Genius of the First Peoples with Wayne Arthurson

This item is written by a journalist whose father is Cree.  As an aside, I suspect that the Cree did best of all native peoples in the Americas in terms of generally surviving the impact of the European World.  This was simply because they were the instrumentality of the fur trade.  They survived and comparably prospered against even their own precontact history.

The book itself does not pretend to be scholarly but is worthwhile and particularly in terms of the discussion of the Great Law of Peace whose seminal influence has been grossly underestimated.  It entered the debate on governance that informed the enlightenment and in the end was tried out with the US constitution.  It is also clear that the Founding Fathers made few bones about the intellectual debt.  Recall no other convincing example even existed except in ancient accounts and those were simply scant in terms of written material.  Whereas the Great Law of Peace was there to be read and discussed in the here and now.

He also recognizes the curious case of the creation of maize.  I have written on this in the past and the most viable explanation is to presume that it was created in a scientific lab 9000 years ago as part of the founding tool kit for the colony.  Since that is not an idle proposition, we will leave it at that.

Otherwise we are asked to believe that a primitive culture did genetic engineering.  However, I have also noted that it is plausible that the use of a specific herb can be used to induce polyploidy which doubles the chromosome count and that the other candidates for simultaneous domestication around 9,000 thousand years ago can be explained this way.  The coincidence is a bit harder.

In short it may not have been a native invention at all.

What is also telling is that the Indian culture and system of governance provided a powerful example to the American Women and also sped the advent of female suffrage.

In the Shadow of Our Ancestors

The Inventions and Genius of the First Peoples

by Wayne Arthurson

Searching through the annals of North American history uncovers the diverse and astounding contributions by the Natives of the Americas who formed the world we know today. In the Shadow of Our Ancestors explores the rich history of the indigenous peoples of North America and leaves us in awe of their stunning achievements and inventions:

The Great Law of Peace -- The ideals, words and symbols of the Iroquois Confederacy inspired the governments of the New World to form democracies that recognized, in their constitutions, the rights of all people

Cure for Scurvy -- When Jacques Cartier and his men were trapped by the winter ice dying of scurvy in what is now Canada, Chief Donnacona and his people helped to cure them by giving them a tea made from the needles of the white cedar tree, which have a high concentration of vitamin C

Potatoes -- The lowly potato, a staple food of Natives for almost 15,000 years, was unknown outside the Americas until Europeans arrived; now, with almost 4000 varieties, it is the fourth most-consumed agricultural product in the world

Sacagawea -- The settlement of western North America was inspired and influenced by the results of the Lewis and Clark expedition in the early 1800s, with the journey's success made possible because of a Native woman named Sacagawea, whose presence paved the way for the explorers to be seen as a peaceful party

Kayaks -- It may be that the Inuit of the Arctic were the first to circumnavigate the globe in these simple craft. Kayaks have been in use for at least 4000 years as a form of transportation and for hunting, and the technology spread throughout northern waters and was adopted by the Scots and the Irish

Code Talkers -- During World War II, more than 400 Navajo soldiers, recruited by the United States Marine Corps, transmitted secret tactical messages over military telephone or radio communications using codes built upon their Native languages.