That would be a more effective way of fertilizing fields by making fish live in the rice paddies
The Good Berry: A Wild Rice Domestication TL
- Thread starter PeterEzgo
- Start date
Chapter 22: The Mound Builders
Chapter 22: The Mound Builders
Pyramidal architecture has independently arisen in civilizations all over the world. Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, Rome, Meso-Minisia, and many other civilizations all built some type of large mound, ziggurat, or pyramid.
Why did so many different people from all over the world hit upon the idea to build pyramid shaped buildings? Cranks and conspiracy theorists will tell you that aliens built them or some other bit of nonsense. In reality, a pyramidal shape is simply the most efficient way to build something big and tall with the least amount of effort and expertise required. And people build big and tall things because big and tall things are impressive to look at. No aliens required.
Furthermore, it should be remembered that all of things we classify as pyramids are actually many different types of buildings. They were the outgrowth of different intellectual and architectural traditions. They used different construction techniques and architectural styles. They all converged on a rectangular base and triangular sides due to the simplicity and efficiency of construction. Not necessarily because they considered it more beautiful or meaningful.
The Anishinaabe word for the mounds, pyramids, and ziggurats of the Mishigami is wajiw, which literally means “mountain”. To differentiate them from natural mountains, they are sometimes referred to as minwaabikizi wajiw, which means something like “a good mineral or stone mountain” or more poetically “a mountain as good as gold”.
The building of wajiw is a very old tradition in the Mishigami. From the very first large scale communities and even before, people piled up earth to create large earthen mounds. During the pre-classical and classical periods, there were tens of thousands of wajiw built all over the Mishigami and Ziibiing. Large cities had dozens or even hundreds of them. Milliokee and Miyamee each had over 300 wajiw built in and around their citadels, though not all of them were occupied simultaneously.
Early archeologists assumed that wajiw were first built as a way to get rid of the excess dirt from building irrigation canals. Today we know this is false. Wajiw creation predates irrigation ditches by centuries. There are sites that never had rice bogs [paddies] but did have wajiw. There are even menominee sites with large depressions in the ground from digging up dirt for the wajiw that do not having any irrigation ditches at all.
Another theory is that wajiw grew from long term occupation of the same site. As the old longhouse decayed, it was ritually burned and buried beneath sediment. Over time, the mound the longhouse was built atop grew larger and larger. Natural debris and soil deposits would help this along. This theory is plausible for early wajiw but does not explain later wajiw and the largest types of wajiw.
The most likely explanation is simply that wajiw are cool. Once some people started building them, others were impressed enough to imitate them. The idea spread and spread until wajiw became the primary way that excess labor was used. The more people you had and the more labor they used the bigger and more impressive your wajiw would be. It was a way of showing off your wealth.
But it was not just a competition of size. Today, many wajiw look weathered, broken down, and dully colored. When they were first built, they would have gleamed. They were painted in bright (modern people might even say tacky) colors. They depicted mythological scenes of great beauty and significance. They were not mere piles of dirt but shining hills from which the nobility and royalty ruled.
Unlike Egyptian pyramids, wajiw were not (primarily) burial tombs. They were places for the royalty, nobility and clergy to live. Burials in wajiw did happen but people generally continued living on top of the grave. It was considered a mark of honor to be buried in a wajiw. It was also considered good luck to live atop the graves of your ancestors as their spirits could continue to guide you even after death.
The construction of a wajiw was planned by experts. Important wajiw were designed by the Mide of the settlement but any literate priest could use mathematical formulas from the various aadizookaan (holy books) as a guide to build a wajiw. Many aadizookaan spend pages detailing the best way to plan and build a wajiw. They detail the amount and types of dirt, stone, and labor necessary for different types of constructions.
Slaves were sometimes used for the physical labor of creating a wajiw but most were built by free men who were handsomely rewarded for their service. For most, it was a great privilege to be chosen to work on a wajiw. If the wajiw was being constructed by an Ogimaa or Sagamos, they might have their taxes forgiven rather than being paid directly. Only master craftsmen would expect to pay their taxes this way. Some doodem paid their entire annual tax debt just by constructing one piece of a wajiw.
The typical wajiw began as a simple rectangular earthen mound. The sides would be sloped and covered in mud bricks. Most wajiw of were between twenty and thirty feet tall. The wajiw of the Sagamos or Mide was usually over one hundred feet tall.
Temple wajiw had a large, steep staircase would be built in the front which was used for ceremonial processions. Steps were often carved and painted to resemble the mythology of the god the temple honored. A more practical, and less steep, switchback staircase was built on the side or back to allow for a safer ascent and descent.
On the top of wajiw, huge palaces and temple complexes were built. They retained the look of a longhouse while being far more opulent. They were longer, taller, and wider than a typical longhouse. The most expensive were made of limestone or marble. Even the least rich whitewashed the top building so that it would shine in the sunlight.
During the classical period, the largest wajiw were in Milliokee [Milwuakee, WI], Miyamee [Detoit, MI], Kiskis [Memphis, TN], and Hoshalaga [Montreal, QC]. Each one was in excess of two hundred and fifty feet tall, if you add the height of the building on top. They were the living quarters for the most powerful Sagamos of the Mishigami and Ziibiing.
Other wajiw were not as tall but instead shaped into massive animal effigies. The falcon barrow in Cahokia [East St. Louis, IL] is over 1300 feet from wingtip to wingtip and the tallest section of it is over a hundred feet tall. The horned serpent wajiw in Chalakatha [Chillicothe, OH] s over a mile long, though fairly narrow. Its head is a more typical wajiw that is almost two hundred feet tall. The thunderbird wajiw in Taykopera [Madison, WI] is more compact (slightly less than a thousand feet from wingtip to wingtip) but its chest rises to a height of 225 feet.
Most wajiw were not built once and then never added to. Instead, each generation sought to make their wajiw bigger, grander, and more opulent. They made it taller by adding another layer. They built another building on top or extended an existing one. They expanded the base. There are many wajiw that sit half finished or collapsed due to inadequate funding by overambitious heirs trying to outdo their ancestors.
The idea that the nobility would live atop wajiw was so ingrained in Anishinaabe culture that the word for the aristocracy was agidajiw meaning literally “on top of the mountain”. It probably began as a word for the houses that were on top of wajiw before being transferred to refer to the inhabitants. We will discuss the lives of the agidajiw in detail at another time.
Next time, we will discuss the settlements and peoples of the Ohiyo river valley.
[1] Taken from: https://atlantisjavasea.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/pyramid-building.png
[2] Modified from: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...ippian_culture_mound_components_HRoe_2011.jpg
[3] Taken from: https://www.legendsofamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/MississippiMound.jpg
Comments? Questions?
Last edited:
Are their any unique mythical creatures or changes to mythology created by the butterflies so far?
There is a supplemental due next Thursday talking about the hero twins myth, which has been evolved differently. I plan on it becoming part of a series on alternate mythology called Tales from the Aadizookaan. The aadizookaan being the holy books of the *menominee. I'm thinking of making a rice god or goddess (probably goddess) similar to the Mayan Maize God. And evangelical religion will rise later on.
I bet they made great advances in maths, physics and engineering because of the need to build wajiw, in addition to the rice bogs and the calendars.
Definitely. Think about how much stuff IOTL was figured out for the dumb prestige projects of the hyper rich.
I don't know if I would use that term but there will be substantial changes to religion.
Short answer: I haven't come up with one yet.
Long answer: Ojibwe, which is what a lot of the language is based on, uses a base-ten number system. (So when counting 11 is "ten and one", 12 is "ten and two" and so on). That makes it easier.
Early numerical systems are additive. So you will have a unique symbol for say 1, 5, 10, and so on. Then you add up all the symbols to get the total number. The *menominee would be similar to start with. Maybe a dot for 1 (representing grains of rice?), a star for 5, a bear for 10, and so on. If you wanted to represent 27 (for example) you would write two bears, a star, and two dots in any order.
They'll eventually adopt the Mayan place value system but not for a while yet. (it seems crazy to me that the Mayans had place value with an additive system but that's another story)
EDIT: I'd also like to incorporate something like Kaktovik Iñupiaq numerals but with a base ten system:
Last edited:
Ok thanks at first I thought base ten wouldn't be usedShort answer: I haven't come up with one yet.
Long answer: Ojibwe, which is what a lot of the language is based on, uses a base-ten number system. (So when counting 11 is "ten and one", 12 is "ten and two" and so on). That makes it easier.
Early numerical systems are additive. So you will have a unique symbol for say 1, 5, 10, and so on. Then you add up all the symbols to get the total number. The *menominee would be similar to start with. Maybe a dot for 1 (representing grains of rice?), a star for 5, a bear for 10, and so on. If you wanted to represent 27 (for example) you would write two bears, a star, and two dots in any order.
They'll eventually adopt the Mayan place value system but not for a while yet. (it seems crazy to me that the Mayans had place value with an additive system but that's another story)
EDIT: I'd also like to incorporate something like Kaktovik Iñupiaq numerals but with a base ten system:
Some peoples used a base twenty system but base ten was more common.
Plus numbers and math are hard enough as is. Lets try not to confuse people.
Speaking of the Mayans, will they have more relations with Mesoamerica in the future? I would see cocoa being a very luxury good in this case.
In the future? Yes. But you should be prepared to wait. There is plenty of history between then and now.
All trade with Mesoamerica is indirect at this point. They will eventually have direct trade and I plan to do stuff with the Carribean but it won't be for a while. But when they do, cocoa beans will be top of the list for sure.
Hoshalga, eh?
If it's built on the flat, it's going to be totally dwarfed by the 'mountain' that's 233m or 764' tall.
If it's built on top of the mountain, how easy is it going to be to get the necessary fill in place, and how obvious will the artificiality be?
Locals: Oooh, we've got the tallest wajiw, evah, totes.
Visitor: Meh, you just built your palace on an existing mountain, whoopee dingy.