"Today's archaeologists see the Mound Builders' immense popularity as a case study in how genocide and dispossession overwrite Indigenous history. Lost-race narratives furnished a usable past for proponents of Manifest Destiny, since if Indians overthrew the ancient Phoenician or Celtic kingdoms of the Ohio Valley, it was only fair play that Europeans, heirs to the mantle of civilization, would overthrow the Indians in turn. These narratives proved so compelling for white Americans that critical archaeologists faced a long battle to debunk them and establish a pre-Colombian history based on their scientific standards. That battle is by no means over today ...."
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