgy in the "Old World"
People began woking metals in Eastern Europe, Anatolia (Turkey), the Caucasus, and Mesopotamia between 5000 and 4000 BC But it was in Mesopotamia that the Copper Age & Bronze age (+/- 3000 BC) really came to be. It was followed around 1500 BC by the Iron Age. The main problem with this story is that it only seems valid for the Middle East. Many places simple skipped an "Age". Most of Africa went directly from the "Stone Age" to the "Iron Age" between 1500BC and +/- AD 500. Also in East Asia, there wasn't really a Copper Age, and although bronze was (only) somewhat earlier than iron, bronze was mainly used for art (vessels, drums, etc) and in use long after the introduction of iron (mainly used for working tools). Another thing is that in Europe, the native Copper Age in the east collapsed around 3800, probably due to the scarcity of resources. It reapeared later, comming from the Middle East. By 2000 BC bronze from the British isles (with its huge tin mines) was very popular and spread over the continent. It was only when tin and copper (together bronze) became scarcer, that iron became popular. Gold and silver (both were, with copper, the first known metals) were never really used for making tools because they were to soft and scarce. They were however valued by most cultures and came into use as trade items (which in some cases evolved, just as copper did, in money).
Americas: Northern Traditions
Around the same time as in the "Old World", people in North America started to work with copper. This copper was extracted from the Great Lakes area. Eventually this tradition developed into the Old Copper Culture (from +/- 3500 BC).
From the Great Lakes area, copper (working) spread to the east, north, south, and west. A good website about the Old Copper Culture and copper working in North America is http://copperculture.homestead.com/.
The use of copper in North America remained important until and even after the arrival of the Europeans. The first Europeans, like the Italian Verrazzano (along the east coast in 1524) found out that "the indians" found copper much more interesting than iron. Since it was such a wanted item, Europeans started to trade their copper for American animal hides. This was the beginning of the later Fur Trade that dominated the North American continent between 1600 and 1750.
Copper Celts of the Mississippian Period (+/-800- 1550)
(Most famous) Mississippian copper profile
Mississippian copper mask
Another copper-working technology developed in southern Alaska, probably in the first half of the first millennium AD, and probably influenced by similar developments in eastern Siberia with which there was a lot of contact. This tradition spread south to the North American West Coast, to the Arctic, and to the east, where it met the eastern copper tradition.
West coast copper
19th century example of West Coast copper, used as money
Where west and east meet each other: copper spear heads from present day Canadian province Manitoba
Other metals
Although copper was the most popular metal, others were used too, like silver (Ontario) and iron. Iron came from three sources, all in the north: Siberia (from where it arrived in Alaska around AD 500), the Canadian and Greenlandic arctic, and via Greenland with the Scandinavians (Vikings) from Europe. And it had two forms: meteoric iron (mainly from Greenland were a huge meteorite provided plenty of material), and "terrestal" iron. Another source form pre-Columbian iron in North America was "drift iron" which arrived directly (due to storms; direct contact is possible but not proven yet) from East Asia at the North American West Coast.
Hopewell (eastern US, 100BC- AD 500) earspool made of copper and silver that came from present-day Ontario
Iron from the West Coast (modern replica)
"Drift Coins" from China became part of Tlingit style (West Coast) armor.
Meteoric iron spear from the Greenland meteorite
another example of meteoric iron (knife)
South American traditions
oldest American gold so far (2000bc)
In South America, metal working (first gold, later copper) started about 4000 years ago in the central Andes, in Bolivia and Peru. Around a thousand years later, people started to work with gold and copper in Colombia and Ecuador. In Colombia a new technique was developed which resulted in the creation of Tumbaga, an alloy of gold (and sometimes a bit of silver) and copper. It makes copper harder (almost as hard as bronze or iron) but also easier to smelt (at aprox. 900 degrees celsius, +/- 200 degrees lower than gold or copper). Casting and the so called "cire perdue method" (in English known nas "lost wax method") became extremely popular. From Colombia this new tradition spread northwards into Central America, and eastwards towards the Carribean and Amazonia. The older southern Andean tradition spread further southwards, to Argentina and Chile (+/- 500 BC). The Colombian tradition reached Mexico around AD 600 from the south. But it probably also reached western Mexico by sea, via the Pacific. Scholars are sure the southeren (Peruvian) tradition indeed did so around AD1200 when mettalurgy reached western Mexico from northern Peru and Ecuador. How this was done however isn't entirely clear, but likely due to the huge sailed Ecuadorian balsa rafts landing at the Mexican coast.
At around AD500, people around Lake Titicaca (but also in Ecuador), probably part of the Tiwanaku state, introduced arsenic to their mettalurgy and the use of arsenical bronze spread with Tiwanaku and the Wari (in Peru) empire to the south and north. The use of tin bronze started some 500 years later but both bronzes apearently never made it farther north than southern Colombia because of the lack of arsenicum and tin farther north. The trade over seas between the Andes and Mexico however, again brought these southern traditions (AD 1200) towards Mesoamerica where people first just copied the Andeans, and later created their own bronze items.
above: arsenic bronze from Peruvian northcoast. right: tin bronze axe from northwestern Argentina
left: Mayan bronze celts
right: Argentinian bronze plate
Other metals, like zinc, nickel (in bronzes), and meteoric iron were also used in the Andes, but where less important. The exact role of platinum (see above) is not clear. It was often used with gold (gold being the "mother metal", often in a 70-30% relationship), but there are also items that contain more than 50% of this metal that is so difficult to melt (also interesting is that - usually - the more platinum was used, the more iron an item contained, sometimes up to 5% or more).
Left: Gold & Platinum ring (Ecuador)
Right: Meteroric iron hammer from Colombia
The Tumbaga (the gold-copper alloy) is perhaps one of the more interesting aspects of this story because it was so widely used. When Columbus landed in the Carribean the Taino called in Guanín and made it clear that they didn't know how to make it but imported it from the mainland in the south. People in Panama used the same word and in the Guyana's and Amazonia, it was often called by it's Carrib name, Caracoli (Karakoli). It was considered a very special and powerful item, and there were aproximatly three important centers outside the Andean word.
One of them was at the banks of the Rio Negro in Brasil and gave rise to the legend of El Dorado. The Manoa kingdom was said to posses and make thousands of gold items. It drove early (and later!) European explores mad, especially because they were looking for "pure" gold, which of course wasn't what the Amazonians were making. Tumbaga, guanín, caracoli... The Spaniards and other Europeans called it "fake" or "low" gold, and they kept on looking for the REAL gold man, somewhere hiding in the forrest.
Casted Tumbaga from Colombia (left) and Panama (right)
Although the ancient Mexicans (Mesoamericans) got their metallurgy very late from their southeren neighbours (around AD 600), that doesn't mean they should be left out of this story. First of all, although there isn't any evidence they melted it, the Olmecs (from 1300 BC onwards) used enourmous amounts of iron ore. This was imported from the modern Mexican state of Guerrero and a lot of it was used to make mirrors, just like the Romans did in Europe a thousand years later. There is also some evidence these ancient Mexicans knew about the magnatism of iron and used it as a compass (again, a thousand years earlier than people in the "Old World", the Chinese, who are often credited for this invention.). One of the reasons why metallurgy came that late to Mesoamerica is probably the status of jade(ite). This mineral was mined in Guatemala and had an enourmous prestige amoung Mesoamericans (since Olmec times), just like tumbaga, gold and silver had in the south. Jadeite is very hard (harder than iron or "normal" steel), yet Mesoamericans knew how to work and carve it into various objects.
World famous Jade(ite) mask of Mayan lord Pacal (Palenque) Jadeite toucan from Costa Rica
When South American metals arrived, Mesoamericans developed their own rich traditions that after a while also started to expand. This is how Mesoamerican (and indirectly South American) metallurgy came into the area of the northen tradition. Through trade, the North American southwest got (amoung other things) copper bells from Mexico while "Southwesterner's" exported (again, amoung other things) turquoise.
Mixtec (Oaxaca, Mexico) metalwork
It is not (yet) known however if the two distinctive traditions (north & south) really "touched" each other; and if so, where. Until now the evidence isn't that strong, but that's also because there hasn't been that much research. Perhaps someone will pick it up some day.
Mexican copper bells from present day Arizona South American gold found in Florida
First Reactions
(http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/home/content/69340852.html)
...Significantly, Obama imposed a time limit as part of the executive order, which he signed in front of the tribal attendees. The memorandum directs every Cabinet agency head to provide the president a detailed plan within 90 days of how they will implement and improve tribal consultation.
During a break after the signing, several tribal leaders heralded the move.
Derek Bailey, chairman of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, said he was especially impressed that the president imposed a tight deadline for agencies to begin complying.
“Too many times these kinds of orders just sit there. This is a strong call for rather immediate action.”
The president noted, too, that he’s hired several Native Americans to fill key roles in his administration, while also dramatically increasing financial support to various tribal programs, including those of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service.
Myra Pearson, chairwoman of the Spirit Lake Tribe, said she had intrinsic feelings Obama would take those kinds of positive steps for Indian country if he was elected.
“He promised me he would make change, and I believed him. Today, he proved us both right. I think it will continue.”
The day was not meant for the president and his agency officials to simply tout their merits. Tribal leaders were also invited to interact with the administration, explaining their own concerns – not an easy task by any means, considering the unique and specific conditions facing each tribal nation.
Common desires did emerge, however. Generally, tribal leaders said they want the administration to respect tribal sovereignty, promote self-determination, conduct consultation and increase funding in health, education, law enforcement and other key areas.
Tribal leaders also appeared to grow sharper as the day wore on. After a morning session during which a few gushed that they wanted to shake the president’s hand, leaders in the afternoon sessions carried out a more coordinated plan, highlighting broad issues by region and topic area.
Some had been disappointed after early discussions that more topics weren’t getting across. Groups of leaders chatted during lunch to formulate an on-the-fly approach to make better use of the day based on regional issues.
“Laying our concerns out by region seemed to make sense and helped spell out areas that need meaningful action,” said James Ransom, chief of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Council.
Ned Norris Jr., chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation, expanded on the idea, saying he would like the administration to hold regional meetings with tribes in the future in order to better address tribal concerns.
The region-based tactic at the conference appeared successful, as tribal leaders ended up achieving new promises in several key areas from top administration officials.
On the issue of tribes and homeland security, which Ransom raised, Department of Homeland Security officials said they would consider provisions that would better address specific tribal situations. Along those lines, they said they are supportive of legislation that would provide financial support to tribes that produce identification cards.
Ransom also noted that there are only three countries that have not signed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, including Canada, Australia and the United States.
While Obama himself did not promise to sign the document, which is aimed at ending human rights violations against the world’s indigenous people, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he is urging the president to do so.
Obama did make a pledge toward ending violence against Native Americans. In his opening remarks, he related the statistic that one in three Native American women will be raped in her lifetime. He said the grim figure represented “an assault on our national conscience that we can no longer ignore” – noted as a major acknowledgment by many tribal leaders.
Later, a new agency pledge occurred after tribal leaders discussed an ongoing lawsuit of tribal farmers suing the United States Department of Agriculture based on alleged discriminatory financial assistance practices.
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack told the leaders that he knew the litigation has been going on for a considerable period of time, and he added that he is committed to resolving it. To date, agency officials had not made that kind of promise.
Another area of responsiveness to tribal leaders’ concerns arose after Jonathan Windy Boy, a Chippewa Cree Tribal Council member and a Montana state representative, said the administration should support a permanent reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, so Native Americans don’t have to beg to see their basic health care rights fulfilled every few years.
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was amenable to the idea.
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and the only Native American serving in Congress, said he was impressed by the tribal leaders’ prowess.
“I think they’ve done a very good job,” the lawmaker assessed.
“The turnout, respect and desire to work together have been amazing. The ideas are just there.”
In terms of follow-up on promises made during the conference, Jodi Archambault Gillette, the Obama administration’s Standing Rock Sioux intergovernmental affairs adviser, said she and others would create a report focused on moving forward.
Several tribal leaders said they would press for quick release of the report.
The historic nature of the event was also celebrated by many attendees.
“We’re definitely living history,” said W. Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe. He noted that President Bill Clinton started many initiatives that tribal officials viewed as positive, and he said Obama is now expanding on them.
“He wants to be more engaged, have truly more dialogue,” the National Congress of American Indians board member said.
“That’s a different kind of relationship – a better one.”
Obama himself said the event was the largest and most widely attended gathering of tribal leaders in the nation’s history.
Chad Smith, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, took a slightly different view.
“You know, every day is a historic day in Indian country,” the tribal leader said.
“Some have been better than others. And this is one of the better ones.”
Indigenous Peoples and Sustainable Development: The Role of the Inter-American Development Bank
IDB Forum of the Americas
April 8th 1997
Anne Deruyttere http://www.iadb.org/sds/doc/IND-97101E.PDF
Obama diz a indígenas americanos: "Vocês não serão esquecidos"
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - O presidente Barack Obama prometeu na quinta-feira a líderes indígenas norte-americanos acabar com o descaso e as promessas não cumpridas do governo em relação às tribos, e afirmou: "vocês não serão esquecidos".
Obama, que contou com grande apoio indígena na eleição presidencial do ano passado, cumpriu uma promessa de sua campanha ao levar para Washington centenas de representantes de tribos indígenas reconhecidas, que apresentaram suas reivindicações a altos funcionários do governo.
Reconhecendo a relação historicamente difícil com os índios, Obama prometeu trabalhar com os líderes tribais para enfrentar problemas de saúde, criminalidade, educação e meio ambiente.
"Poucos grupos foram mais marginalizados e ignorados por Washington, e por tanto tempo, quanto os indígenas, os primeiros americanos", disse Obama. "Estou totalmente comprometido em forjar com vocês um futuro novo e melhor".
"Vocês não serão esquecidos enquanto eu estiver nesta Casa Branca", disse ele a uma multidão de mais de 500 pessoas reunida no Departamento do Interior.
A maioria das pessoas trajava roupas de trabalho convencionais; alguns usavam ornamentos tradicionais na cabeça, coletes bordados e penas nos cabelos.
Um líder tribal do estado norte-americano de Wisconsin deu a Obama o nome indígena de "Aquele que Cuida dos Outros", e um homem que usava enfeites de guerra na cabeça disse ao presidente que queria dar o enfeite a ele.
Em uma sessão de perguntas e respostas, várias pessoas agradeceram a Obama por tentar restaurar a confiança das tribos, mas pediram que ele fizesse mais.
Obama falou de sua própria trajetória, observando que nasceu de mãe adolescente e que foi abandonado pelo pai quando tinha dois anos de idade.
"Entendo o que significa ser um outsider", disse.
Observando que o desemprego em algumas reservas indígenas chegava a 80 por cento e que um quarto dos indígenas americanos vive na pobreza, Obama assinou diante da plateia um memorando presidencial instruindo membros do gabinete a apresentarem, no prazo de 90 dias, propostas para melhorar as relações com as tribos indígenas.
Ele disse que o documento vai reativar uma ordem da época de Bill Clinton que foi ignorada pela administração de George W. Bush.
Obama promet aux Amérindiens la fin des belles paroles
Le président Barack Obama a promis jeudi aux tribus amérindiennes la fin "des belles paroles" et un dialogue renouvelé pour résoudre les difficultés de cette minorité "marginalisée et ignorée", au cours d'une réunion historique ou l'émotion était palpable.
"L'histoire que nous partageons, on la connaît. Une histoire marquée par la violence, la maladie, les privations. Les traités ont été violés. Les promesses rompues", a déclaré le président Obama devant les représentants des 564 tribus officiellement enregistrées aux Etats-Unis, des Cherokee de l'Oklahoma aux indiens Navajo du Nouveau-Mexique en passant par les Séminoles de Floride ou les Indiens d'Alaska.
Au cours de cette conférence tribale d'une journée au ministère de l'intérieur, la première de cette ampleur en présence d'un président en exercice, les représentants des tribus indiennes ont évoqué les multiples difficultés de leurs communautés ravagées par le chômage, l'alcoolisme, les suicides, la pauvreté et le diabète.
Les Etats-unis comptent officiellement quelque 4,5 millions d'Indiens (2 millions sans compter la mixité), soit 1,5% de la population.
Un Indien sur quatre vit dans la pauvreté. Dans certaines réserves, le taux de chômage atteint 80% et 14% des logements y sont sans électricité, selon les chiffres cités par Barack Obama lui-même.
L'alcoolisme tue 6 fois plus L'espérance de vie des indiens est de 4,6 ans plus courte (72,3 ans) que celle d'un Américain moyen tandis que l'alcoolisme tue six fois plus qu'ailleurs dans le pays. Les taux de mortalité par tuberculose ou par diabète sont respectivement de 750% et de 190% supérieurs à la moyenne nationale, selon les services de la santé indienne.
Quant aux suicides, ils touchent 18 individus sur 100.000 parmi les Indiens contre 11 en moyenne aux Etats-Unis.
"Le suicide est un sérieux problème en Alaska. Chez les jeunes hommes de 15 à 27 ans, il est 12 fois supérieur à la moyenne nationale. Donnez-nous des fonds pour combattre le suicide", a plaidé Bill Martin, président des Tlingit-Haida d'Alaska, avant de résumer: "beaucoup d'Indiens et d'indigènes de l'Alaska vivent dans un pays du tiers monde".
"Nous demandons que vous nous aidiez à assurer une meilleure éducation, une vie meilleure à nos enfants et nous vous aimons!", a lancé la présidente des Sioux Oglala, Tera Tibulz, devant un président Obama visiblement ému et presque décontenancé face à l'intensité des attentes de cette communauté à qui il a promis des jours meilleurs au cours de sa campagne.
Tenues traditionnelles Le président Obama a dévolu 3 milliards de dollars de son plan de relance à la communauté indienne pour l'aider à faire face à la crise et nommé une indienne Cherokee conseillère à la Maison Blanche pour les affaires indiennes.
Loin du folklore, pour cette réunion empreinte de gravité, peu de participants arboraient des tenues traditionnelles.
"Nous devons rétablir nos droits tribaux et changer la gestion de nos terres", a affirmé Jefferson Keel, président du Congrès national des Indiens américains, réclamant de meilleures relations avec les Etats et le gouvernement fédéral.
"C'est un événement majeur", commentait Richard Milanovich, président des Agua Caliente Band of Chuilla Indians de Californie. "Nous avons eu des réunions avant avec les présidents Clinton et Bush mais pas de cette ampleur, avec tant de dirigeants", notait ce responsable la veille de la conférence dans le journal californien Desert Sun.
Barack Obama se reúne con líderes indígenas en la Casa Blanca El Presidente estadounidense ordenó a su gabinete proponer maneras de buscar una mejor comunicación entre los aborígenes y el Gobierno.
WASHINGTON.- El Presidente estadounidense, Barack Obama, prometió hoy mejorar las relaciones con los indígenas estadounidenses y poner fin al descuido de las autoridades, durante una conferencia en la Casa Blanca a la que acudieron los líderes de 564 tribus reconocidas federalmente.
El Mandatario prometió avanzar con esos grupos y construir juntos "un futuro nuevo y mejor".
En un primer paso, Obama firmó un memorándum en el que se pide a cada miembro de su gabinete que proponga maneras de buscar una mejor comunicación entre esos grupos y el Gobierno.
Además, Obama nombró a una india cherokee como asesora en la Casa Blanca para conformar la futura política indígena del gobierno estadounidense.
"Quiero poner en orden esta relación", dijo Obama. Los indios deben ser "socios valorados" en la economía estadounidense, para que sus hijos y nietos puedan hacer realidad el sueño americano, añadió.
El Mandatario reconoció el papel de los primeros colonizadores, que trajeron enfermedades y expulsaron a los indígenas de sus tierras, y dijo que los pueblos aborígenes fueron ignorados hasta la actualidad.
"Pocos han sido más marginados e ignorados por Washington como los nativos estadounidense, nuestros primeros estadounidenses", dijo Obama.
"Es una historia marcada por la violencia, la enfermedad y las penurias. Los tratados fueron violados. Las promesas, rotas. Y se les dijo que sus tierras, su religión, sus culturas, sus lenguas no podían seguir siendo suyas", añadió el Mandatario.
"Y es una historia que tenemos que reconocer si queremos avanzar", añadió.
Obama prometió ayudar a combatir la pobreza que avanza de forma rampante entre la mayoría de las comunidades tribales que quedan en el país y que afecta a una cuarta parte de los indígenas. En el plan de estímulo fiscal aprobado en febrero estaban destinadas a las mismas unos 3.000 millones de dólares.
Además, Obama dibujó un sombrío panorama de estas comunidades: en muchas reservas el desempleo alcanza el 80 por ciento, más del 14 por ciento de sus viviendas no tienen electricidad e incluso acceso a agua potable.
En la conferencia se habló también de violación de contratos, soberanía, explotación de reservas de materias primas y cuestiones de sanidad, educación y construcción de viviendas.
El cambio de gobierno en Washington trajo esperanza de una mejor relación con el gobierno: "Estoy convencido de que el Presidente Obama nos tiende la mano", dijo Janice Rowe-Kurak, de Iowa, al diario "The New York Times".
In Mesoamerica (by most specialists described as the southern half of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and the western/northern parts of Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica) writing probably started somewhere between 1000 and 500 BC. There is much debate about "the first" & "the first true" writing, especially after the 2006 discovery of the so called Cascajal Block.
native nations. The Mayas and Aztecs are the two famous ones but most people don't realize that they don't have much in common (except that both are living in what today is Mexico). Their language is completely different (and of course also very different from Spanish) as well as their cultures. Most interseting perhaps is that the Aztecs are much "younger" as a culture than "the Mayas". When the Spaniards arrived in 1519, the Aztec empire was not even a century old while "Maya culture" on the other hand, was already +/- 2000 years old by then.
West coast copper
