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Biltmore Mound,
Asherville, North Carolina
Architect Richard Thornton is a member of an alliance of Creek, Choctaw and
Seminole scholars, who over the past seven years have been intensely studying
the heritage of the Muskogean peoples. Much of their activities have involved
re-examination of the archives of the early Spanish, English and French
exploration of the Southeastern United States. We have asked Richard to provide
AccessGenealogy with some of his work. As we add to these articles we will
also be providing a question and answer section for the reader to ask questions
of Richard.
Or how fabricated history concealed
architectural facts . . . twice!
During the 1980s American scholars suddenly became
interested in Spain’s efforts to colonize the North
America. For 200 years American history books had
generally ignored the Spanish and French presence in
North America prior to the English colonies winning
their independence. Generations of students here were
under the impression that no white man had set foot on
the continent until brave Englishmen founded a
short-lived colony on Roanoke Island, NC in 1585. Well,
while all the history books were being printed in
Boston, probably most students had the impression that
the first colony was founded by the Pilgrims in 1621 on
Massachusetts Bay! The earlier colonies at Roanoke
Island and Jamestown, VA were painted as a typically
inept effort by lazy Southern aristocrats, who would
later start a Civil War.
First, the victorious British, and then, the
propagandists of the new American republic wanted erase
all memories of non-English speaking peoples ever having
a legitimate claim to the lands they conquered. The
Natives, of course, were barbaric savages thinly
scattered across the landscape, who selfishly wanted to
keep their lands for themselves. The Spanish and French
were painted as lazy aristocrats, who briefly passed
through the countryside, treated the Indians with
extreme cruelty, and then were too incompetent to found
permanent settlements.
The facts were something very different. The first
attempt to found a colony in North America was by the
Spanish at Sapelo Island, GA in 1526. By the end of that
century, there were twice as many Spanish missions and
mission Indians on the 90 mile long coast of Georgia, as
there ever were on the 800 mile coastline of California.
The Spanish established gold mining colonies in the
Georgia Mountains 200 years before the nation’s first
gold rush in that region. The French had established
many towns and forts in the Gulf Coast region and
Mississippi River Basin. In general, the French treated
Native Americans with far more respect than did the
other two colonial powers.
One of the questions that academicians researched was
the routes taken by early Spanish explorers in exploring
the Southeast. Of particular interest was the 1539-1543
AD expedition headed by Hernando De Soto. It had
zigzagged through most of the Southeast from Florida to
Texas. Four known chronicles of the expedition provided
fascinating glimpses of advanced Native American
societies prior to when European plagues, weapons and
enslavement killed off about 95% of their population.
After intensively studying several 20th century state
highway maps and conveniently ignoring a very accurate
300 year old map by French cartographer, DeLisle, a team
of university professors decided that de Soto had passed
through the North Carolina Mountains between South
Carolina and Tennessee via the French Broad River. The
French Broad River flows through Asheville, NC. They all
traveled to Asheville to make their announcement to the
world.
At that time, the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce was
marketing Asheville as “the Ancient Heart of the
Cherokee Nation.” The fact was that Asheville was the
farthest east the Cherokees ever got. Two tiny Cherokee
hamlets near there had been abandoned in 1763.
Nevertheless, the professors decide to stroke local egos
by declaring a small mound on the nearby Biltmore Estate
as the site of Guaxale (pronounced Wa-ha-le) the ancient
capital of the Cherokee Nation. Wahale means
“southerners” in the Hitchiti (Eastern Creek Indian)
language. It has no meaning in Cherokee.
The morning before a scheduled press conference at the
Biltmore Estate, the professors were repeatedly told by
local historians and state archaeologists that there
were NO occupied Indian towns in the French Broad River
Valley during the period when de Soto was exploring the
Southeast. They were told that no Spanish artifacts had
been ever found around Asheville, but plenty had been
discovered in northern Georgia and extreme western North
Carolina. Some especially knowledgeable historians also
reminded the professors that their region had been
inhabited by the Creek, Shawnee and Yuchi Indians for
eons before the Cherokees ever arrived on the scene.
Nevertheless, the professors gave their press conference
and published their book. Now, virtually every book and
web site from Earth to the planet Jupiter states that de
Soto came through Asheville and that the little mound on
the Biltmore Estate was the site of Guaxale, the ancient
capital of the Cherokee Nation. Some Cherokee historians
have carried the fabrication further and declared the
little mound to be proof that the Cherokees are “the
oldest civilization in the Western Hemisphere and the
ancestors of the Mayas and Aztecs.”
Yes, the facts proved different again – and were quite a
bit more interesting. In 2003 archaeologists from
Appalachian State University excavated the Biltmore
Mound site. It wasn’t much . . . an 18 inches high – 50
feet diameter bump in the hayfields of the Biltmore
Estate. The professor-student team was initially excited
about finding architectural proof of the Cherokee’s
ancient civilization. What the found instead was that
the mound was not even a mound. It was the ruins of a
building. The organic residue from the structure was
analyzed by equipment that measures the deterioration of
Carbon 14 radioisotope absorbed by formerly living
matter.
A large round structure had first been built there
around 200 AD. Approximately every 50 years until around
450 AD. Each time the structure was rebuilt, a brightly
colored clay cap was applied to the remains of the
previous structure. After five reconstructions the
combined clay caps probably reached the grand height of
three feet. Artifacts found in and around the round
structure were typical of those produced in the Middle
Woodland Period (0-600 AD.) Some were similar to those
found at Hopewell Culture sites in Ohio. (See articles
on the Hopewell Ceremonial Complexes and the Seip
Ceremonial Earthworks.) There was nothing unearthed,
such as skeletons, which could possibly ascribe any
ethnic identity to the builders of this round structure.
Southeastern archaeologists have profound tendency to be
very knowledgeable about the English names for styles of
artifacts they have found, but woefully ignorant of
actual Native American culture and history. The
Appalachian State archaeological team gleefully
announced to the media that they had discovered “proof”
that the Cherokees had lived in the Asheville Area for
2000 years and that this was the oldest known Cherokee
Council House. It quickly became an official “Cherokee
Heritage Site.”
The architectural facts were different. What the
archaeologists had discovered was the oldest known
chokopa – called a chukofa by those Creek Indians now
living in Oklahoma. Chokopa is a Chontal Maya word
meaning “warm place.” Similar cone shaped structures
were used by the Creek and Yuchi Indians for special
rituals and public dances. Some of the Creek chokopa’s
were large enough to hold over 500 dancers. In the
winter a damper at the top minimizes the updraft and
allows the structural to be heated comfortably by a
hearth in the center. Clay caps were packed around the
rims of these structures to help insulate them against
extreme cold and heat.
The chokopa’s were also once erected throughout southern
Mexico as folk temples to the god of the Winds,
Quetzalcoatl. The Mesoamerican century was 52 years
long. It was commonplace for buildings in ancient Mexico
to be partially destroyed and rebuilt every 52 years.
The cone shape of the Quetzalcoatl temples caused a
natural updraft of wind that in hot weather created a
mesmerizing sound like a pipe organ. The Mexican Indians
believed that Quetzalcoatl created this music.
Yes, you can’t always believe what you read in a history
book or newspaper.
The Biltmore Mound was actually the oldest know example of
a chokopa structure.
Photo: VR Image by Richard Thornton, Architect
Notes About this Material
Source: Richard Thornton, an alliance of Muskogean scholars, professors and
professionals. Copyright Richard Thornton, Blairsville, GA, 2010. Used here with
permission.
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