A serpent's tale

When American settlers first crossed the Appalachian Mountains they were amazed to discover that the wilderness beyond contained ancient ruins - large man-made mounds and enclosures, and impressive earthen sculptures, such as a gigantic serpent. Reports trickled back to the eager ears of President Thomas Jefferson and others. However, most did not believe these earthworks had anything to do with Native Americans; rather, given the intense interest in the history of Western Civilization at the time, it became popular to speculate that the ruins had been built by refugees from Greece, Rome, Egypt - or even the lost continent of Atlantis. Since their discovery, the mounds have attracted both scholars and quacks, from the first investigations sponsored by the then new Smithsonian Institution to the visions of the American psychic Edgar Cayce.