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The shape of Aztec territory at the time of its conquest is weird. Why are there three islands of unconquered territory in the middle of the empire, an unconquered panhandle in the north, and a random bit of conquered territory off to the east?	42
Articles and answers here often nebulously refer to Native American oral traditions, but rarely provide resources to learn about them. Where can I read transcriptions of or texts about about the oral history of various indigenous nations?	36
The supposed Toltec Capital of Tollan means "Place of Reeds" - the Maya called Teotihuacan Puj "Place of Reeds." Is it possible the Aztec histories of the Toltecs were either inspired by or referring to Teotihuacan?	21
What did Akkad, Egypt, Anatolia, Greece etc. have to say about their Minoan contemporaries?	17
Have the descendants of the people of Cahokia retained oral history about it?	12
What written sources do we have on Minoan civilization (other than Linear A)?	12
Archaeology tends to examine long term trends, but how much can it tell us about specific events without writing? Can we learn about an individual ruler at Cahokia or a specific war in Teotihuacan?	12
The Exodus story is widely believed to be ahistorical. Was it based on some vague memory of Egyptian hegemony over the Levant in the late Bronze Age? Or perhaps of Canaanite miners that made the Proto-Sinaitic script?	11
Any historical texts that examine the Pre-Columbian history of America north of the Rio Grande using Oral Histories as primary sources?	8
I’ve heard that there are places without writing until relatively recently but have kept oral records well enough that history can be told accurately thousands of years back, eg Polynesia, Australia and the Pacific Northwest. Is this true and if so, how does it work and what can be gleaned from it?	7

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