Why are there no ancient ruins in North America?

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Posted: 11/25/2012 3:24:36 PM EDT

Seems they are pretty much everywhere else in the world?

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:25:24 PM EDT

[#1]

There are plenty out west.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:26:17 PM EDT

[#2]

Quoted:

Seems they are pretty much everywhere else in the world?

Because things made out of wood tend not to last very long.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:26:33 PM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:

There are plenty out west.

You mean the cave dwellings?

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:27:05 PM EDT

[#4]

Because teepees are made with wood? Do the ruins in Old Mexico count?
Maybe the govt is hiding the truth from us.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:27:15 PM EDT

[#5]

Mexico is part of North America.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:27:23 PM EDT

[#6]

What's your definition of ancient?

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:27:24 PM EDT

[#7]

There are large mounds outside of St. Louis.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:27:41 PM EDT

[#8]

Google "Mound Builders" from the mid west and "Anasazi" in the south west.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:27:47 PM EDT

[#9]

Montezuma's Castle in Arizona?

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:27:51 PM EDT

[#10]

There are the Mayan and Aztec pyramids.

Pretty significant if you ask me.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:27:52 PM EDT

[#11]

were the new world, not the old

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:27:52 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
Mexico is part of North America.

True, but I wasn't counting them.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:28:27 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:

Quoted:

There are plenty out west.

You mean the cave dwellings?

Yep. If you want prehistoric ruins, you have to look to the people that were around then.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:29:25 PM EDT

[#14]

Like Mesa Verde?

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:29:28 PM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:

Google "Mound Builders" from the mid west and "Anasazi" in the south west.

There are LOTS of ancient ruins in North America. Read up on Cohokia.

Also recommend the book "1491. The Americas Before Columbus"

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:29:33 PM EDT

[#16]

Cliff Dwellings?

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:29:35 PM EDT

[#17]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mound_builder_(people)

There are a good number of structures, but at the same time, something very bad happened around 10k years ago in North America basically cleaning out most of the population. Central and South America didn't get hit so bad until the rest of us showed up.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:29:40 PM EDT

[#18]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/22/1100-year-old-mayan-ruins-found-in-north-georgia/

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:30:35 PM EDT

[#19]

Detroit.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:30:38 PM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:

Quoted:

There are plenty out west.

You mean the cave dwellings?

Yep. If you want prehistoric ruins, you have to look to the people that were around then.

Been to the cave's, while impressive...it's nothing compared to Rome or Egypt.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:31:18 PM EDT

[#21]

I've been to Mesa Verdi, it is a cool place to visit. I'm not sure just how old you consider "ancient".

http://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:32:31 PM EDT

[#22]

I live 10 miles from ancient Hopewell burial mounds built in 250AD.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:33:08 PM EDT

[#23]

the people that inhabited North America when the europeans came were basically stone age in thier ability. And life style. They moved with the game and the seasons. Not a life style that would favor permanent structures.

There are ruins out West. And you could count the Mounds they left around the country.

GD

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:34:44 PM EDT

[#24]

Cahokia Mounds

Check out the Cahokia Mounds, in the 1200's it was the site of a city larger than any in Europe at that time. It's just east of St Louis.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:34:57 PM EDT

[#25]

Chaco Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, Mesa Verde. They are all over the southwest US. I underdstand that there might be some megalithic structures in places as well.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:35:29 PM EDT

[#26]

Im going to guess the further north you go the less there is. Maybe this is why we see more in south america, central, and mexico. The people further north advanced later due to glaciers.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:35:48 PM EDT

[#27]

Quoted:
I live 10 miles from ancient Hopewell burial mounds built in 250AD.

Serpent Mound? I was seriously impressed when I went there a few years ago. It is less than an hour from me and I feel like I cheated myself for years by not going there sooner.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:36:38 PM EDT

[#28]

Miamisburg Mound in Ohio between Dayton & Cincinnati.....built approx 2500 years ago (Adena)...

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:36:40 PM EDT

[#29]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Mexico is part of North America.

True, but I wasn't counting them.

Why not?

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:36:44 PM EDT

[#30]

The mounds are what you seek.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:37:02 PM EDT

[#31]

... http://www.nps.gov/moca/index.htm

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:37:06 PM EDT

[#32]

Quoted:
I live 10 miles from ancient Hopewell burial mounds built in 250AD.

Impossible. Humans were miracled here in the great wormhole accident of 1050.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:37:24 PM EDT

[#33]

There aren't as many in northern North America because there were stable resources that could support increasing numbers of hunter/gatherers longer. In areas that have huge salmon runs, they may never have had to start agriculture for staple storable winter food

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:37:35 PM EDT

[#34]

Quoted:

Quoted:

There are plenty out west.

You mean the cave dwellings?

Yep. If you want prehistoric ruins, you have to look to the people that were around then.

Been to the cave's, while impressive...it's nothing compared to Rome or Egypt.

So ancient North American Indians were not architects?

Uh, welcome to 7th grade history.

Nomadic tribal cultures verses huge permanent societies.

Venture further south Central America is full of ancient structures because they were huge permanent societies and not bands of nomads.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:37:42 PM EDT

[#35]

Search for the Gods?

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:38:27 PM EDT

[#36]

Quoted:

Quoted:

There are plenty out west.

You mean the cave dwellings?

Yep. If you want prehistoric ruins, you have to look to the people that were around then.

Been to the cave's, while impressive...it's nothing compared to Rome or Egypt.

So ancient North American Indians were not architects?

Uh, welcome to 7th grade history.

Nomadic tribal cultures verses huge permanent societies.

Venture further south Central America is full of ancient structures because they were huge permanent societies and not bands of nomads.

The immense Myan cities rivaled anything in the "traditional" ancient world. HUGE!

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:39:37 PM EDT

[#37]

Quoted:
There are large mounds outside of St. Louis.

Their name is Cahokia.

There are literally thousands of mound sites in the Eastern IS

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:41:57 PM EDT

[#38]

if you mean from the US north, I don't know, but there's plenty of cool stuff to see in North America.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:42:20 PM EDT

[#39]

The Pilgrims bulldozed them.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:42:57 PM EDT

[#40]

Quoted:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mound_builder_(people)

There are a good number of structures, but at the same time, something very bad happened around 10k years ago in North America basically cleaning out most of the population. Central and South America didn't get hit so bad until the rest of us showed up.

Not so. Major depopulation did not happen until European contact. Not many people in North America 10,000 years ago. Read the recent article in American Antiquity by Ashely Smallwood for some neat ideas.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:43:08 PM EDT

[#41]

Glaciers.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:44:15 PM EDT

[#42]

What? Somebody needs to revisit 4th grade geography. There are ancient ruins all over North America. Some that I have visited are Templo Mayor, Teotihuacan, Monte Alban, Chichen Itza, San Gervasio, & Casa Grande ruins. There are also Viking settlements in Greenland and surrounding areas and some large mounds in Ohio.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:45:19 PM EDT

[#43]

Aliens!!!

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:45:49 PM EDT

[#44]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effigy_Mounds_National_Monument

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:45:56 PM EDT

[#45]

Because when the injuns got here they started crying about how the ancient ruins were built on their soon to be sacred lands and had them torn down, clearing the way for casinos, tax free cigarette stores and injun slums.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:45:58 PM EDT

[#46]

Quoted:

Quoted:

There are plenty out west.

You mean the cave dwellings?

Yep. If you want prehistoric ruins, you have to look to the people that were around then.

Been to the cave's, while impressive...it's nothing compared to Rome or Egypt.

So ancient North American Indians were not architects?

Uh, welcome to 7th grade history.

Nomadic tribal cultures verses huge permanent societies.

Venture further south Central America is full of ancient structures because they were huge permanent societies and not bands of nomads.

Not entirely accurate.

The Mississippian civilization collapsed during the little ice age, Columbus basically discovered a post-SHTF new world. They built in mud & wattle and little survived the floods, but it was a fairly large agricultural society.

Posted: 11/25/2012 3:46:51 PM EDT

[#47]

Quoted:
What? Somebody needs to revisit 4th grade geography. There are ancient ruins all over North America. Some that I have visited are Templo Mayor, Teotihuacan, Monte Alban, Chichen Itza, San Gervasio, & Casa Grande ruins. There are also Viking settlements in Greenland and surrounding areas and some large mounds in Ohio.

I thought Copan was cool as hell.