Alabama #3

Thanks to a careful reader of this blog a gigantic mistake was detected in yesterday's data.  I said  there had been humans in the United States for over 1000 years.  I meant to refer to when the Indians built mounds at Moundville.  Actually there have been humans here for at least from between 10 and 20 thousand years ago.

Here is an interesting site that talks more about these fascinating mound structures and has some pictures of the art created there.

Alabama #2

This month I am dedicated to finding out whatever I can about Alabama in my quest to know my country better.  I started in December but the holidays got in the way.

I have been cruising around by way of Google maps and have a street in Selma to paint.  this is the screen grab I'm working from.

It is the poorest city in Alabama and perhaps because of that there are some nice old buildings.  No-one had the money to tear them down.

I have been delving with fascination into the history of Alabama.  I knew there were Indians in America but I had no idea that there were people in the United States at least 1000 years ago.  Christopher Columbus discovered America -  harrumph!  Several civilizations grew up and went into decline before Europe even officially put us on their map.

The agrarian Mississippian culture covered most of the state from 1000 to 1600 AD, with one of its major centers built at what is now Moundville Archaeological Site in Moundville, Alabama.  On Google maps cruising the streets of Moundville I came upon this mound.  What the mounds were designed for is not that clear but some in our country were as large as the Egyptian pyramids.  It seems the served different functions over the years.  Sometimes religious, sometimes secular and sometimes as burial grounds.  There were also homes situated on top of some mounds which leads me to wonder if they were not at least in part to make sure the house stayed dry in case the waters around the area got too high.  Here is a link to images from the museum there.

Alabama

Very important vote in Alabama today.

This is the way the vote went down for the President.  It is interesting to see that the Democratic votes are almost all outside the big cities but clustered together.  I will be riding those rides to see if I can tell how that happened.  Let's see how today's vote compares.
 https://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/president/alabama/

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