120 ANTIQUITIES IN TENNESSEE. 



centuries, suddenly abandoned it about the year 1050 of our era, is of interest in 

 this discussion, in tliat it furnishes a plausible explanation of the similarity be- 

 tween the crania of the Tennessee stone-grave and mound-building race and those 

 of the Inca-Peruvians of South America. This supposition will be still further 

 strengthened by the establishment of similarities with the ancient Mexicans. The 

 form and expression of the Toltecan face, and the characteristics of their skulls, 

 gathered from the terra-cotta heads found in the Toltecan ruins of Anahuac, and 

 in the ruins of the temples of the Sun and Moon at Teotihuacan, and from the 

 bas-reliefs of Palenque and other ancient Mexican cities, present a striking resem- 

 blance in size and configuration to the heads of the Peruvians. They are all very 

 much compressed from back to front, having high and broad foreheads, oval faces, 

 and prominent cheek-bones. 



The Toltecan crania, figured by Dr. Morton (Plates XVI, XVII, XVII A, XVIII, 

 LIX, LX, LXI), both in their outlines and in their measurements resemble closely 

 those of the stone-grave and mound race of Tennessee. We observe the same 

 want of symmetry, the same great width between the parietal bones, marked flatten- 

 ing of the occiput, and the same broad and ponderous jaws. 



Most historians date the invasion of Mexico by the Toltecs, whose original scat 

 is stated in their traditions to have been to the northwest of Mexico, in a country 

 called Huehuetapallan, about the year 600 of the Christian era. The Toltecs, the 

 most refined in their social relations, and most skilful in their arts and sciences 

 of all the nations of Anahuac, introduced the cultivation of Indian corn and cotton, 

 made roads, lived in towns and cities, and erected the most imposing monuments 

 in the New World. During the reign of their last prince, about the beginning of 

 the eleventh century, their prosperity and power were destroyed by a series of 

 calamities. The rain denied them the necessary showers to their fields; the 

 earth refused the fruits that supported them ; and the air was infected with a 

 mortal contagion which filled the graves with dead and carried consternation to 

 the minds of the survivors. The remnant of this groat nation souijht relief from 

 famine, sickness, and death, in other countries, and, about the year 1031, emigrated 

 in large bodies to various parts of the continent, and extended themselves as far 

 south as Yucatan. 



According to the historian who records these events, the land of Anahuac 

 remained solitary and depopulated for nearly one century. When the Aztecs took 

 possession of Anahuac, in the 12th century, they found the gigantic pyramids of 

 Cholula, Teotihuacan, and Papantle already existing, and referred them to the 

 Toltecs. 



As the Toltecs were not the original inhabitants of Mexico, and if it be granted 

 that the similarity between their earthen pyramids, stone idols, warlike implements, 

 drinking and cooking vessels, and crania, with those of the aborigines of Tennessee 

 establishes a common origin ; it may be a subject of inquiry, whether the aborigines 

 of Tennessee came from Mexico, or were a remnant of the original stock which 

 invaded Mexico in 600 A. D. 



In the consideration of this question, the religious customs, laws, and history of 

 the Natchez Indians, whose crania bear a striking resemblance to those of the 



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