Interpreting a 200-year-old Cherokee Writing | Native America | PBS

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Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians archaeologist Beau Carroll and Cherokee Nation citizen and historian Julie Reed explore a cave containing some of the earliest evidence of Cherokee writing. Tom Belt, an expert on the Cherokee writing system, translates the words, but to understand what they mean, he needs to provide the when and why they were written. Stream Native America Season 2 on pbs.org and the PBS App: to.pbs.org/3L5...
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#cherokee #languages #nativeamerican
NATIVE AMERICA
Season 2 of Native America is a groundbreaking portrait of contemporary Indian Country. Building on the success of the first season, this four-part Native directed series reveals the beauty and power of today’s Indigenous world. Smashing stereotypes, it follows the brilliant engineers, bold politicians, and cutting-edge artists who draw upon Native tradition to build a better 21st century. Each hour reveals a core tenet of Native heritage: the power of Indigenous design, how language and artistry fuel the soul, the diverse ways that Native women lead, and the resilience of the warrior spirit. Brought to life with dynamic stories of the here and now, these thematic episodes launch an active dialogue between past and present. They reveal the foundational beliefs and traditions that Native Americans carry forward to this day, even as they live fully modern lives.

[@GiovannaC266]

Really enjoyed Mr. Belt illustrating the derivation of the word for “law” from the word “medicine;” how profound that concept is!

[@bootsiemon]

respect for all the hard work put in by these cultural carriers

[@bootsiemon]

>>>>>It is, like all languages, simply the way in which we interpret the world.
That's the definition of language. And the way in which we interpreted the world included every aspect that we know about what it means to live in that world.
If we lose these languages, we're losing an accumulated knowledge of human existence here over thousands of years.

[@TheTrueOnyxRose]

And that’s what happens every time we lose a language…any language…which is about once every two weeks on average globally.

[@mikewazvid]

Last week, my son and I visited some caves in Tennessee, just above the area in Georgia highlighted in your clip. The landscape in that area is riddled with caves because of water eroding the limestone. I can imagine that to ancient people, even just 100 years ago before electric lighting, carrying a flaming torch into a cavern, sometimes crawling to reach the inner recesses, was a sacred act. Entering the unknown darkness with a fragile light, facing one's fears, reaching the point where you inscribe an oath, or paint an image, then making your way back to the land of light and the living - no different than entering a cathedral in our modern world.

[@EvonneLindiwe]

Shouldn’t this be protected ?

[@tecpaocelotl]

Sadly, a lot of native sites with native writing and glyphs aren't.

[@EvonneLindiwe]

@@tecpaocelotl 😔 this really irks me to know.

[@kraneiathedancingdryad6333]

This annoys me as well. Have some respect!!

[@tecpaocelotl]

@EvonneLindiwe there's a lot of glyphs I seen in person where people have tagged or destroyed the walls.

[@leetyler4122]

Amazing. Thank you.

[@reubenmiller-rosenfeld8004]

cool story

[@terryschiller2625]

Osiyo,wado unalii

[@ut-of-here-cya]

Thank you for the video 👍

[@Jay.B.2046]

👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[@StevenOsburnHollywood]

That’s not even the cursive style of Cherokee writing that is older.