ETHNOLOGY. O 



Of the second class, tlie remains are also numerous, and are scat- 

 tered through all the States east of the Mississippi, in the form of axes, 

 arrow-heads, sinkers for nets, fleshing chisels, and other implements 

 of stone, and in some cases fragments of rude pottery. 



To the first class belong the only antiquities of America, and these 

 are of various descriptions. They include tlie tools found in the nor- 

 thern copper-mines ; the articles inclosed in the mounds of Ohio and 

 elsewhere ; the images common in Kentucky and Tennessee, indicat- 

 ing, among other things, the worship of the Phallus; pottery, the 

 fragments of which are abundant in Florida, the Gulf States, and on 

 the Gila, connecting an extinct with an existing art ; and especially 

 those specimens frequently disinterred in the Mexican States, belong- 

 ing to the era of Aztec or Toltecan civilization. It is especially im- 

 portant to ascertain the antiquity of these by careful observation of 

 the circumstances under which they are discovered, in order not to 

 confound ancient with modern utensils. 



To this class also belong those articles found under conditions 

 which connect archaeology with geology, and which may be classed 

 as follows : 



1. The contents of shell beds of ancient date found on the sea- 

 coasts and bays, often deeply covered with soil and overgrown with 

 trees; among which, besides the shells themselves, implements of stone, 

 bones of fish, animals, and. birds used for food, are frequently met with. 

 The examination of these collections in Denmark and other countries 

 of northern Europe has led to the discovery of remains belonging to 

 a period when a people having no other implements than those of 

 stone or bone occupied the coast prior to the settlement there of the 

 present race. It is possible that a similar investigation in America 

 may carry us back to a very remote period in aboriginal history. 



2. Human remains, or implements of human manufacture, bones of 

 animals bearing the marks of tools or of subjection to fire, found in 

 caves beneath deposits of earth, and more especially of stalagmite oi 

 stony material formed by droppings from the roof. 



3. Spear and arrow heads, or other weapons, and evidences of firo 

 discovered in connection with bones of extinct animals, such as the 

 mammoth, fossil elephant, «fcc., among superficial deposits, such as 

 salt-licks, &c. 



4. Implements of the same descriptio-n found in deposits of sand 

 and gravel, or other like material, exposed in bluffs or steep banks, 

 such as have recently attracted the attention of European geologists. 



In all these cases the utmost care should be taken to ascertain with 



