Etzanoa: The Lost Kansas Megasite [11:10]

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· Intro
0:00 · [Music]
0:10 · [Music]
0:12 · etoa
0:13 · is archaeologically speaking just a
0:17 · fascinating puzzle a very large Town
0:21 · larger than the modern day town that is
0:26 · invisible it's a major concentration of
0:30 · human population in a time in a place
0:33 · where nobody expected
· Site Description
0:38 · that previously archaeologists
0:42 · classified sites according to a variety
0:44 · of sorts so you can have a temporary
0:46 · campsite a village a town a city
0:50 · megasites are is a new category uh that
0:54 · are very
0:56 · large but do not seem to have the
0:59 · characteristics of a full-fledged City
1:01 · and do not seem to be on the road to
1:04 · becoming a city and so our site is one
1:07 · of
1:09 · those Etso is one town of quite a few
1:15 · towns in what was called
1:18 · Kira and it's in the account of the
1:21 · onati Expedition we have this one set of
1:26 · observations made in
1:28 · 16001
1:30 · by the soldiers that onate brought with
1:33 · him who literally counted the houses in
1:37 · the
1:38 · community they sent out a scouting
1:40 · Expedition men on Horseback who were
1:43 · gone all
1:44 · day and who came back and said well it
1:48 · just continues on there is another town
1:52 · that starts about 5 miles up River from
1:54 · one we're working on and it goes for
1:56 · another five miles is what it looks like
1:59 · and to the east more really big
2:04 · towns so I'm estimating 200,000 people
2:09 · maybe uh be a reasonable
2:12 · estimate larger than any other political
2:16 · unit of its day in what's now the United
2:19 · States by a lot not by a little by a
2:25 · lot it is on both sides of the wall
2:30 · river which flows out of the Flint Hills
2:34 · and originally had Crystal Clear
2:36 · permanent water and uh good hardwood
2:41 · forest in the
2:43 · bottomlands and a whole series of
2:46 · Springs that issue from the bluff on
2:51 · which we're we're currently digging it's
2:53 · the right sort of
2:56 · place so the Mayan cities are all on top
3:02 · of or near a cave or
3:05 · cenot that gives access to the
3:09 · underworld our Bluff has a whole series
3:12 · of
3:13 · those including one that showed up in
3:17 · the magnetometry readings you can see
3:21 · there's a very long Channel Down Below
3:24 · where we are That Feeds out somewhere on
3:28 · the Edge at the base of the
3:31 · bluff so water from the underworld is
3:35 · what powers the Earth and we have it in
· Rock Art
3:40 · Spades there is rock art and some of
3:43 · it's quite unusual and some of it's form
3:46 · that's widespread so the widespread form
3:49 · is cupules on some large
3:52 · Boulders that
3:54 · probably interpolating from other places
3:57 · where we know people did that uh for
3:59 · fertility magic for women to guarantee
4:04 · getting pregnant adjacent to that
4:06 · there's some rock art that is like none
4:10 · other that I've ever seen But I think we
4:13 · have an idea of how to interpret it and
4:16 · it has to do with movement of
4:20 · water out of and back into the
4:23 · underworld and so there are little
4:25 · miniature depictions of caves that feed
4:29 · into squares cut into the Rock and very
4:32 · often a square is a depiction of this
4:34 · world and then with a channel that leads
4:37 · to in one really nice case to a big hole
4:41 · in the rock where it disappears back
4:42 · into the
4:44 · underworld so this idea
4:47 · of a cave that has water coming out of
4:50 · it is especially sacred place it gives
4:53 · you uh contact with the spirits of the
4:57 · underworld so if it is a depiction of
5:02 · this
5:03 · cosmological
5:05 · Motif that
5:07 · is it's well known in meso
5:10 · America it existed up here too and this
5:14 · is clear evidence of
· History
5:18 · it Spanish on their way here since 1601
5:23 · encountered a group of people that they
5:25 · ended up calling esan Shak and over the
5:29 · course of events they managed to insult
5:31 · them pretty
5:33 · dramatically and when the Spaniards
5:35 · decided to turn back and start heading
5:37 · to New Mexico they got back to the first
5:41 · part of the Town they' come to and the
5:43 · esan shaks were lying in wait for them
5:46 · and there was an afternoon long battle
5:50 · and the Spaniards had cannons and the
5:52 · natives said bows and arrows it was a
5:54 · pretty uneven battle so it was a a first
5:58 · major or organized battle in what is now
6:02 · the United States and so it's of high
6:05 · interest we are trying to figure out
6:09 · well how big was the battlefield we
6:10 · don't know that we discovered some iron
6:13 · shot that tells us yes we know where the
6:15 · battle took place we have yet to see any
6:18 · of the arrow points that were shot by
6:21 · the natives going the other way and I
6:24 · really want to see those they will tell
6:26 · us a
6:28 · lot the site is huge we are digging you
6:32 · know we've been there for several years
6:34 · we're not up to 1% of the site area and
6:38 · we're not anywhere near that I doubt
6:40 · we're 1/10th of 1% of the site area so
6:44 · there's going to be lots of different
6:46 · things to
6:47 · find and we just did not expect to hit
6:51 · what we did right we our initial
6:55 · information was a trash Mound which was
7:00 · I thought was great we can get a really
7:03 · nice sample of material
7:05 · culture well we're getting a bit of
7:08 · material culture but not very much and
7:11 · then when I thought it was just an
7:13 · activity
7:14 · area we ended up with this mystery of
7:17 · two layers of subsoil up on top of an
7:20 · activity area which made no
7:23 · sense and it's this when once I finally
7:26 · realized as we were digging that
7:30 · we're in a ceremonial
7:34 · area that's what's going
7:37 · on and so the thermal imaging that gave
7:41 · us that big circle that's not too far
7:43 · away right and this big vertical
7:48 · post uh all of that goes together nicely
7:51 · and what the magnetometry found down the
7:55 · hill again this would be to the South
7:57 · was a cluster of deeply buried roasting
8:01 · pits of some sort so probably a food
8:05 · preparation area there for it so
8:08 · it's picture is emerging it's not not
8:11 · what we expected at
8:13 · all we have potery that was probably
8:16 · made in eastern
8:18 · Colorado we have a piece of pottery made
8:21 · in North
8:23 · Dakota stuff from the Gulf
8:26 · Coast and what was coming out of the
8:28 · ground this summer was repeatedly C
8:32 · pottery from East
8:34 · Texas so the pottery is fancy it's not
8:37 · the usual run-of-the-mill plain
8:41 · Pottery so uh we're getting quite a
8:45 · quite a sample of people they were in
8:48 · contact
8:49 · [Music]
8:51 · with we have found lots of special tools
8:54 · that's one of the obvious things when
8:57 · you look at the remains that come out of
8:59 · the
9:00 · ground I did an estimate based on a
9:03 · large sample 83% of the chipstone tools
9:07 · are for processing bison for killing
9:10 · them and butchering them and preparing
9:13 · jerky and so
9:15 · on that's
9:18 · extraordinary I think that's why the
9:19 · sites were so big was that they were
9:21 · hunting whole herds of Bison with
9:24 · several thousand Hunters at a time going
9:28 · out and Slaughter ing the whole
9:31 · herd massive amounts of Bison hunting
9:36 · and
9:37 · processing and then they had lots of
9:40 · friends come and visit them qua was at
9:44 · the center of the supply of Bison
9:48 · products there are bison rawh Hy Shields
9:52 · all the way to the West Coast of Mexico
9:55 · they're in the Colorado River in
9:58 · Arizona there at the fall line in South
10:01 · Carolina a whole room full of rawh hide
10:04 · Shields and helmets and leather
10:08 · armor Juan
10:10 · Cabrio sailed up the and found two cow
10:14 · horns on an island off the coast of
10:19 · California bison it has to be there
10:22 · weren't any cattle around so literally
10:25 · Coast to
10:28 · Coast
10:33 · it's a big
10:35 · complicated
10:37 · story and there's there's so much to be
10:42 · done it completely unravels most
10:46 · people's understanding of what Native
10:49 · societies were
10:52 · like many more
10:54 · people stable
10:57 · population sophistic ated
11:01 · people people like
11:03 · [Music]
11:09 · us

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--> YouTube-Generated Transcript <--
	·	Intro
0:00	·	[Music]
0:10	·	[Music]
0:12	·	etoa
0:13	·	is archaeologically speaking just a
0:17	·	fascinating puzzle a very large Town
0:21	·	larger than the modern day town that is
0:26	·	invisible it's a major concentration of
0:30	·	human population in a time in a place
0:33	·	where nobody expected
	·	Site Description
0:38	·	that previously archaeologists
0:42	·	classified sites according to a variety
0:44	·	of sorts so you can have a temporary
0:46	·	campsite a village a town a city
0:50	·	megasites are is a new category uh that
0:54	·	are very
0:56	·	large but do not seem to have the
0:59	·	characteristics of a full-fledged City
1:01	·	and do not seem to be on the road to
1:04	·	becoming a city and so our site is one
1:07	·	of
1:09	·	those Etso is one town of quite a few
1:15	·	towns in what was called
1:18	·	Kira and it's in the account of the
1:21	·	onati Expedition we have this one set of
1:26	·	observations made in
1:28	·	16001
1:30	·	by the soldiers that onate brought with
1:33	·	him who literally counted the houses in
1:37	·	the
1:38	·	community they sent out a scouting
1:40	·	Expedition men on Horseback who were
1:43	·	gone all
1:44	·	day and who came back and said well it
1:48	·	just continues on there is another town
1:52	·	that starts about 5 miles up River from
1:54	·	one we're working on and it goes for
1:56	·	another five miles is what it looks like
1:59	·	and to the east more really big
2:04	·	towns so I'm estimating 200,000 people
2:09	·	maybe uh be a reasonable
2:12	·	estimate larger than any other political
2:16	·	unit of its day in what's now the United
2:19	·	States by a lot not by a little by a
2:25	·	lot it is on both sides of the wall
2:30	·	river which flows out of the Flint Hills
2:34	·	and originally had Crystal Clear
2:36	·	permanent water and uh good hardwood
2:41	·	forest in the
2:43	·	bottomlands and a whole series of
2:46	·	Springs that issue from the bluff on
2:51	·	which we're we're currently digging it's
2:53	·	the right sort of
2:56	·	place so the Mayan cities are all on top
3:02	·	of or near a cave or
3:05	·	cenot that gives access to the
3:09	·	underworld our Bluff has a whole series
3:12	·	of
3:13	·	those including one that showed up in
3:17	·	the magnetometry readings you can see
3:21	·	there's a very long Channel Down Below
3:24	·	where we are That Feeds out somewhere on
3:28	·	the Edge at the base of the
3:31	·	bluff so water from the underworld is
3:35	·	what powers the Earth and we have it in
	·	Rock Art
3:40	·	Spades there is rock art and some of
3:43	·	it's quite unusual and some of it's form
3:46	·	that's widespread so the widespread form
3:49	·	is cupules on some large
3:52	·	Boulders that
3:54	·	probably interpolating from other places
3:57	·	where we know people did that uh for
3:59	·	fertility magic for women to guarantee
4:04	·	getting pregnant adjacent to that
4:06	·	there's some rock art that is like none
4:10	·	other that I've ever seen But I think we
4:13	·	have an idea of how to interpret it and
4:16	·	it has to do with movement of
4:20	·	water out of and back into the
4:23	·	underworld and so there are little
4:25	·	miniature depictions of caves that feed
4:29	·	into squares cut into the Rock and very
4:32	·	often a square is a depiction of this
4:34	·	world and then with a channel that leads
4:37	·	to in one really nice case to a big hole
4:41	·	in the rock where it disappears back
4:42	·	into the
4:44	·	underworld so this idea
4:47	·	of a cave that has water coming out of
4:50	·	it is especially sacred place it gives
4:53	·	you uh contact with the spirits of the
4:57	·	underworld so if it is a depiction of
5:02	·	this
5:03	·	cosmological
5:05	·	Motif that
5:07	·	is it's well known in meso
5:10	·	America it existed up here too and this
5:14	·	is clear evidence of
	·	History
5:18	·	it Spanish on their way here since 1601
5:23	·	encountered a group of people that they
5:25	·	ended up calling esan Shak and over the
5:29	·	course of events they managed to insult
5:31	·	them pretty
5:33	·	dramatically and when the Spaniards
5:35	·	decided to turn back and start heading
5:37	·	to New Mexico they got back to the first
5:41	·	part of the Town they' come to and the
5:43	·	esan shaks were lying in wait for them
5:46	·	and there was an afternoon long battle
5:50	·	and the Spaniards had cannons and the
5:52	·	natives said bows and arrows it was a
5:54	·	pretty uneven battle so it was a a first
5:58	·	major or organized battle in what is now
6:02	·	the United States and so it's of high
6:05	·	interest we are trying to figure out
6:09	·	well how big was the battlefield we
6:10	·	don't know that we discovered some iron
6:13	·	shot that tells us yes we know where the
6:15	·	battle took place we have yet to see any
6:18	·	of the arrow points that were shot by
6:21	·	the natives going the other way and I
6:24	·	really want to see those they will tell
6:26	·	us a
6:28	·	lot the site is huge we are digging you
6:32	·	know we've been there for several years
6:34	·	we're not up to 1% of the site area and
6:38	·	we're not anywhere near that I doubt
6:40	·	we're 1/10th of 1% of the site area so
6:44	·	there's going to be lots of different
6:46	·	things to
6:47	·	find and we just did not expect to hit
6:51	·	what we did right we our initial
6:55	·	information was a trash Mound which was
7:00	·	I thought was great we can get a really
7:03	·	nice sample of material
7:05	·	culture well we're getting a bit of
7:08	·	material culture but not very much and
7:11	·	then when I thought it was just an
7:13	·	activity
7:14	·	area we ended up with this mystery of
7:17	·	two layers of subsoil up on top of an
7:20	·	activity area which made no
7:23	·	sense and it's this when once I finally
7:26	·	realized as we were digging that
7:30	·	we're in a ceremonial
7:34	·	area that's what's going
7:37	·	on and so the thermal imaging that gave
7:41	·	us that big circle that's not too far
7:43	·	away right and this big vertical
7:48	·	post uh all of that goes together nicely
7:51	·	and what the magnetometry found down the
7:55	·	hill again this would be to the South
7:57	·	was a cluster of deeply buried roasting
8:01	·	pits of some sort so probably a food
8:05	·	preparation area there for it so
8:08	·	it's picture is emerging it's not not
8:11	·	what we expected at
8:13	·	all we have potery that was probably
8:16	·	made in eastern
8:18	·	Colorado we have a piece of pottery made
8:21	·	in North
8:23	·	Dakota stuff from the Gulf
8:26	·	Coast and what was coming out of the
8:28	·	ground this summer was repeatedly C
8:32	·	pottery from East
8:34	·	Texas so the pottery is fancy it's not
8:37	·	the usual run-of-the-mill plain
8:41	·	Pottery so uh we're getting quite a
8:45	·	quite a sample of people they were in
8:48	·	contact
8:49	·	[Music]
8:51	·	with we have found lots of special tools
8:54	·	that's one of the obvious things when
8:57	·	you look at the remains that come out of
8:59	·	the
9:00	·	ground I did an estimate based on a
9:03	·	large sample 83% of the chipstone tools
9:07	·	are for processing bison for killing
9:10	·	them and butchering them and preparing
9:13	·	jerky and so
9:15	·	on that's
9:18	·	extraordinary I think that's why the
9:19	·	sites were so big was that they were
9:21	·	hunting whole herds of Bison with
9:24	·	several thousand Hunters at a time going
9:28	·	out and Slaughter ing the whole
9:31	·	herd massive amounts of Bison hunting
9:36	·	and
9:37	·	processing and then they had lots of
9:40	·	friends come and visit them qua was at
9:44	·	the center of the supply of Bison
9:48	·	products there are bison rawh Hy Shields
9:52	·	all the way to the West Coast of Mexico
9:55	·	they're in the Colorado River in
9:58	·	Arizona there at the fall line in South
10:01	·	Carolina a whole room full of rawh hide
10:04	·	Shields and helmets and leather
10:08	·	armor Juan
10:10	·	Cabrio sailed up the and found two cow
10:14	·	horns on an island off the coast of
10:19	·	California bison it has to be there
10:22	·	weren't any cattle around so literally
10:25	·	Coast to
10:28	·	Coast
10:33	·	it's a big
10:35	·	complicated
10:37	·	story and there's there's so much to be
10:42	·	done it completely unravels most
10:46	·	people's understanding of what Native
10:49	·	societies were
10:52	·	like many more
10:54	·	people stable
10:57	·	population sophistic ated
11:01	·	people people like
11:03	·	[Music]
11:09	·	us