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by Andrew Collins (Introduction by), Andrew Collins (Author), Gregory Little (Author)
America's ancient Mound Builders left behind thousands of pyramid-shaped and conical burial mounds, complex geometric earthworks, effigy mounds, and incredible artifacts depicting mysterious symbols. When the first European explorers began reporting their discovery of these enigmatic structures (over 400 years ago) no one knew who built them. No one seemed to know the meaning of the symbols, and the ritualistic purposes of the complex geometric earthen shapes were a complete mystery. That forgotten knowledge is explained by the decimation of Native American populations by explorers and gold-seeking Spanish conquistadores. Within a generation after the Spanish entered America, Native American populations decreased by over 90 percent from disease and war.It is now known that many ancient earthworks were used to assist souls of the dead in their journey to the sky world and the mysterious symbols were used in rituals by an elite ruling class of priests and chiefs.Souls journeyed to the west where they made a leap of faith to the sky. The souls then made a journey along the Milky Way until they reached the most important spot on the path. This was at the Great Rift of the Milky Way, where they encountered an enigmatic Adversary located at the Constellation of Cygnus. Path of Souls details this amazing death journey and how it was revealed in recent times by archaeologists. It is also thought that the newly revealed Native American death journey explains much about ancient Egyptian ideas of death.Where did these ideas about the death journey come from and when did they arrive in America? Who were the elite rulers of the Mound Builders? Hundreds of newspaper articles from the 1800s and early 1900s reported giant skeletons found in large stone tombs buried deep inside burial mounds. Were these tall leaders the elite? Today the Smithsonian asserts that there we no giants in the ancient world but in their actual published mound excavation reports, they detailed the discovery of many skeletons at least seven feet tall. Path of Souls explores all of these issues and is lavishly illustrated with over 150 maps, photos, and illustrations.
