Aother riddle:

[Dennis S]

At the time the first Europeans came to this country, the Native Americans of the Southwest had developed (among many other things) cities of multiple stories, amazing knowledge of astronomical events, and systems of roads that served purposes which we still have not deciphered.

All of these things were accomplished without the benefit of one of the simplest yet most powerful tools ever invented. The Europeans had long enjoyed this invention, and brought it with them to the Americas. Each of us uses this ?tool? several times a day. If it had been discovered by the Native Americans it is impossible to imagine how different our history might have been.

What tool did they lack?

 

[Lynlw]

I'm thinking of pens or somway of writing

 

[Dennis S]

I don't know about pens, so you may have an interesting point that I will try to check out. But I am thinking of something more basic.

 

[geebee]

How about the wheel?

 

[Lynlw]

How about the wheel?

that was my 2nd guess

 

[Dennis S]

The wheel is what I was looking for.

The wheel is what I was looking for.

By the way, although it is not the same as a pin or writing, the "ancient ones", often referred to as the Anasazi, made extensive use of symbols carved into, or painted on rocks. An interesting web site devoted to this topic:

http://raysweb.net/rockart/

 

[geebee]

I think the Native Americans just had such a simple everyday life they just didn't need to find anything that would make things "faster". There is a Star Trek movie called "Insurrection" that takes place on a planet with a group of people who had invented space travel and then discarded the technology in favor of inner peace. When asked why they said "Where can such knowledge take us except away from here". Unfortunately, in the case of many Native Americans, their "here" was taken away from them. I pray that they still have their inner peace.

 

[Dennis S]

There were, however, several times when the wheel would have been very handy. During the construction of Chaco Canyon, huge Ponderosa Pines had to be transported over 50 miles to the construction site. To this day, I don't think anyone has a good idea how this was accomplished.

 

[Dennis S]

There is no archeological evidence that they were dragged or rolled. The best academic writers have been able to come up with is that they were carried.

Some have asked the question-what if there was another way-a way as unknown to us as the wheel was to the ancients? Crazy thinking--right??

 

[Lynlw]

By the way, although it is not the same as a pin or writing, the "ancient ones", often referred to as the Anasazi, made extensive use of symbols carved into, or painted on rocks. An interesting web site devoted to this topic:

http://raysweb.net/rockart/

I was looking for things too and found this http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761573518/native_american_languages.html
Writing systems for a number of Native American languages developed after the arrival of Europeans. Some of these are syllabaries, in which each symbol represents a syllable (typically a consonant and a vowel). The Cherokee leader Sequoyah developed a Cherokee syllabary in the early 19th century. Methodist missionary James Evans developed a Cree syllabary, used by Cree and Ojibwa speakers, in the late 1830s. An Eskimo syllabary, based on the Cree syllabary, is used by the Inuit of the Canadian Arctic and Alaska. The Western Great Lakes syllabary, also called the Fox syllabary, is used by Fox, Sac (Sauk), Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Winnebago, and some Ojibwa speakers. Other systems are alphabetic, with separate letters for each consonant and each vowel.

 

[Lynlw]

ooops sorry double post