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When American settlers first crossed the Appalachian Mountains they were amazed to discover that the wilderness beyond contained ancient ruins--large man-made mounds and enclosures, and impressive earthen sculptures, such as a gigantic serpent. Reports trickled back to the eager ears of President Thomas Jefferson and others. However, most did not believe these earthworks had anything to do with Native Americans; rather, given the intense interest in the history of Western Civilization at the time, it became popular to speculate that the ruins had been built by refugees from Greece, Rome, Egypt--or even the lost continent of Atlantis. As Lorett Treese explains in her fascinating history
A Serpent's Tale: Discovering America's Ancient Mound Builders, the enigmatic nature of these antiquities fueled both fanciful claims and scientific inquiry. Early on, the earthworks began to fall to agricultural and urban development. Realizing that only careful on-site investigation could reveal the mysteries of the mounds, scholars hastened to document and classify them, giving rise to American archaeology as a discipline.
About the author
Lorett Treese served as college archivist at Bryn Mawr College for twenty years, following an earlier career in busi¬ness, advertising, and public relations. She holds an undergraduate degree from Bryn Mawr and an MA in American history from Villanova University. She is the author of a number of books, including
Valley Forge: Making and Remaking a National Symbol,
Railroads of Pennsylvania, and
The Storm Gathering: The Penn Family and the American Revolution.
