CONTRIBUTIONS OF AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY TO HUMAN HISTORY. 555 



nitely to the many- vaulted roof supported by a wilderness of limestone 

 columns; we see walls decorated within and without with symbolic 

 sculptures, single buildings presenting thousands of square yards of 

 embellished surface, and marvel at lofty false fronts and roof crests 

 rhat were added to afford space for the exercise of the native genius 

 for decoration. 



These chapters in the evolution of the building arts aiv not taught 

 with e(|ual clearness and fullness in any other part of the world. 

 Besides the direct lessons which bear upon the history of the art of 

 architecture, many side lights are thrown upon other branches of 

 primitive culture — nniral decoi'ation, sculpture, and furnisliing, as 

 well as the organization of society, religious beliefs, and systems or 

 writing. 



Sciilptvre. — Sculpture reached its highest development in Greece, 

 but the stages through Avhich the art ])assed are but meagerly re- 

 corded in the extant art works of Hellas. The earlier steps are re^n-e 

 sented by isolated bits in many places, but the primitive phases of 

 the art are by no means so fully exhibited as in America. We have 

 there a vast body of material covering every stage from the very 

 l)eginning of stone-sha]3ing up to full relief and realistic portrayal 

 of the human subject. JNo people known to us has within the cul- 

 ture range of the Americans shown such versatility and ])ower witli 

 the hammer and chisel; none has embodied in stone a mytholooy so 

 rich in imagery, including as it does forms of men, beasts, mon- 

 sters, and cosmic phenomena in greatest variety. The arciieologist 

 has here spread out before him, Avith the work of the living peojdes 

 to guide him, as in an open book the whole story of the evolution of 

 sculptural phenomena within the horizon of barbai'ism. 



Met(dlur<jy. — The Avorking of metals is among the most impor- 

 tant activities of civilized man, and has been a chief agency in the 

 deA^elopment of culture, as is especially manifest in gigantic forward 

 steps of recent years. Although the general course of metallurgic 

 development and the nnitual relation of its successive stages of prog- 

 ress are well made out, much remains to be learned, and in this direc- 

 tion America is able to make the most valuable contributions. We 

 learn from history something of the metal work of the AmericiiU 

 aborigines. Tin, lead, and iron were little known, and the smelting 

 of ores was in its infancy, but gold, copper, and silver were extensively 

 employed when the Spaniards arrived, and these metals Avere forged, 

 fused, cast, alloyed, plated, and otherAvise handled Avith a skill that 

 astonished the conquerors. Archeology verifies the statements of bis 

 torians and adds much to our knoAvledge of the nianipulation of 

 metals and of the forms produced in the primitiA^e stages of culture, 

 not only in regard to the Western Continent, but for the oenoral his- 



