Post on 22-Jan-2023
Syncretism, Not Animism
Evidence for Middle Eastern Roots
of Native American ReligionsDonald Panther-Yates
Sandy, UtahMarch 31, 2011
Hultkrantz’s Characteristics
• Hunting ceremonies • Agricultural ceremonies• Visions and dreams• Animal totems • Shaman or medicine man• Offerings made to spirits (animism)
Grave Creek Mound, West Virginia
The book that buried the myth: Robert Silverberg’s Mound Builders of Ancient America (1968)
Religious Artifacts and Evidence
• Human remains, burial assemblages
• Religious buildings and sites• Sacred landscapes• Religious iconography, symbols, ethnographic analogy
• Common artifact classes (idols, paraphernalia, etc.)
Language of the Goddess• Chevron and V as Bird Goddess• Zig-zag and M Sign for Nurturer
• Meander and Waterbirds• Breasts of the Bird Goddess• Streams• Eyes of the Goddess (Owl)• Open Mouth of the Goddess
Language of the Goddess - 2
• Giver of Crafts: Spinning, Weaving, Metallurgy and Music
• The Ram, Animal of the Bird Goddess
• Net Motif• Tri-Line and Power of Three• Vulva and Birth• Deer and Bear as Primeval Mothers
Language of the Goddess - 3
• Snake• Earth Mother• Power of Two• Male Gods and Daimones• Symbols of Death• Egg• Columns of Life• Regenerative Vulva: Triangle, Hourglass
• Bird’s Claws
Language of the Goddess - 4
• Ship of Renewal• Frog, Hedgehog and Fish•Bull, Bee and Butterfly• Spiral, Lunar Cycle, Snake Coil, Hook and Axe
• Opposed Spirals, Whirls, Comb, Brush
• Hands and Feet of the Goddess• Standing Stones and Circles
Trade CircleTrade Circle• Transactions in sign language• A trade director• Barter only, no money• WYSIWYG• All sales final• Very just and equitable
Anomalous Cherokee DNA Studies
• Haplogroup X• North African U, T• Iberian H• Jewish J, K• Anatolian N• Haplogroup B• Haplogroup L• Male haplogroups T and J
Continuity of Admixed Populations
• Sea Peoples, Hohokam, Hopi, Fremont
• Carthaginians• Celt-Iberians (Tartessians)• Copper Trade and Adena, Hopewell• Cherokee (Paint People)• Conoy and Saponi/Haliwah• Arabs and Berbers in Southeast• Melungeons
Overcoming the Thresholds of Evidentiary Proof
• Occam’s Razor• Popular, Not Professional• Carl Sagan’s Rule• Singularity of Site• Not Invented Here• Kensington Stone Effect (no garbage)
• No DNA Trail• Political and Racist Biases• The elephant in the room
Origin of Goddess Religion
1. Middle East and Old Europe in Upper Palaeolithic (35,000 to 10,000 years ago)…and across the Bering Straits?
2. South of Ohio Valley at beginning of Poverty Point and Adena Cultures about 1800 BCE … or Minoan Crete (fell 1600)?
3. Tartessian and Celt-Iberian influence at beginning of Adena about 1000 BCE (same time as rise of Phoenicia)