676 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1928 



units of the Cahokia group, but resemblino; in several respects the 

 great Etowah mound standing in Bartow County, Ga. 



SMALLER MOUNDS IN THE SOUTH RESEMBLE CAHOKIA 



Many works farther south give the impression of having been 

 erected by people related to those who raised Cahokia. Quite similar 

 in outline although small in comparison, mounds in Jefferson and 

 other counties in Arkansas, in Louisiana, Mississij)pi, Alabama, and 

 Georgia, appear to have been built by related tribes or those who 

 possessed similar manners and customs, although distinct from the 

 northern tribes. To these tribes should be attributed the mounds in 

 Bartow County, Ga., southeast of Cartersville near the banks of 

 Etowah River. This is known as the Etowah group. The large 

 mound has an elevation of 61 feet above the low ground bordering 

 the river, and its base measures 380 by 330 feet, far less than Caho- 

 kia (pi. 8). On one side is a curious incline which does not reach 

 the summit. Tliere were formerly many smaller mounds in the 

 vicinity of the large work, but all have disappeared. This was evi- 

 dently the site of a large town, an influential center of population, 

 and may have been visited by De Soto during the year 1540 when the 

 Spaniards traversed the southern country, but now little remains to 

 indicate the importance of the site. 



THROUGH THE VALLEY OP THE MISSOURI AND ELSEWHERE WEST 

 OF THE MISSISSIPPI 



Before discussing the mounds of the southern country, it will be 

 of interest to refer to the works found westward along the banks of 

 the Missouri, beginning at its junction with the Mississippi. 



The small mounds quite plentifully distributed through this re- 

 gion are of several types and were probably erected by various tribes 

 at different periods during their migrations through the valley. 

 Within historic times, and probably for some years preceding the 

 coming of the French, the Missouri Valley was the home of Siouan 

 Tribes, the Osage and Kansa belonging to this linguistic family. But 

 they should not be regarded as the builders of the majority of the 

 mounds, although they may have erected some. Many mounds could 

 be attributed to any one of several tribes, but another class of works 

 belongs to a highly specialized type, few examples of which have been 

 discovered outside this region. These are the burial mounds, each of 

 which contains a large inclosure constructed of stone, usually rec- 

 tangular, well built and having often an opening or passage on one 

 side. (PI. 9.) A few scattered tombs of this type have been encoun- 

 tered farther north near the Mississippi, and some have been dis- 

 covered east of the river in Illinois. They are found up the Mis- 

 »'0uri beyond the mouth of the Kansas River, but are far less 



