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Thisnvery important day calls attention to the effects of human activitiesnon the environment. Our Earth has precious water and air to protect,nwildlife to cherish, and forests to preserve. Perhaps most important,nit has climate patterns that we depend on in our agriculture. Let’sntry our best to save the Earth, by which I really mean to savenourselves!
Thisnvery important day calls attention to the effects of human activitiesnon the environment. Our Earth has precious water and air to protect,nwildlife to cherish, and forests to preserve. Perhaps most important,nit has climate patterns that we depend on in our agriculture. Let’sntry our best to save the Earth, by which I really mean to savenourselves!n
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nChecknout this and this other earlier posts about Earth Day. n
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nHerenis the official Earth Day 2012 website.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nOklahomanDay
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nTodayncommemorates the date when the “Oklahoma Lands” were opened fornEuropean settlement. Some state organizations will have specialnexhibits and concerts. Some schools will have lessons touching on thensubject tomorrow. n
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nDidnyou know that Oklahoma was one of the first states in the U.S. tonpass laws that protect archeological sites? In the 1930s, commercialnexcavations revealed what we now call Spiro Mounds, one of thengreatest collections of Native American artifacts in the U.S.
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nThenSpiro people lived during “Pre-Columbian” times, which simplynmeans before Columbus came to the New World. They settled in the areanthat is now Oklahoma but developed trade and communication withnpeople from California and the Pacific, to Virginia and the Atlantic,nand from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. They sharedninformation about growing plants, mound building, religiousnceremonies, and iconographic (picture) writing.
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Whatndo I mean by “mound building”? Mounds are earthworks, hills of earth builtnby the Spiro people. Some of the earthen mounds surrounded a levelnplaza where rituals and games were carried out. Some were burialnmounds. Some of the mounds were platform mounds, which looked likenpyramids with their tops cut off and temples built on the flat tops.nPlatform mounds usually had earthen ramps leading to the top, ornstairways made of logs. n
Whatndo I mean by “mound building”? Mounds are earthworks, hills of earth builtnby the Spiro people. Some of the earthen mounds surrounded a levelnplaza where rituals and games were carried out. Some were burialnmounds. Some of the mounds were platform mounds, which looked likenpyramids with their tops cut off and temples built on the flat tops.nPlatform mounds usually had earthen ramps leading to the top, ornstairways made of logs. nn
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nThenSpiro Mounds were abandoned by 1450, almost half a century before Columbus “discovered” the West Indies, and long before European people explored the Oklahoma region. The mounds may have been abandoned becausenincreasingly large bison herds lured the people into a more nomadicnhunting lifestyle rather than a settled farming lifestyle.
