Maybe the answer to the question posed by the article's title is given in this line found near its conclusion? > By 1492, American Indians had created a giant

Maybe the answer to the question posed by the article's title is given in this line found near its conclusion? > By 1492, American Indians had created a giant park whose beauty and riches inspired thousands and thousands of Europeans to cross a continent. The park, not the ruins of buildings, is what North America’s ancient inhabitants left us. People continue to conserve, visit, and learn about our natural lands today (even if we've only recently begun to understand how to care for them as past civilizations did). Not to minimize the value of archeological sites, both ruins and hieroglyphics across the United States are fascinating to visit!