674 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 2 8 



many lakes, they continued to use the ancient mounds as burial 

 places for their dead, placing the bodies in an extended position near 

 the surface. This is the simple explanation of the two distinct forms 

 of burial discovered in the mounds, and what is true in Minnesota 

 is equally true in other sections of the country as regards the use of 

 the same mounds by one or more tribes who possessed different 

 manners and customs. But some tribes, especially in the South, had 

 several methods of disposing of their dead, as indicated by the dis- 

 covery of various forms of burials in the same mound. These often 

 occur in contact with one another and were evidently placed there 

 by the same people at about the same time. 



THE GREAT CAHOKIA MOUND, NEAR THE CENTER OF THE 

 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 



Innumerable mounds of various forms and sizes, erected by many 

 tribes to serve different purposes, are scattered throughout the valley 

 of the Mississippi, but the most imposing groups stand, or rather 

 stood, on both sides of the Mississippi a few miles below the mouth 

 of the Missouri. Here appears to have been the central gathering 

 place of the tribes of the valle}^, where they were wont to come to- 

 gether and where they had dwelt through many generations. In the 

 rich lowlands opposite the present city of St. Louis they raised the 

 great truncated pyramid, now designated Cahokia Mound, which 

 rises 100 feet above the plain, extends 1,080 feet from north to 

 south, and more than TOO feet from east to west (pjl. 7), a remark- 

 able structure to have been reared by primitive man with the simplest 

 of methods and the crudest of implements. It is an imposing struc- 

 ture and should be carefully preserved as a monument erected by a 

 people of another race before the central valley of the continent 

 was known to Europeans. The ancient people, undoubtedly coming 

 from the south and possibly from as far away as Mexico, chose this 

 spot as the site of their greatest structure. How Jlong they remained 

 and what causes impelled them to abandon the region may never be 

 determined, but their descendants were probably some tribe or tribes 

 known in historic times living away from their earlier habitat. 



The massive work stands near the center of the plain, surrounded 

 by 70 or more lesser mounds, some of which rose more than 40 feet 

 above the natural surface. This principal group was flanked by 

 others to the north, south, and west, the latter having been on the 

 summit of the high cliff overlooking the Mississippi from the west, 

 an area now within the city of St. Louis. In addition to the many 

 mounds forming the four distinct clusters, which shoujd be regarded 

 as four units of a greater group, were scattered mounds along the 

 brow of the bluffs bordering the lowlands on the east, but similar 

 artificial works are found overlooking the great river throughout its 



