The Ancient Civilizations of the Amazon: the Present Status of the Question of Their Origins

Scarcely fifty years ago the “Indian sphinx” posed enigmas that seemed simple. Known pre-Columbian civilizations were relatively few, and their past, however obscure, could be considered recent in contrast to the millenniums that separate us from the cultures of the ancient Orient. Today this is no...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inDiogenes (English ed.) Vol. 7; no. 28; pp. 91 - 106
Main Authors Métraux, Alfred, Halperin, Elaine P.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Thousand Oaks, CA SAGE Publications 01.12.1959
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Summary:Scarcely fifty years ago the “Indian sphinx” posed enigmas that seemed simple. Known pre-Columbian civilizations were relatively few, and their past, however obscure, could be considered recent in contrast to the millenniums that separate us from the cultures of the ancient Orient. Today this is no longer true. The emergence of new archeological horizons has singularly transformed our summary view of the history of man in the Western Hemisphere. The date of the first human migrations through the Bering Straits has been put back some twenty or thirty thousand years—to the Aztec, Mayan, and Incan civilizations which the Spaniards knew in their full flower. Others have been added which, in turn, give rise to fresh enigmas.
ISSN:0392-1921
1467-7695
DOI:10.1177/039219215900702805