The North Americans of Antiquity

A fascinating artifact of 19th-century American scholarship, this book captures what educated Americans once believed about the ancient civilizations of their continent. John T. Short examines the mysterious earthworks of the Ohio River Valley, the cliff dwellings of the Southwest, and the ruins of Maya and Aztec Mexico, arguing for a theory of pre-Columbian 'Mound-builders' and 'Cliff-dwellers' as distinct ancient peoples. The work synthesizes archaeological knowledge of its era, drawing on early explorations and excavations to construct a grand narrative of lost civilizations that once thrivenorth of the Rio Grande. Written during a period of intense public curiosity about American antiquity, before archaeology became a rigorous scientific discipline, the book reveals both the genuine scholarly ambitions and the deeply flawed assumptions of its time. Today it stands as a window into Victorian-era thinking about North America's deep history, and as a cautionary tale about how racial biases shaped early interpretations of the archaeological record. For readers interested in the history of archaeology itself, or in understanding how earlier generations imagined pre-Columbian America, this reprinted edition offers a rare glimpse into a vanished intellectual world.