“Why does it have to have been from a gift exchange? Why couldn’t the stash have been booty?”
Because Leftist dogma is that the Indians were wonderful, egalitarian, utopian, and treated their women as equals. To call it booty would mean they attacked the Spanish and took it, or snuck in and stole it.
I was in a mesa-covered Arizona park. The Indians had built their village on top of the biggest mesa and the path to the top was anywhere from a few inches wide to a foot wide. It could have been defended by elderly people dropping stones. Every drop of water and grain of food had to be brought up this awesomely dangerous path. There, beside the mesa, was a huge bronze plaque stating; “Obviously, the Indians built their village on top of this mesa because of the specular view it affords.” Really!? How many Indians died lugging firewood, water and food up there so they could enjoy the view?
My conclusion is that Leftists who study Indians are idiots.
I can vouch for the lefty part from personal experience.
LOL!!
IIRc there is a roadside plaque in Western NC, near Dillsboro/Sylva stating DeSoto passed that way. Don't know how that was determined.
LOL! Great post. We love seeing the Indian ruins throughout Arizona - they are an archeologist’s dream.
Perhaps you meant "spectacular". Maybe the purpose of the spectacular view was so that they could see their enemies approaching. Did the sign say that the only purpose for the view was enjoyment?
Total BS from Lefty-Lib Atheist Idiots.
They obviously built up there to be closer to their gods, so they could be be sure of their sacred songs being heard during their ceremonies!
One archaeologist *dared* to suggest that maybe the collapse of Chaco and the defensive positions of Mesa Verde were due to internecine warfare (a polite way of saying Indian-Indian thuggery).
He got labasted. This would have been in the early 90s or so, I’ve been out of the field for quite a while.
“Obviously, the Indians built their village on top of this mesa because of the specular view it affords.”
Well that, and to keep from being dinner for their cannibal neighbors.
all that is changing. Check out the books of Stephen Lekson. He slays the old guys and their lefty views