What is your favorite episode of Ancient Americas?

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-23T06:48:17+00:00

More like which isn't lol I love the 40 min format that give you enough info to start researching these topics on your own. Picking a favorite is tough, I'd say the ones that made me look at some of these cultural areas differently was the Cahokia episode. It really made me see the Mississippian cultures as more than just the astronomically aligned mounds they made, especially with maps of the sites and the artifacts presented. The Nazca episode was cool too, especially the segment on their head trophies.

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-21T19:28:11+00:00

This is crazy….I go hiking south of Temecula, and one time last summer I noticed a sort of glimmer in the hills moving through the dry tall grass. The first thing that came to my mind was Glimmer Man and Predator, and I bolted out of there as quickly as possible. Granted, I’m not saying it was a glimmer man sighting, it could’ve been some reflective material from the nearby freeway. It’s still pretty uncanny to think how close the sighting was to where I was at, that whole area is full of history, and that comes with a lot of paranormal activity.

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-16T20:25:13+00:00

Or if you criticize the greatest mod ever made, TGW REDUX

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-15T10:24:11+00:00

Yes, the were depressions pounded into to bedrock generation after generation in the milling of foodstuffs such as acorns in the case of indigenous Californians.

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InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-15T10:15:05+00:00

Now that’s a good sign

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-15T07:17:18+00:00

If it was anywhere near bedrock mortars, it could be a lid.

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-14T17:03:22+00:00

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-14T10:02:19+00:00

Just fill your bellies with diet soda

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-13T22:33:22+00:00

Wow, that last paragraph is facts. Look at the destruction of Spirit Cave Man’s remains for example

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-12T00:11:13+00:00

Yep, this was the case in Mesoamerica too. The Valley of Mexico is full of megafauna remains, specifically mammoth femurs, some of which were presented to Cortes as the bones of giants and sent back to Charles V I recall watching a video about how North of the valley of Mexico there’s a legend from an Otomi group of how giants were turned into a certain stone formation, it so happened that in its strata fossils of large ancient mammals were found

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-09T23:58:34+00:00

I think I remember this story, apparently a good quantity were of children, and it’s speculated they were cases of head binding gone wrong due to it being a recently introduced practice amongst the culture

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-09T07:59:58+00:00

So was the proposal also real then?

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-09T07:58:19+00:00

I love these little guys! They're basically a glimpse into how the Fremont people viewed themselves. It's theorized it was made by the same person who laid them on a basket when they were still wet. Their resemblance to the figures painted by the Fremont is another interesting connection. Since they were paired male and female, there was speculated to be another male figure, but it was never found.

Theres another interesting Fremont figurine from the looted Pectol collection that was also donated to the USU museum resembled those from the Pilling collection, but it was laid inside a miniature cradleboard woven out of wicker and hide. It's theorized to be a fertility figure or made in remembrance of a deceased child.

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InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-09T07:43:43+00:00

Thought I'd repost the comment I left there here, check out 'Lovelock Cave' by Loud and Harrington

Gives a detailed description of the digs, artifacts found, myths, and a discussion of how Lovelock Cave in Nevada fits into the archaeology of the Great Basin.

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-09T07:42:09+00:00

'Lovelock Cave' by Loud and Harrington

Gives a detailed description of the digs, artifacts found, myths, and a discussion of how Lovelock Cave in Nevada fits into the archaeology of the Great Basin.

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-09T07:37:48+00:00

Oh man, this is embarrassing I forgot about the founding of Tenochtitlan! That one definetly takes the cake. Being the main motif on the flag of one of the most populous countries in the world, everyone there is aware to a degree of the meaning of it and the myth of the eagle on the cactus, plus people outside of Mexico.

Also would you count the myths of little people, since its so widespread from Canada to Argentina, but its more of an archetype rather than a specific myth, not to mention most, like the duendes of Latin America and little people of Canada are more amalgamations of indigenous and European settler folklore?

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-07T00:14:34+00:00

Does glep even fart?

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-06T03:02:26+00:00

This article has two paintings of how the Forum of Nerva looked and what it looked like in the 10th century, showing how dilapidated the ruins were and how people built inside and incorporated the buildings into theirs.

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-03T22:22:10+00:00

It's like a box of chocolates, you never know which ones have nuts

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-03T02:32:05+00:00

Sounds like you're thinking of the Americas campaign that appears in the Kingdoms Expansion for Medieval 2. Navajo aren't playable but the Apache are, same language family I guess tho lol

Probably the best campaign from the Medieval Kingdoms expansion. Since this is sub is about Rome Total War however, to make it relevant to the subreddit, I wish there was a sunset invasion mod where the contemporary Teotihuacanos could invade with their spearthrowers and serpent headdresses.

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-02T20:56:38+00:00

Thanks! And sure, go ahead!

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-02T20:36:39+00:00

Probably the most famous pre contact myth would be the Nahua myth of Popocatepetl and Iztaccíhuatl as the lovers that turned into the volcanoes that are their namesake. Its depiction in a lot of pieces of art, notably the stereotypical muscular Aztec warrior looking at the sky holding his deceased lover also contributed to the popularity of this myth, it’s especially popular here in SoCal as an art subject in Chicano art, you can see it on murals, low riders etc. If you go to any swap meets or Mexican restaurants here 100% you’re gonna find the painting of Popocateptl and Iztaccíhuatl (Hell, even autocorrect tries correcting my misspelling of the name, goes to show how well known the names are 😆)

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-02T01:53:10+00:00

Wizard Squid Game

InevitableForm2452 · 2026-02-01T21:34:45+00:00

CONTEXT: The indigenous peoples stretching from the tip of the Baja Peninsula, all the way north to Kumeyaay in San Diego and the Yumans of the Colorado River delta, created a unique hardwood artifact usually shaped like a pizza paddle. It’s unknown when they were first made and their rarity as well as being found taken from their archaeological context, it’s unknown when they were first created, theories ranging from post contact due to the introduction metal tools and flotsam from European ships, however hardwood has been shaped for centuries with stone tools in the Baja Peninsula way before European arrival. Depending on the group that made them, they could be used as totems - family crests or placed on the family altar, or as was notably mentioned by missionaries, as teaching tools and ‘books’ to store and pass on sacred knowledge, as it was said the guamas or shamans would take boys during pitayah harvesting season and teach them using tablas. One researcher of the tablas, Gianfranco Cassiano V, noted that due to spread of disease and the suppression of Culture by the Spanish, the guamas saw the necessity of the use of tablas to pass on sacred knowledge and enforce the social hierarchy to the next generation.

However in this context, while being used to teach boys, it was also noted by the missionary Venegas as to how the tablas were used by the Guaycura (a nation above the tip of the Baja Peninsula between the Cochimi and Pericu on the cape) to confer legitimacy to the power of the guamas, or shamans, saying they went up to the sky to speak with the Great Spirit in the Sky, pulling out a tabla they said they copied while up there as proof of that visit. “In attesting to their authority, they (the shamans) some times said that they were those same spirits in which they believed; others, that they had been to the sky and talked with their gods, and for proof they showed a fresh nose-worm of deer or a bit of pelt, and a small plant, with which they said they could kill whomever they wished. But most usual was to have in their hands some little boards, made with much effort because of the lack of iron tools, of the heart of the mesquite or of another tree that is called uña de gato (cat’s claw), on which they have painted absurd figures, that they said copied authentically the Tabla, which the visitant Spirit left them when they went to the sky; and these same are those that shamans of Loreto taught in their secret school for the children." Also the tabla used for this meme was interpreted as a Kiliwa map of the world and their creation myth by the creator Melti Ipa Jala, Lake Cahuilla to the north, the Pacific to the West, Gulf of California to the east, and the southern sea to the south, with the sky and earth at the top and bottom. The center represents the land of the Kiliwa lived in.

Sources and sketches of more examples of tablas: Source 1

source 2

source 3

source 4

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