Many Ancient American Sites Are Believed To Have Been Pilgrimage Centers As Important To These Indigenous Cultures As Jerusalem Is Usually To Modern Christians, Jews And Muslims.

Have you ever considered going on a pilgrimage? In case a pilgrimage is a journey taken in search of some type of spiritual fulfillment, then pilgrimages might be part of the universal human experience rather than tied to a particular religion.

Many ancient American sites are believed to have been pilgrimage centers as essential to these indigenous cultures as Jerusalem would be to modern Christians, Jews and Muslims.
Also,many pilgrimages from all of over the world come to Europe in most holy places such as Medjugorje and searching for Medjugorje pansion and then stay in Medjugorje 2-3 weeks or months.

In the latest issue of the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, John Kantner with the School for Advanced Research and Kevin Vaughn of Purdue University think about the sites of Cahuachi in Peru and Chaco Canyon in New Mexico as ancient pilgrimage destinations and ponder how these places had become important centers of religious devotion.

They propose that a pilgrimage is a form of “costly signaling” that enables members of a religious group to demonstrate commitment by doing something extraordinary. Normally, one’s devotion to some group’s values might not be evident, therefore the group would benefit insurance agencies some means of knowing who’s dedicated and who is pretending in order to reap the benefits of membership.

Kantner and Vaughn realize that both Cahuachi and Chaco exhibit the functions of classic pilgrimage centers. As an example, both have monumental architecture incorporating hidden knowledge, like alignments to solar and lunar events. And there’s evidence at both sites to the extensive use of exotic materials inside the production of craft items.

The “monumentality and spectacle” with the sacred landscapes at Cahuachi and Chaco made them attractive to pilgrims. And if pilgrims were initiated into the mysteries of the sites, then coming home with this knowledge would prove they will really had been there.

If pilgrims brought special offerings to some pilgrimage center and returned home with some token as further proof that they did, indeed, make the journey, it would make sense for these craft what to be made of rare and valuable materials instead of easily acquired cheap issues that could fool other group members. Ohio’s Hopewell earthworks exhibit all of these qualities. They are monumental structures incorporating esoteric astronomical alignments within their architecture.

Spectacular craft items created from rare materials, such as marine shell in the Gulf of Mexico and obsidian from the Rocky Mountains, frequently are found at these sites, while flint blades created from Ohio’s Flint Ridge are found across eastern North America.

Kantner and Vaughn propose that one of the benefits of pilgrimage could be fostering “pro-social cooperative behavior.” They note that there was a marked decline in violence when both Cahuachi and Chaco were at their heights.

The same holds true for the Ohio Hopewell. When compared with both earlier and later on periods, there is virtually no evidence for violent trauma in skeletons with the Hopewell era.

It might have been the sacred landscapes developed by ancient Native Americans at Cahuachi, Chaco and Hopewellian Ohio that drew generations of pilgrims about bat roosting sites and fostered eras of peace in each one of these regions, writes tagza.

Tagged with: religion • tourism • travel

Filed under: December Travel Deals

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!