Nathaniel T. Jeanson > Quotes

“The genetic research I was pursuing suggested that the Americas had been settled from Asia, not once but several times. It also planted at least two of the migrations squarely within the known history of civilization.”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“Which means that, had battles with the Talamatan and/or Iroquois gone differently, or had events on the Atlantic played out another way for the Ojibwa, someone other than the Wampanoag would have feasted with the Pilgrims in the fall of A.D. 1621.”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“Back up on top of Monk’s Mound, the view was beautiful. I could easily see the Gateway Arch and downtown St. Louis off to the west. In fact, I could see for miles to the south, west, and north. It made me wonder if part of the mound’s purpose was advance warning of approaching enemies.”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“In the A.D. 900s, several little-known groups of Central Asians were on their way or about to head west into Europe. Magyars, Pechenegs, Oghuz, and Kipchaks are not household names. But these peoples were on the move, just like the Huns were several centuries prior.”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“An Alaskan archaeological culture, the Thule, began migrating eastward out of Alaska around the same time that the Algic arrived. The Thule eventually reached what are now the Canadian provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, which sits just to the north and east of where the St. Lawrence empties into the Atlantic (Figure 66). Here, in the east, the Thule seem to have replaced the prior culture, the Dorset.21 I wonder if this sequence of events—and possible conflict—provoked the Ojibwa to turn around and head toward the Great Lakes.”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“You’ll also discover that ancient ruins from North American civilizations still exist, that these ruins tell dramatic stories, and that they can still be visited.”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“The Red Record migration doesn’t begin in Washington state, or in Oregon, or in British Columbia. It begins in Asia and leads across what we now call the Bering Strait:”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“In mid-March of 2024, I took a trip to Cahokia, the site containing Monk’s Mound, and gained a new perspective on the tragic meeting between the Algics and the Talegas (Natchez, and perhaps Muskogeans) 800 years prior. I learned that tragic is but the beginning of the adjectives appropriate to this fatal encounter.”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“Standing at the base and gazing 100 feet in the air, I imagined what it may have been like 800 years ago as a commoner who was summoned to see the chief or leader at the top. The psychological effect reminded me of an experience I had in Germany. My family and I were on a trip to visit King Ludwig’s Neuschwanstein castle in Bavaria, the same castle on which the iconic Disney World® castle is based. On the tour of the rooms inside Neuschwanstein, we were led into the throne room. The passageway was a dim but open-sided hall with a low ceiling. The end of the hall opened to a bright, elevated throne on my right backed by a high, glittering wall and domed ceiling. Gold was everywhere. I immediately felt what was surely the desired emotional impact—I was small and low and insignificant; the king was high and majestic and exalted above me.”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“After Mistaken, the Red Record lists 13 sachems, ending with Watching Closely.22 From A.D. 1524 to A.D. 1620, 96 years elapsed. If we divide 96 by 13, we can estimate that each sachem led for approximately 7.4 years. Now apply this number to the entirety of the Algic time in the New World. After White Eagle, the Red Record lists about 96 sachems,23 ending with Watching Closely. At 7.4 years per sachem, we can estimate the arrival in Alaska to be between A.D. 896 and A.D. 926.”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“I was strolling through the history section of our local library when Charles Mann’s book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus caught my eye. Here, finally, I thought, might be some answers to questions that had bothered me for years. One of Mann’s main conclusions contradicted the thinking from 60 years ago. Back then, the prevailing view was that, at the time of European Contact, Native American populations were sparse. Mann showed data suggesting that the Americas were brimming with people. And then, 80% to 90% of the indigenous populations present in A.D. 1491 disappeared in the centuries following.”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“In 2022, FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA), one of the major genetic testing companies, released their database of the results of their 200,000+ male Y chromosome testers. FTDNA did not report the Native American nation or First Nation affiliation for each of their testers. Instead, they simply identified the country of residence—e.g., United States, Canada, Mexico, etc. Included in the FTDNA database were results for haplogroup Q. The database also included results for another branch found in Native Americans and Central Asians, haplogroup C. Today, haplogroup C can be found on several continents, but especially in northern Eurasia (Figure 27). In the Americas, it tends to be found at its highest levels in North America”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“The Algic migration to the Americas was the last before European arrival—at least, the last detectable one. The first migration29 spawned the Poverty Point and Hopewell cultures. These early peoples were then replaced by the invasion of the peoples belonging to haplogroup Q. The Algic invasion (haplogroup C) brings the total number of migrations to three.”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“These records trace back to the time when the Delaware first arrived at the Atlantic. According to the wampum, the year was A.D. 1396. In the Red Record, we find a description of this event, as well as the name of a specific leader or sachem who ruled at that time: All the Hunters reached the Sun’s Salt Sea; once more, the Ocean. Red Arrow was the sachem at the tidewater.11 The second time stamp occurs at the end of the Red Record. The book closes with the Delaware on the Atlantic shores, looking east: White Crab was the sachem, friend of the shore. Watching closely was the sachem, looking seaward. For at that time from north and south, the white people came. Friendly people, in great ships; who are they?12 McCutchen connects this event to the arrival of Europeans in A.D. 1620.”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“Then, in 1995, a graduate student in anthropology named David Oestreicher published his PhD thesis. Oestreicher claimed that the Red Record was a forgery, a hoax constructed by Rafinesque to garner himself publicity.”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“thought again of what it would have been like 800 years ago to stand outside the walls—walls that I wouldn’t have been able to see over—waiting to be brought inside. I wouldn’t know what would happen to me on the other side. And then, once inside, I would have had to wait on the menacing eastern side of the mound with its steep sides to the 100-foot top. If Cahokia’s king wanted to intimidate all who were under him, he seemed to have picked the perfect architecture.”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“Around twenty-five years later, I was exploring the DNA-based family tree of humanity. It confirmed the history in the Red Record—directly contradicting Oestreicher’s claims.”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“On the haplogroup C branch, the closest family tree relatives to American haplogroup C are the north/northeast Asian haplogroup C males. These two populations separated in the A.D. 800s to 1000s.26 This fits the later date (A.D. 896 and A.D. 926) from the Red Record for the arrival of the Algics in the Americas. Thus, based on genetics and on their own history, the Algics arrived in Alaska from Asia around the A.D. 900s.”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“I found genetic confirmation of these Native accounts. One of the most explosive examples was the Red Record, or Wallam Olum. This document represented the putative history of the Delaware nation (the Lenni Lenape). According to the Red Record, the history was authored by the Delawares themselves.4 In the early A.D. 1800s a Kentuckian named Constantine Rafinesque had brought the Red Record to the attention of the Western world.”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“One catalyst for the process seems to be geographic isolation. Regular contact and communication between peoples will keep languages from diverging too quickly.”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“Prior to the trip, I had known that Cahokia was a destination in its own right, independent of Monk’s Mound. The largest pre-Columbian city north of the Rio Grande, Cahokia had once boasted a population of 10,000 to 15,000 people.32 In its day, it was as large as London.33 I had planned to walk the entire grounds to experience the context, the atmosphere of this unique set of”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People

“The first sachem who led them from Asia into Akomen was White Eagle. After White Eagle, the Red Record lists around 96 sachems,17 ending with Watching Closely. If we multiply the number of sachems by the years-per-sachem in the previous paragraph,18 the first arrival in Akomen appears to have been in the range of A.D. 522 to A.D. 746.This overlaps the timing of the haplogroup Q arrival in the New World (i.e., A.D. 300s to 600s). It’s not a perfect overlap, but it’s enough to connect the Algonquians to the haplogroup Q migration.”
― Nathaniel T. Jeanson, They Had Names: Tracing the History of the North American Indigenous People