Pre-Columbian America [antikvár]

PREFACEIn this volume, which deals with the myths and religious practices of pre-Columbian America in their relation to habits of life and the growth of civilization, the question is frankly faced whether these manifestations of ancient culture were of independent origin or had been imported from the Old World, The view has been favoured by some writers that America remained isolated from the rest of the world from early Pleistocene times until it was discovered by Columbus and conquered by the Spaniards, and that we should account for the existence there of habits of life, habits of thought, myths, folk-tales, &c., similar to those found in Asia and elsewhere, by accepting them as proofs of the "psychic unity" of mankind. Even the most highly complex beliefs, myths, and deities should, according to this theory, be regarded as natural products of the human mind. " Similar needs we are informed, "produce similar results." It was not, however, until comparatively late in the history of man that signs of progress were revealed in the New World. There is nothing of importance older in America, as the Americanists inform us, than 200 B.C., the date usually applied nowadays to the beginning of what is called the "Archaic period ". All the great pre-Columbian civilizations, the Maya of Central America, the Peruvian of South America, and the Aztec ofMexico, fall within the Christian era. Indeed, the Azteclit