Various theories, some of them very wild and irrational, have been
advanced to explain the origin of what is seen in these relics of
Ancient America. If it had been the fashion to explore and study them as
their importance deserves, as Egypt and Nineveh have been explored and
studied, our knowledge of them would now be much more extensive and
valuable, and it might be possible to go farther toward a solution of
the problem they present. But not many persons have sought to explore
and understand these remains, and not more than two or three have really
sought in earnest to examine the old traditions and books of the
country. The abundant inscriptions at Palenque fade in their forest
solitude while waiting for the Champollion who shall interpret their
mysteries. Something is known, but we have no history of these old
cities, no authentic historical record of the people who built them.
Therefore theorizing has very naturally been stimulated to great
activity, and most of this theorizing has been regulated by the old,
unreasoning assumption that civilization found in any place, especially
in the olden times, must have been brought and established there as a
foreign production. Generally the hypotheses used in this case have
presumed as a matter of course that the original civilizers came to
this continent from Europe or Asia.