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Showing posts with label pyramids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pyramids. Show all posts

Friday, January 14, 2005

Turtle Island

Ainu totem pole collection in British Columbia

Totem pole, Alaska

The cultures of the Pacific Northwest Coast and Austronesia shared many similarities. They both used communal longhouses, built similiar war canoes and possessed complex dual clan systems.

Gavin Menzies claims these were features were brought by the Chinese admiral Zheng He, while Thor Heyerdahl invokes "Aryans" who came from the West possibly from the Canary Islands. These theories have gained much publicity but the Austronesians and indigenous Americans are rarely considered as more than passive recipients in such scenarios. This view ignores the well-accepted ancient seafaring prehistory of this region.


Haida war canoe with totem prow, similar to those of Pacific islands, http://www.sd91.bc.ca/webquests/firstnations/

The importance of the clan is evidenced by the frequent appearance of the totem in indigenous art. Much effort was put into learning long oral genealogies. In some cases on both sides of the Pacific these genealogies could take many days or even weeks to recite.

Oral records have some advantages over written ones. There are cases of oral traditions that survive written ones as with the Maya to the south. While written genealogies in the pre-modern era were limited to the elite and usually only to royalty, we have many instances of ancient oral genealogies among the common people.

To aid in the memorization of oral traditions, we find the use of devices like string records on both sides of the Pacific. The use of knot language make much sense for people who traveled extensively on the sea. The totem pole also records, at times, large amounts of information in the form of symbolic records. At times, these special symbols are known only to a small group of people such as the makers of the pole. In order to understand the meaning of the symbols, one has to consult these initiates.

The importance of clan identity was often shown through the wearing of special emblems on one's person. Especially important in our context are ear ornaments. The use of ear discs and related earlobe extension, often bearing clan ensignia, apparently was widespread.


Kalinga woman with ear disc and shell ear disc from Duyong Cave with calibrated date of 4,300 BC (Philippines)

These types of ear ornaments were also worn in Peru by the Orejones "Long-Ears." In Easter Island, people with extended ear-lobes were associated with the large stone heads carved out of volcanic rock.

The practice of making stepped pyramids has been mentioned earlier. Ancient shell mounds have been found along the Pacific coast of America including Mexico. As we have noted, shell and earthen mounds in Asia eventually became used for burial and ritual purposes probably signifying a link between the mound and the sacred mountain. The tops of these mounds were flattened as ritual platforms or to support homes. Here are a few examples of stepped pyramids in the region under consideration:


From top to bottom and left to right: Candi Sukuh, Indonesia; Borobodur, Java; Papara temple and burial place, Tahiti; Chimu temple/burial place, Peru; temple, Peru; royal tomb, Tonga.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

The Survival of Motifs

The motifs carried by the Nusantao have persisted thousands of years into modern times. In many cases, these motifs are propagated by people who have little idea of their origin or intended meaning.

Take, for example, the various representations of the divine volcano in the form of a mound-like dome topped with a pillar or similar motif. In the following image you will see from top to bottom and left to right, the Sanchi stupa in India, the U.S. Capitol dome, the Vatican, the Bagan Pagoda in Myanmar, the stupas of Borobodur and the Blue Mosque of Amman.



The number of interlinked motifs pertaining to the sacred mountain argues against independent invention, at least in all of the known cases. A random survey of some of the more commonly-found motifs at different distribution nodes shown in the table below suggests coincidence is unlikely as a blanket explanation. This is particularly true when we consider that many of the locations did not have local volcanoes. In half the examples below, the sacred mountain is not considered part of the local geography.

Distribution of Sacred Mountain Motifs
Location Motifs

Egypt !@#$%=+?>

Mesopotamia !@#$%*=+-?>

India !@#$*=+->

Java !@#$&*=+->

Philippines !@#%^&*=+-?>

China $&*+->

Hawai'i !&*=+-

Mesoamerica !@#$%^=+?>


! Opening in cosmic mountain to Underworld
@ "Twin peaks" or "double merlon" motif
# Dual mountain openings to Underworld
$ Truncated pyramid as model of sacred mountain
% Sun rising from or residing in sacred mountain
^ Sun and Moon associated with dual sacred mountains
& Sacred mountain considered local
* "Water of life" associated with sacred mountain
= Cosmic tree of flower associated with sacred mountain
+ Sacred mountain viewed as fiery or as a volcano
- Sacred mountain linked with great heavenly war
? Venus linked with fiery mountain
> Sacred mountain viewed as divided into regions or layers


A list of large Holocene (post-Ice Age) period eruptions can be found at the Smithsonian Volcanism site . Of particular interest to me is the corrected radiocarbon date for a Pinatubo eruption at 3,550 BC with a 500 year margin of error. This event registers at magnitude 6 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) making it a very powerful eruption at the same level as the 1991 eruptive episode.

The last eruption of near-by Mt. Arayat has not been dated by radiometric means. It is known to have been a Neolithic event as the volcanic strata associated with the episode contains no post-Neolithic artifacts. The boundaries of the Neolithic period for this region are not precisely known.

According to the legend, the great eruptions occured near the time when rice was first introduced into the area. The oldest regional dating for rice is about 3,000 BC, while in near-by Taiwan the dates are at 4,500 BC. Again these dates have significant margins of error. All evidence agrees though with a primarily Neolithic period expansion as suggested by Solheim with regard to the Nusantao.

That the motif-carrying Nusantao venturing over the Pacific revered their ancestors and were strongly clan-oriented might be indicated by the distribution of totem pole-making.

Totem poles carved from trees as pictographic clan records are found among Amerindians of the Pacific Northwest coast, the Ainu of northern Japan, the tribes of Borneo, the Maori of New Zealand, the Asmat of New Guinea, the Malagasy of Madagascar and among various peoples in West Africa.

Haida Totem Pole, Pacific Northwest Coast

Ifugao Totem Pole, Philippines

Maori Totem Pole

Totem Pole, Borneo

The totem pole served as a clan monument to revered ancestors especially recent ones. It was not worshipped neither was it meant as a substitute for oral genealogies.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
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