American Genesis: The American Indian and the Origins of Modern Man

LOST TRIBES AND SUNKEN CONTINENTS 31
gins was largely ignored. Interestingly, many Indian myths did
refer to visitors from strange lands, but these visitors were supposed
to have come long after the Indians were well established
in the Americas. For example, Mayan mythology describes two
diHerent sets of legendary visitors, one white-skinned, the other
black-skinned, who both arrived by boat from across the great sea
which lay to the east. (In fact, it was the Aztecs' trusting anticipation
of the return of the white-skinned visitors that led to their
defeat by the Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortez.) These
fabled visitations came long after the Mayas had begun building
their ornate temples and palaces; they have nothing to do with
Mayan origins, which began, the myths said, "worlds" earlier.
The Indian myths that the Anglos have been able to gather so
far remain incomplete, but it is clear that for the most part they
refer to the various Indian groups originating or "emerging" in
the Americas. Of course, we must also keep in mind that diHerent
Indian groups may have had different origins.
During the twentieth century, the boldest and most imaginative
combatants in the quest of fixing the origins of the Indian
entered the arena: a fervent group arguing that the first Indians
were survivors of the Lost Civilizations of Atlantis and/ or Mu.
This last theory, which at times has been the most popular of ail,
is particularly difficult to debate since these alleged great civilizations
are supposed to have flourished on continental remnants
that have since sunk beneath the sea, the last remnant disappearing
some 11,000 years ago, a time which provocatively corresponds
with a sudden rise in world-wide sea level.
The concept of Atlantis goes back to Plato (427-347 B.C.). In
two of his dialogues, the Timaeus and the Critias, Plato tells the
story of Atlantis "not as a mere legend" but as historical fact, as a
"veritable action." According to these dialogues, Solon, an
esteemed statesman who lived about two centuries before Plato,
heard about Atlantis from Egyptian priests who possessed written
records concerning this large island continent. Despite Plato's
claims, there is a serious debate about whether Plato was indeed