Cahokia , Amazonia and the Black Death

Cahokia , Amazonia and the Black Death .
Andre Willers
12 Feb 2011

Synopsis :
Maddened refugees from the European Black Death (circa 1348-1350 CE ) took desperate flight towards known refuges across the Atlantic (Vinland) . Some unfortunately made it within 38 days (about 4 miles per day) to riverine ports on the Mississppi and Amazon . (Most perished on hostile shores or seas : risks they would never have taken if not maddened ) .
The local populations and civilizations were then destroyed .
The Black Death was nearly 100% lethal in closely tied river civilizations .

Discussion :

Cahokia :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippian_culture
A riverine agricultural society . Traders from the Great Lakes to the mouth of the Mississippi .

Chunkey
They were besotted with "Chunkey" .
A type of bowls .
But this like saying that present American Football is also a type of bowls .

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chunkey
This required large plazas of hardpacked pavement , with pavilions for the rich and famous with a good view (flat topped mounds) , and enclosures to keep the non-paying dead-beats out .
And there you have a Cahokia center . Not a city , but more a sports complex , complete with bookies , priests , etc .

About 1050 AD this really took off as discretionary income rose due to favourable climatic conditions and certain threshold population densities being passed .
The sports centers provided agglutinive cores .
Cf present roving Olympic Game sites .

The normal vicissitudes of overpopulation , environmental degradation , warfare ,etc followed . But nothing capable of stopping the civilization in its tracks . Remember , the Mississippi drained half a continent , arising from glaciers . There was always water . More steadfast than the Nile .

Then the Black Death refugees arrived , probably somewhere around St Louis .
Out of the hundreds that must have arrived , some were still biologically active .
The Black Death spread like wildfire (it's cousin , bubonic Plague , had crossed over from Asia with the first colonists and had hosts) .

The American Bottom became a death zone . By the time Columbus arrived , it was known as the Vacant Quarter . The locals shunned it , with good reason . For a long time , anybody who went in there died within 40 days .
See National Geographic Jan 2011 , p127 "Cahokia"

The death rate would have been higher than Europe , since the centers were all connected via fast and easy riverways .

They were slowly recovering when the Spaniards arrived . Smallpox , measles , whooping cough , flu etc then completed the destruction .

Ironically , smallpox , which would have given some measure of protection against the Black Death (since they both compete for receptor site CCR5) , arrived too late .
(Though this might have happened to the Natchez by chance .)

Amazonia .
These were extensive riverine agricultural civilizations on the banks of Amazonian rivers .
These have been recently discovered and described .
All vanished circa 1350 – 1400 CE (ie pre-columbian)
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marajoara_culture for the one at the mouth of the Amazon , where the infection probably started .

Why did MesoAmerica escape ?
Most likely because there was no fast river transport .
By the time transport was organized , carriers were dead . Also , the pneumonic form of Black Death was the main carrier . Fast , lethal . but not persistent .

Proofs :
Genetic:
The genetic structure of the Black Death in Europe has been sequenced .
Finding it in pre-Columbian corpses should be indicative . The same for bubonic plague in rat or other carriers in pre-Columbian carrier corpses .

Documents :
There might be written accounts mouldering away somewhere . The refugees would have been wealthy and literate . Most likely to have been found and brought back to Spain , and there promptly buried for political reasons . (The Black Death was an extremely touch subject in the 1400's and 1500's . The Vatican probably has copies .)

It is still touchy today , 500 years later .
The Spaniards would be absolved of most of the genocides , while the countries of origin of the Black Death refugees (Dutch , English , Irish , maybe some Swedish) could face class-actions claims in the World Court in the Hague .

The Natchez would stand a good chance of success , especially since they have deep enough pockets to fund such a process .

Not to mention the survivors of Amazonia , now savages in the jungle .
Rehabilitation would be a least requirement .

Substantial amounts of moral and monetary capital are involved .

Compensation for accidental or unintential death or injury is one of the bedrocks of any judicial system . The interesting point will be whether a civilization has a statute of limitations .

Chunkey , Western Style , anyone ?

Andre
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