US academics who do dabble in this area often try to date its decline and disappearance to a convenient ‘1350 CE’ – or just prior to the arrival of Columbus in 1492 CE – whilst others state that it was probably contact with Europeans that put an end to it. The usual dualistic paradigm perpetuated is that these non-European architects who (were expert in engineering) – were also ‘savage’ in religion (a recurring theme in Protestant and Catholic-led European colonialism) – and destroyed themselves through their own inherent ‘evilness’ and ‘stupidity’! There is premised upon apparent archaeological evidence of what might be a small number of human ‘sacrifices’ dating to around 900 CE – but many old cultures practiced this including Celts, Vikings, the Chinese, Indians and many other ethnic and religious groups (including Christians) around the world. The Protestant and Catholic Christians, for instance, used to ritualistically ‘burn’ one another throughout Europe as an ‘offering’ to their respective interpretation of the same Abrahamic god! Of course, this was when these two ‘Unorthodox’ Churches were not busy torturing or burning the Pagan populations of the countries they had occupied!
