360 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERT. 



nothing of the geological testimony, which is conflicting, Baron 

 Bunsen's researches in Egypt, the discovery of the lake habitations 

 of Switzerland, and the investigation of the mounds of the Missis- 

 sippi valley, have brought to light many facts which point to a 

 greater antiquity, or at least, to an earlier civilization, than has 

 commonly been attributed to man. In regard to the mounds, Mr. 

 W. De Haas has been writing some interesting accounts to the 

 St. Louis papers. 



The mounds which he describes are at American Bottom, 111., 

 and with those on the adjacent bluffs number about 200. They 

 are in two groups, constituting one grand system, and are, 

 in shape, conical, truncated, ellipsoidal and square, and in height 

 they vary from an elevation scarcely distinguishable to that of 90 

 feet. They are composed of earth and vegetable mould taken 

 from the adjacent bluffs, and after long investigation Mr. De 

 Haas has not the slightest doubt but that they were built by human 

 labor. Originally they were intended for tombs, but were also 

 used as temples and dwelling-places. 



The form of the skuRs discovered indicates that at least two ra- 

 ces dwelt there. Whether one drove out the other, or subdued 

 and became amalgamated with it, is not yet determined. The 

 types of heads found there are the pyramidal or pyramid-shaped, 

 and the semi-prognathous, or those with projecting jaws. The 

 pottery is of two kinds ; one is fine, compact, kiln-burned, and 

 tastefully ornamented with paint, while the other is coarse, sun- 

 dried and rudely ornamented. These ancient potters did not use 

 the wheel, but moulded by the hand, vases, urns, and dishes of 

 various patterns. The implements and ornaments are also of two 

 kinds, some being of polished stone, exquisitely wrought, and 

 others of undressed stone. The agricultural implements are dif- 

 ferent from those found in the Ohio valley, and are of stone. 



ETHNOLOGICAL SUMMARY. 



Bone Caves. — M. Delgado has described three caves in the Ju- 

 rasic limestone of Cesareda, Portugal, and finds tlierein evidence 

 that man once existed in that district in so rude a condition that 

 he lived in caves, ate human flesh, and possessed chipped flints for 

 his sole weapons. From the fragmentary condition of the human 

 bones, which had been cut and scraped, the long bones having 

 also been split, he concludes that the caves were used as burial- 

 places for a tribe of cannibals. 



Similarity of Implements in different Races. — From an essay by 

 Mr. A. C. Anderson, in part 5 of " Reliquiae Aquitanicse," it ap- 

 pears that there is a striking resemblance between many of the 

 Dordogne works of art and of the implements now or formerly 

 used by the North American Indians. Without considering this 

 resemblance as implying any affinity between the tribes, we may 

 admit, in the words of the author, "that, under similar circum- 

 stances and conditions of things, isolated branches of the human 



