This is a picture of the oldest piece of gold jewelry made in the Americas. Why isn’t there more pre-Colombian romance? Why no books about Incan princesses running off with poor (yet handsome) Llama shepherds?

People seem to think that there wasn’t much going on in the Americas before the Europeans came, but its not true. The natives of North America had a better and more balanced diet than Europeans and they lived longer. The Aztec calender is more accurate than the modern one. Archaeologists have found toys with wheels in Mayan cities so the wheel was a known technology, but the Americas lack large beasts of burden that Asia and Europe had which made wagons or carriages pointless. The natives were more adapted to their environment then Europeans in Europe were at the time. Europe was going through a long cold spell and farmers didn’t want to change to better suited vegetables because of tradition (especially in France) and many people died. The humble potato saved millions of poor people in Europe from starving and it was developed and changed by the Incas into many different varieties that could be grown almost anywhere.

Its almost as if I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night. Thank you, History Channel.