Ancient Civilizations of North America

By: Edwin Barnhart, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Edwin Barnhart

Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

For the past few hundred years, most of what we’ve been taught about the native cultures of North America came from reports authored by the conquerors and colonizers who destroyed them. Now - with the technological advances of modern archaeology and a new perspective on world history - we are finally able to piece together their compelling true stories. In Ancient Civilizations of North America, Professor Edwin Barnhart, Director of the Maya Exploration Center, will open your eyes to a fascinating world you never knew existed - even though you’ve been living right next to it, or even on top of it, for as long as you’ve been on the continent.

The peoples of ancient North America were exceptionally knowledgeable about their environment, but their intellectual and artistic curiosity went much beyond the immediate need for food and safety. Beginning thousands of years ago, and without benefit of written language, native peoples became mathematicians, construction and soil engineers, astronomers, urban planners, and more. They developed thriving cities, extensive trade routes, canals to bring water to the desert, and earthworks we still marvel over today.

In 24 exciting lectures, you’ll learn about the vibrant cities of Poverty Point, the first city in North America, built about 3,500 years ago, and Cahokia, the largest city of ancient North America. You’ll explore the many ways in which the Chacoan environment provided cultural and religious focus for peoples of the southwest. And you’ll learn about the Iroquoian source of some of our most basic “American” values.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2018 The Great Courses (P)2018 The Teaching Company, LLC

A different perspective - civilizations not tribes

The perspective of thinking of the civilizations and nations rather “tribes” of North America is what prompted me to listen to this course. I have been to many of the locations mentioned in the course, particularly in the Southwest, and had managed a small contract archelogy/environmental company for a bit. So, considered myself somewhat conversant. vis a vie educated, in native or first people cultures. I now realize I missed so much on my brief project reviews and visits to some wonderful National Monuments and other historic sites.

This course has provided me with a bit of education and a very different perspective. Barnhart presents history from the arrival of the first peoples across the Bering land bridge to first European contact. The course proceeds through cultural history in a logical manner of regions of North America. Where I saw ruins and interesting mounds, I now see the rise and fall of civilizations just like those of western and eastern world history. He presented broad interconnected picture of pre-contact life in North America.

I see first contact as another period of change and upheaval no more brutal than Alexander’s conquest of Persia, the Saxon conquest of England and so many other conquests from China to Egypt. I’m sure some reading this may disagree; that just fine with me. Perhaps, as I enter my eighth decade of my cycle of life, I see a different perspective. The culture and nation we live in will end at some time just as it did for those who were here long before us. My lens is not so much one of good and bad as it is a lens of that is how things are. This course reinforced that worldview.

The course also made places I have visited like Chaco Canyon come alive. The mystery of roads, equivalent to Roman roads, that lead to nowhere we can understand is fascinating. The accurate astronomical alignments throughout the Chaco region are impressive. particularly since the Chaco nation had no writing language we know of to record decades or even centuries of observations. I want to revisit Chaco Canyon, the Aztec Ruins, and other places.

In summary, the course was interesting, informative, transformative and well worth time to listen to. Barnhart states that was part of his goal in designing the course. Well done, sir.

The perfect mix of info and interest

I started with Dr. Barnhart's Mesoamerican course, then down to South America, and now up to North America. Whichever order you take it, I recommend all of them. He presents everything will well-backed facts, but with an open mind and a willingness (and excitement even) to admit we don't know. While I enjoyed the more extreme narrative of Graham Hancock's America Before, I believe Dr. Barnhart strikes a better balance between that and textbook "facts" thought to be unchanging. I'm sure the two could have fantastic conversations.
I also appreciate the evolution in Dr. Barnhart's presentation and language usage, especially here striving to be inclusive and respectful (doing his best to say the more neutral BCE instead of BC which he was educated in for example). - Addition: I see a few reviews complaining that "they can't understand the time-frame because of his PC language). If you honestly didn't know, BC (Before Christ) and BCE (Before Common Era) are the SAME GREGORIAN YEAR, just removing the overt Christian overtones. If you can't place what he means when Dr. Barnhart states something dates to around 2500 BCE then you can't place 2500 BC either.

A fascinating tour of pre-European North America

Many of us grow up with the impression that there were no significant Native American civilizations north of Mexico prior to European colonization. That's not correct. Much of what we usually think we know about North America prior to European contact is in fact a result of European contact. Europeans brought Eurasian diseases even when they weren't violent and destructive on their own--as they so often were. Die-offs due to diseases the inhabitants had no prior exposure to and hence no resistance to, destructively violent raids and burning of cities and towns, changes created due to the horses and the pigs Europeans brought--all caused major changes, and in multiple ways wiped out much of what was here before, usually with few good records.

Barnhart is a very good lecturer, lively, interesting, informative. He has a self-deprecating humor about areas where he disagrees with his colleagues, and is respectful when talking about others' ideas that he is not wholly convinced of. This is an absolutely engrossing tour of pre-European North America, from what we've been able to learn of the earliest arrivals, to the nations and ways of life that existed when Europeans reached the various parts of North America. Farmers, astronomers, urban planners, engineers, all created great works only some of which survive even as ruins today.

I'd have loved to see more in-depth discussion of the bio-engineering of maize (corn) out of far less useful plants, or of the Iroquois Confederation, its formation, growth, and influence on the design of the US Constitution, but this is not that book. This is a tour, a survey, an introduction, and it's a fascinating one. The points on which you want to go chase down more information may be different from mine, but you will have them.

Highly recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

I liked it

Very informative. I will recommend to my friends and family. I enjoyed the whole thing.

Incredibly interesting introduction to the Subject

This course had the unique qualities of being very interesting, enjoyable and educational. I found it very difficult to put down as Barnhart segued from one period and part of North America to another, tying them together as he went.

The style is conversational rather than didactic, avoiding the catalogues of dates, names and places, yet describing the origins, influences, and behaviors of each group of people as they occupied each time and place.

The big takeaway for me was his description of the intertwined roles of archaeology, ethnography and archaeoastronomy in determining the characteristics of daily life and culture of peoples living in North America from 13000BCE onward to the contact with Europeans in 1700CE.

I’ve had no real education in Archaeology and always thought it was a fairly dull study of bones and pottery shards, occasionally enlivened by a King Tut Curse or treasure hunting story. This course brought the field to life and had the additional virtue of illuminating the rich history of These First Peoples of America.

The complex, sophisticated, cultures existing thousands of years ago are a vitally important and tragically underappreciated part of our history. The reasons why they lived, worshipped, and created the way they did has much to teach us even in our “non-primitive” hi-tech world and should not be ignored.

This is a long course filled with a lot of data but it is presented in a way that can be understood and appreciated by a layman. It is well worth the time. Barnhart’s conversational style makes it a pleasant
journey.

interesting and well made!

I didn't grow up learning any of these subjects, and wanted to find some reliable sources to learn some basics. This provided that and more.
Excited to look into the other lectures by this author.

Not bad, but there is no evidence of Clovis in Alaska

Not bad, but there is no evidence of Clovis culture in Alaska. Otherwise, pretty good.

Respect Starts with Education

What I appreciated about this series was that it provided some context about what pre-contact North America was like. The lecturer did a good job of presenting the challenge and promise of maintaining these almost forgotten people. By raising awareness of the past inhabitants of North America we can better appreciate our place in history.

Amazing and immersive account of ancient history

This ' book' is simply amazing. If you are curious about ancient civilizations before European contact, start here. The lectures are very interesting, captivating and articulate.

Professor Barnhart's enthousiasm makes is even better. He's is not the fastest speaker, so I recommend to listen at 1.3 speed at least.

The only thing I did't care for where the loud musical intermissions between lectures.

Wonderful

I loved Dr. Barnhart’s style and his enthusiasm for the topic. He never tried to convince the listener of any information which wasnt substantiated with historical documents or well-studied and peer-reviewed findings. It’s such a relief to listen to educated people share actual information in 2021. I’d recommend this as a thorough starting point for anyone -as I was- wanting to learn more about the people and cultures who lived in north America before European contact. It was a great listen, and Im excited to go through the whole lecture again with more intentional listen and notetaking. It was likely my mindset, but I wasnt prepared for the southwest lectures. I wasnt familiar with any of the cities, cultures or peoples from that part of North America, so I was a little overwhelmed. Im going to have a timeline drawn and ready to fill in as I listen this second time. I cant wait to dig into more. A huge thank you to Dr. Barnhart. He was a great teacher and a fantastic speaker.