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the first to argue a more exotic origin. They were awed on their arrival at the Aztec city-state of Tenochtitlán, what is now Mexico City. Although amazed by the structures and the clearly advanced culture, they were truly stunned when further exploration revealed the more elaborate ruins of the Maya. They assumed the supremacy of the older Maya ruins, compared to later Aztec cities, indicated a slowly devolving society. Was there an earlier advanced culture that started Mesoamerican civilization? Did their knowledge slowly disappear with time? Searching for an explanation, they decided the Maya were one of the Lost Tribes of Israel.

Celestial Connection

Ten tribes of Israel were lost from Biblical record following the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel by Assyrians in 722 B.C.E. They were thought to be dispersed across the continents where they continued to keep and teach the tenants of Judaism. Of course, they could equally have been destroyed or absorbed into Assyrian culture. Theories as to where the Lost Tribes ended up are boundless. At different times Japanese, Celts, and Native Americans have been considered Lost Tribes. The Book of Mormon refers to Native Americans as one of the Lost Tribes despite the absence of connection between their languages, traditions, or genotype.

Mayan Legends

Another popular theory of the origin of the Maya comes from the Maya themselves. They refer to their arrival in Central America as the end of a migration from their destroyed homeland, named Aztlan. Could Aztlan be Plato’s lost continent of Atlantis?

The origin of the story of Atlantis started with Plato between 350 and 300 B.C.E. He claimed the existence of a continent named Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean off the Coast of Gibraltar. The inhabitants were an advanced civilization that dispersed when the continent was destroyed and sank under water. Many cultures around the world share this basic story. The legend survives in different forms with names such as Atalaya in the Canary Islands, Atlaintica in Spain, Attala in North Africa, Aztlan among the Maya, and Azatlan among North American Indigenous people.

The legend claims many Atlanteans escaped and colonized different civilizations. A theory that the Maya came from Atlantis was promoted by the famous prophet Edgar Cayce. While in a trance in April 1939, he claimed the breaking up of Atlantis resulted in the emigration of Atlanteans to colonize the Incas in Peru, the Maya in the Yucatan, as well as the Egyptians. (You’ll learn more about Cayce and his predictions in Chapter 11.)

This theory is favored by those who are struck by the fact that these cultures developed advanced hieroglyphic writing styles and designed massive pyramid structures. Proponents remark on the ruins off the coast of the Bimini Islands as evidence of a network of past civilizations now underwater.

def•i•ni•tion

Hieroglyphic writing is a system of writing that uses pictures to represent words or concepts. A hieroglyph is a symbol used in hieroglyphic writing.

An Additional Theory

Theories on the connection between ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica were not limited to the Atlantis theory. Many alternative historians believe there were cultural dispersions from Egypt and other old-world communities to Central America. These historians believe that ancient Egyptians traveled by boat across the Atlantic Ocean, where they influenced the Mesoamerican cultural trends. This theory is a little hard to accept once you realize that the Mayan pyramids are older than the Egyptian pyramids.

The Life of the Maya

The history of the Maya remained hidden in the jungles for centuries. Abandoned ruins doled out their secrets slowly to dedicated explorers. Today advanced mapping and aerial surveillance allows discovery of lost structures previously concealed. Many new sites have been excavated in the last five to ten years. Two recent discoveries show pyramids, plazas, and complex writing much earlier than previously thought.

San Bartolo in northern Guatemala was discovered in 2001 by modern grave