Ancient America, in Notes on American Archaeology

Writing in 1871, when American archaeology barely existed as a discipline, Baldwin gathered what was then known about the continent’s ancient remains and set it out for general readers. He opens with the earthworks of the Mississippi Valley: the mounds, enclosures, and old copper workings of the people he called the Mound-Builders. From there he moves south to Palenque and Chichen-Itza, the Aztec cities, and the stone architecture of ancient Peru, closing with appendices on the Norse voyages and the legend of Welsh settlers. Baldwin insisted these works were American in origin, dismissing the Atlantis, Phoenician, and Lost Tribes theories of his day. Yet he also held that the Mound-Builders were a separate race that migrated up from Mexico, unrelated to the Indians living around them. Later evidence overturned that second claim.