678 ANNUAL REPOr.T SMITHSONIAN" INSTITUTION, 192 8 



The curious mounds just mentioned must not be confused with the 

 small earth circles which also occur in groups, many of which are 

 found east as well as west of the Mississippi. They have been dis- 

 covered in southern Illinois, parts of Kentucky and Tennessee, and 

 elsewhere east of the Mississippi ; also across the river in southeastern 

 Missouri. Each of the small circles or slight depressions indicates 

 the site of an ancient habitation, possibly of a lodge, the walls of 

 which were composed of small interwoven branches or vines covered 

 with several inches of plastic clay which, when dry, formed a sub- 

 stantial wind-proof wall. Where a number of similar circles are 

 found together, often closely grouped and of uniform size, it is evi- 

 dence of the existence at some time in the past of a native village. 

 Many such settlements were surrounded by a ditch and an embank- 

 ment which was probably surmounted by a palisade, and although 

 the latter has long since disappeared the ditch and embankment may 

 be traced, unless leveled by the plow. Many villages on the banks 

 of the upper Missouri were so protected within the past century, a 

 continuation of a custom once practiced throughout the greater part 

 of the country, 



A great number of mounds have been excavated in southeastern 

 Missouri and the adjoining part of Arkansas, and the majority have 

 revealed quantities of earthenware vessels of many shapes and styles 

 of decoration. They do not appear to be very ancient, and a large 

 proportion were probably fashioned by the tribes found occupying 

 the country by the early French explorers. The mounds were the 

 burial places belonging to the people of the near-by villages, and the 

 discovery of such quantities of pottery vessels in the mounds proves 

 the custom of the people of depositing many vessels in the graves 

 with their dead. 



Careful examination of the mounds of Louisiana and Texas would 

 undoubtedly reveal much of interest and would assist in tracing the 

 line of migration of many southern tribes, but unfortunately very 

 little work has been done in that part of the country. Ancient trails 

 traversed the region and served to connect the west and southwest 

 with the Mississippi Valley. There is no reason to doubt the move- 

 ment of tribes from the southwest into the country bordering the 

 Mississippi and eastward, and eventually it may be shown that 

 Cahokia, Etowah, and other works of the same type owe their origin 

 to a tribe or group of tribes whose earlier habitat had been south of 

 the Rio Grande. The shell and copper objects found in the Missis- 

 sippi Valley, at the Etowah Mound, and elsewhere, which bear in- 

 cised decorations so like those employed by the ancient Mexican 

 artists, were undoubtedly made by some who had knowledge of the 

 works of the latter. 



