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mglyptostroboides t1_iyzt418 wrote

I seem to remember reading on a plaque somewhere in the park that they tended to avoid the region which they perceived as haunted by evil spirits.

I would take this with a grain of salt for several reasons. First off, informational plaques at parks and musea are actually not anywhere near as rigorous as they should be (though, in general, the National Park Service is pretty good about this sort of thing). Secondly, it hits a lot of "lol stoopid savages" tropes that depict indigenous people as slaves to superstition. And finally, Yellowstone National Park is HUGE, beautiful and very abundant for people who live off the land. It would be stupid to avoid the entire region ignoring the material benefit to living there. (I seriously cannot stress enough how enormous Yellowstone is. It's not the largest national park, but it's up there. Please don't clog up Grand Loop Road trying to get in and see Old Faithful and then go back to your hotel in Jackson. Take Yellowstone slow and take it all in.)

I'd be interested in hearing some input from someone more familiar with the topic than me. I would email my old anthropology professor but I think she's getting sick of me bugging her every time I have a question about Native American archaeology or culture. 😅

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wegqg t1_iyzx5zy wrote

I think obviously your concerns are very well-founded but it is worth remembering that almost every pre-scientific society has a mixture of creation myths and metaphysical explanations for natural phenomena. In fact, you only have to look at the persistence of 'creationism' in the US, for example, to see that it isn't limited to pre-scientific societies either.

Even the modern world needed to understand both plate tectonics and radioactive decay before anything resembling a satisfactory understanding of Earth's geology was possible.

I don't think it would be calling the Ancient Egyptians savages for their interpretation of the Sun as being rolled across the sky or for the Ancient Greeks to regard lightning as the anger of Zeus etc. Nor would I be surprised to find that the many different Native American cultures who must have interacted with Yellowstone will have had their own interpretations and explanations for its geothermal activity etc.

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dittybopper_05H t1_iz05w1e wrote

>I seriously cannot stress enough how enormous Yellowstone is. It's not the largest national park, but it's up there.

This.

My brother is a supervisory park ranger there, and it took us several days of him showing us around, and while we hit all the major stuff, we still didn't see everything. But we also spent a couple days in Cody, and took a day trip to see the Grand Tetons and have lunch in Jackson.

Got to stay in Ranger housing in the middle of the park. Pretty cool. And best of all, free! Even entrance to the park, since my brother is an employee and has a sticker on his vehicle.

One thing, though. If you're prone to altitude sickness like my father is, you're better off staying in Jackson or Cody and taking day trips into the park. Being at or above 8,000 feet 24 hours a day really kicked his ass. We even had to take him to Bozeman for treatment. The oxygen cans you can buy didn't help him much. The only thing that helped was getting him down to 6,000 feet or lower.

I was fine, but I definitely was shorter of breath than normal. I typically hike 3 to 4.5 miles a day carrying a 50 lb pack just for exercise, and walking there unencumbered felt like walking with the pack.

Just something to remember.

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Kbudz t1_iz27fds wrote

In "Tales from America's National Parks: Campfire Stories" it is mentioned that historians agree that the fear story was a myth. They suggest that natives may have deliberately stayed quiet about Yellowstone.

Although there are 26 native tribes associated with Yellowstone, their stories are absent from the records of European explorers. William Clark, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, surmised that the natives were afraid of the geysers- an assumption now widely believed to be absurdly false. More likely is that the natives were intentionally not telling the Europeans about their sacred lands.

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