Why Is the Myth Perpetuated?
The ugly truth, denial of unpleasant facts, lying to yourself for your own good-the myth of the moundbuilders is an example of this on an epic scale. When the first Europeans came to America, they brought with them a new barrage of deadly diseases. These diseases wiped out a massive number of American Indians, sometimes entire populations. With a higher population density and more travelers, the mound building Indians would naturally be more easily wiped out than a more barbaric, less civilized group of Indians. The diseases would have spread more easily through such a thick host. Upon arrival, early European explorers such as the Gentleman of Elvas report seeing the mounds in use by the superior members of villages. Why then did the early Americans so readily believe the moundbuilders were a long extinct group of people? Conveniently, this theory got them off the hook for the deaths of millions. Burying their heads in the sand to avoid unpleasant truths was just one reason to perpetuate the myth. It also gave them a sense of rightness about taking all this land. If the moundbuilders were Europeans here before the savage Indians currently populating the area, the new explorers and following colonists must be the rightful heirs to the land. Of course, we cannot ignore the sheer ignorance of many who believe these lies. Kenneth L. Feder-author of Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries-states in this text that he recently visited a city in close proximity to the historic site at Collinsville whose residents had no idea the site existed. If they did not know it was there, they obviously had no idea who could be responsible for such works. These people would probably believe any slightly reasonable explanation offered up to them, and some even unreasonable explanations. This simply underscores the fact that lack of education about these sites promotes the misunderstandings surrounding the myth to this day. In order to combat this lack of historical knowledge, I have placed on this site several photographs taken by myself at one of our own local mounds, the Madira Bickel Mound located just off I-275 in Terra Ceia. Actually comprised of a ceremonial mound and a burial mound, these provide a local foray into the world of the moundbuilders, where you can actually climb to the top of one and wonder at the monument which was built around 1500-800 years ago, clearly well within the time range of Native Americans. Provided are links to more of Florida’s mound sites. Tell your friends so they can see some of the wondrous achievements of Native Americans.
http://www.flheritage.com/archaeology/projects/letchworth/
http://www.floridastateparks.org/MadiraBickelMound/ParkSummary.cfm
http://www.sandersonbay.com/citruscounty/historicalplaces.html
These steps lead up to the top of one of the mounds at the Madira Bickel site in Terra Ceia.
