C. S. Rafinesque

“ Of the early Monuments of China, Tartary and Thibet, we know little or nothing, and in the very heart of Asia, the real Cradle of Arts and Sciences, if not mankind itself, our learned travellers have not yet penetrated, and the most interesting region of the globe is thus almost unknown to us. ”

“ This subject is therefore in a progressive state of inquiries, and future ages will yet add thereto: although a number of Ruins and Monuments crumble or disappear under the plough or the leveling energy of men, little respecting these structures of antiquity, enough of unexplored sites will be discovered and surveyed: some of our rudest monuments appear indestructible, the lofty mounds of earth have withstood like the heavy pyramids of Egypt, the lapse of countless ages, some even appear now covered with a dress of new soil, or even diluvial coat, as if they were antediluvian! ”

“ The Mongolic opinion, lately revived by Ranking, is the most extravagant of all, since it ventures to assert seriously, and derive all these nations and languages from late colonies of Mongols within less than one thousand years ago, who came to America over the ice, bringing with them tame elephants for sport, that are since become the fossil elephants and mammoths buried in our diluvial or alluvial soil—to state these absurdities is a sufficient refutation, every man of any reading and scientific knowledge will perceive the impossibility. ”

“ And thus it is in both Americas where many nations and empires have dwelt and passed away, risen and fallen by turns, leaving few or no records, except the traces of their existence, and widely spread colonies by the ruins of their cities and monuments, standing yet as silent witnesses of past dominion and great power. ”

“ It is only of late that they have begun to deserve the attention of learned men and historians—what had been stated by Ulloa, Humboldt, Juarros, Delrio, &c., of some of them, chiefly found in the Spanish part of America, as well as the scattered accounts of the many fragments found in North America, from the lakes of Canada to Louisiana, although confined to a few places or widely remote localities, have begun to excite the curiosity of all inquiring men, and are soon likely to deserve as much interest as the famed ruins of Palmyra and Thebes, Babylon and Persepolis ”

“ There are out of America some structures not found in it, but there are none in it that cannot be detected somewhere else, either in Europe, North Africa or Asia, Polynesia, &c., among the earliest Monuments or Ruins, or the rudest structures. None of the latest styles and improved Architecture, such as Colonnades, roofed temples, Budhist and Mahometan temples, Gothic or Modern Churches, fortifications with large towers or bastions—are met in America, being a convincing proof that all the American structures were of a previous date, or of an earlier style, than these later. ”

“ Such speculations ought at least to be based on better foundations than mere assertions, evident philological proofs are required before they can be listened to, and no total and complete diversity of mankind in every aspect has been found any where to support the theory of a plurality of human species and Cradles. Europe and Africa have been repeatedly invaded by migrations from Asia. In America such migrations can be traced north and east by the Atlantic ocean, or north west from Berhring’s strait, while we have not the faintest indication of invasions of Asia from America. ”

“ The only traditional account of the invasion of Europe, and North Africa by the Atlantes (probably Americans, for the great Atlantis was this continent) is involved in doubt, and besides these very Atlantes were deemed Neptunian colonies; although it must be confessed that in almost every instance the colonists to America appear to have found previous inhabitants, who must have been still earlier and remote colonies, if they were not indigenous. But the sea-shores of North America from Labrador to Carolina were desert at a very late period comparatively, when the Western tribes came there. ”

“ But neither of them solve the question of the actual original Cradle or Cradles of mankind. If indeed monuments and languages of various parts of the earth were quite different, and the features or colors of men likewise distinct there, we might suppose there could have been several species and cradles of men: but it is not so, features and languages are so variable and mingling in our own times, and so diversified every where, as to baffle and preclude complete insulation. ”

“ But it appears to me that the Celts and Cantabrians were like the Etruscans and Phenicians of Hamite Origin. It is strange that all the brown [27] or black nations of Africa, Asia and Oceania are also of similar descent.
7. In my work on the Ancient American Nations, may be seen which were the oldest or earliest in America, and to which other nations elsewhere they are most intimately connected. I have proved that two great nations of America the Aruac including the Haytians and tribes from Florida to Patagonia, with the Sekeh or old Chilians, having branches from Chili to Brazil ”

“ Whether the Celtic race ever came to America has been doubted, and maybe deemed doubtful yet: there are two strong arguments against it at least, the lack of Monuments like the Stonehenge temples, and the Celtic structure of Language, or regular series of interposed ideas not being widely spread in America, and chiefly found in Brazil and Florida, where nations of another lineage dwelt. ”

“ Meantime we may endeavor to collect and compare the facts already known, and deduce therefrom some useful instruction to satisfy curiosity or gratify the greedy wish to ascend to the origin of every thing, and of mankind above all. The most proper and obvious way to elucidate American Antiquities and Monuments, would be by classifying them, which has however never been attempted, having always been noticed or elucidated loosely at random, or in a kind of geographical arrangement of the regions where found. ”

“ The American languages have as much, or more affinities with the Sanscrit, Greek, Latin, Celtic, Persian, Berber, Turkish, &c., languages, than with the old and modern Hebrew and Arabic. The Jews or IEUDI, who only began two thousand four hundred years ago were not navigators; therefore it is evident that they cannot have come to America and produced here the two thousand nations and tribes of this vast continent: nay, not even a single one of them perhaps. ”

“ In the Antilles or West Indies, they are chiefly caves, temples and tombs. In Brazil we know of but few, but they are of stone and peculiar style.—5. Therefore the main monuments and structures occupy only one half of America or even less, they are mostly thickly scattered in the fertile regions near rivers, from Ohio to Florida, from Missouri to Texas, from Sonora to Honduras, from Bogota to Chili, &c. being often on high grounds and mountains, table lands and valleys, seldom in the low plains. ”

“ While on the other side, we can assert and prove that the American monuments were more or less alike to. 1. The oldest monuments, square and circular platforms of all shapes and sizes, some as large as hills or even natural hills cut to shapes for altars, or support of temples and staged pyramids, &c., as are found from Celtica and Ireland to France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Russia, &c., from Morocco to Senegal, Lybia and Abyssinia; in Asia, from Natolia and the Trojan plain, to Syria and Arabia, Persia, Media around the Caspian, and even in India, Tartary and China ”

“ The dreams and false hypotheses upon America have amused the learned for ages: in attempt [7] ing to account for the origin of the Americans and their monuments, they have generally neglected to compare them with the monuments and languages of all the other nations scattered over the whole earth, or else only taking a partial view of them, comparing a few fragments of two or three nations or regions, a few words of a centesimal part of the actual languages, the writers or historians have fallen into egregious mistakes ”

“ If we do not exactly find in this Continent, the Celtic style of Stonehenge and circles of stones scattered from Persia to Scotland, we meet several other branches of the Celtic style, standing rough pillars, massive altars, circles of earth, fortified villages similar to those of Bri [14] tain, miscalled Roman Camps, although no such camps are found where the Romans went out of Celtica, and the American camps or forts are certainly not Roman! ”

“ Architecture and the various styles it has employed for monuments, temples, cities &c. have undergone several changes and improvements, from the rude imitations of a tent, or cottage, or hill, to that of pyramids, towers, pillars, colonnades, caves, norajes, teocalis, &c., from irregular inclosures to square, circular, octagon forms, from heaps of earth forming ditches, canals, to regular walled excavations. Styles of building are fluctuating with the Nations and times, taste and religion: some are occasionally revived or improved ”

“ It would be useless and tedious to refute again such false systems, that have been refuted and upset by each other. It may, however, be needful, perhaps, to mention three of the most absurd, in order to warn against them, or show their improbability and impossibility. ”

“ The feelings that lead some men to investigate remains of antiquity and search into their origin, dates and purposes, are similar to those actuating lofty minds, when not satisfied with the surface of things, they inquire into the source and origin of every thing accessible to human ken, and scrutinize or analize every tangible object. ”

“ But the contents of mounds, graves, caves, &c., are also very interesting, affording us a clue to their purpose, and the arts of times when raised or inhabited. Many kinds of implements, ornaments, tools, weapons, vases, &c., have been found every where, displaying skill and taste. Idols and sculptures have given us the features and religious ideas of some nations. ”

“ Monuments are also after all so much alike in many remote parts, that although divisible into styles of various ages and stages of improvement, they do evince a great similarity in coeval ages or stages of civilization. ”

“ They chiefly occupy a flexuose belt from our great Lakes to Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Quito, Peru and Chili.—3. There are few or none in Boreal America, the Eastern Shores of it as far as Virginia, the Western as far as California, nor in the Antilles, Guyana, Orinoco, Maragnon, Brazil, Paraguay and Patagonia; although some of these regions not having yet been properly explored may hereafter offer some likewise.—4. Those known from our Eastern Shores, the Antilles and Brazil are few, and of a peculiar character, distinct from the general style of the [17] others. ”