18 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



to the exhumation of figurhies, pearls, meteoric iron, and rude plating 

 of hammered silver. 



Prof. Thomas, in reply to Prof. Scudder's statement of what had 

 recently been found by Prof. Putnam in certain Ohio mounds, stated 

 that all of the types mentioned, except one, had been obtained by 

 the assistants of the Bureau of Ethnology. 



Major Powell said : The discussion this evening has brought out 

 many interesting facts relating to the early inhabitants of this 

 country, especially to the dwellings which they occupied and to the 

 antiquity of the ruins which have been discovered. 



In 1856 or '7 I was making exploration of mounds on the shore 

 of Peoria Lake, in Illinois, and I discovered in a mound a copper 

 plate — a thin sheet of copper, cut in the form to represent an eagle. 

 At the time I supposed it gave evidence of the superior civilization 

 of the mound-builders. Some months after, in more carefully ex- 

 amining this thin copper plate, I discovered that it had been rolled 

 and cut by machinery, and this led me to believe that it was not the 

 manufacture of Indians, but that it was probably manufactured by 

 white men. If the supposition were true it is manifest that the 

 mound had been erected subsequent to the association of these In- 

 dians with white people. This was the first suggestion to my mind 

 that the age of the mounds had been misinterpreted, and that the 

 general conclusion that the mound-builders were not tribes found 

 in this country on its discovery was erroneous. Since that time one 

 line of evidence after another has led to the same conclusion. Some 

 years ago I published this conclusion in general terms, and every 

 year it is strengthened, and it may be fairly said at the present time 

 that it rests on a sound inductive basis. 



But this conclusion does not overthrow the belief that many of the 

 mounds are of great antiquity. Domiciliary mounds, burial mounds, 

 and mounds for many other purposes are discovered everywhere 

 throughout North America in vast numbers, and doubtless the in- 

 ception of mound-building dates far back m remote' antiquity. The 

 numbers of the mounds themselves testify to this conclusion, and the 

 conditions under which many of them are found lead to the same 

 opinion. To account for the great numbers of the mounds it is 

 not necessary, but is in fact illogical, to assume a dense population. 

 Length of time will give the same result ; and I think it has been 

 clearly shown that the number of Indians inhabiting the country at 

 the time of its discovery by Europeans has been by many writers 



