Interesting thread, but some just cannot help but use it to take shots at the US. But there is a nugget of something in their criticisms. The Americas had civilization long before the Europeans, including my ancestors, came and screwed it all up.

The original posts did point out some things from my home area that I have always found interesting. In my hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan there is an exhibit in the Museum, of the People of the Three Fires (Chippewa, Ottawa, and Pottawottami). There are examples of Pre-Columbian trade items that were excavated from local archeological sites. One of the pieces of beadwork included bits of abalone shell that would have come from the Gulf of Mexico areas, or even the West Coast. This was pointed out to me by the Museum Director at the time, Mr. Weldon Frankfurter. Just as the copper examples cited in the opening suggest a widespread continental trading system, so does this. I am but a layman, and make no claims to being able to explain this, other than to say that Mr. Frankfurter gave it to me of an example of a trade network. This surely would indicate the presence of civilization.

We have a series of Indian Mounds along the Grand River which are now protected.

Mick