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The First American Nation Hypothesis is the result of a study of Neolithic art, which is the one characteristic that distinguishes the artifacts at the NEOLITHIC ART MUSEUM. Almost all of the approximately one thousand objects have their surfaces covered with art. A fact that makes this assemblage of stone, one of the largest Neolithic art collection in the world. The subjects portrayed are anthropomorphic (people), zoomorphic (animals), and a Penutian-Maya motif with scenes from the Popol Vuh being played out among the stars of the Maya cosmos. About half of the artifacts in the collection are ceremonial stones, trade tokens, or wampum, which to most people appear to be just ordinary stones. Who were the Penutian-Maya? From the classification of languages of the Native First People of America, it is found that the languages of the Chinooks, Ohlones, Modoc and Klamath are variations of the Penutian language that is related to the Maya and Zoque of Mesoamerica.(SAWOL, Columbia Encyclopedia} The speakers of one such language could not understand any of the other languages, because they were separate languages, not dialects. As a general rule, most Indian groups known today as separate tribes spoke separate languages. (Smithsonian Institution) These separate tribes however are not just related through their ancestral root language, they are also connected by their art and culture. We hypothesized that the Penutian-Maya originated from Washington, Oregon and California, migrated into Mexico and Central America then migrated back north again around the tenth century. The physical evidence presented on this web site, which was discovered in Western America, provides evidence that the hypothesis has validity. The evidence may be interpreted in two ways. not all tribal members took part in the migrations. Or, the Penutian-Maya were among the first seafaring traders of the Pacific Rim and all these sites were continually occupied by them as trading colonies. Additionally, the evidence suggests that the Penutian-Maya occupied their trading colonies in the California and the Oregon territories until the time of the west coast conquest. The people who created these objects of art were of the same tribal confederacy, even though their site locations are separated by hundreds or thousands of miles. In the Pacific Northwest from the Tlingit in Alaska, to the Chinooks of the lower Columbia River, and to the Chumash Indians of southern California, their tribal craftsmen all built ocean going canoes. In these canoes, twelve to twenty paddlers would go into the Pacific ocean to fish or to hunt whales. How far would such a band of warriors follow a migrating pod of whales or to conduct trade?
The classification system on this web site documents the location of the discovery site for each artifact. The first letters indicate the closest city to the site, next is the site number followed by the two letters for the state. The next two letters are the gallery, to which the artifact is first assigned and the artifact's number. The information in parentheses gives the original photographs location. Since this is a digital museum, an artifact may appear in more than one gallery. Framed picture like images are photographs that physically have been framed and are hanging on display. The question of Penutian-Maya origin will remain open for the present time. The purpose of this web site is to share these artifacts, no matter who created them, with the world and to find collaboration among experts. Another reason for the existence of this web site is to comply with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1991. In the process, we will create a permanent catalogue of these artifacts, which documents them with an identifying image, describes where and how they where found, and explains their relevant historical attributes. Presently there are over one thousand artifacts in this collection, which will take time to classify, photograph and add to the museum. Most of these artifacts have images or artwork decorating them and each is a work of art in itself. Many appear to have dates in the Maya count form using numerical head variants. I hope these images are worth that proverbial thousand words and call for help from those who are interested in being a part of an educational web museum and/or co-authoring an article.
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