INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



The .adventurous activity of the people of the United States, joined to a wander- 

 ing propensity, partly national and partly characteristic of the age, has left few, 

 if any, considerable portions of the country unexplored. The emigrant overtakes 

 the government surveyor, and railroads and other improvements advance with 

 equal rapidity in the steps of the latter. It would be difficult to point out upon 

 the map a section of much extent, however secluded, that has not been traversed 

 by intelligent observers, taking note of the quality of its soil, its vegetable and 

 mineral productions, and whatever else would contribute to an appreciation of its 

 resources. In these expeditions, often conducted by topographical engineers, and 

 accompanied by naturalists constantly looking out for objects of interest, it is 

 hardly to be supposed that vestiges of ancient art would fail to attract attention. 

 We can therefore anticipate little of novelty hereafter in that class of discoveries, 

 and now that the peculiar earthworks of Wisconsin have been carefully investi- 

 gated, it may reasonably be inferred that all the prominent varieties of aboriginal 

 remains, which are found in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, have 

 been more or less minutely described. 



The memoir of Messrs. Squier and Davis, constituting the first volume of the 

 "Smithsonian Contributions," although entitled "Ancient Monuments of the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley," and mainly devoted to the antiquities of that extensive region, yet 

 aimed to embrace within its scope all that was known of similar vestiges north 

 of the Gulf of Mexico. Hence, the writers added to their own materials the 

 results of previous and contemporary researches in other parts of the United States, 

 as well as that to which their personal observations were confined. Their treatise 

 contains a faithful and able exposition of the subject, corrects many errors pre- 

 viously entertained, and defines and classifies the information collected with great 

 clearness and particularity. 



In the second volume of the "Contributions," again under a limited title, that 

 of the " Aboriginal Monuments of the State of New York," Mr. Squier has ex- 

 tended his private explorations to the aboriginal relics of that State, and, in an 

 ample appendix, has once more gone over the whole ground, for the purpose of 

 presenting a general view of the characteristics of such antiquities in the United 

 States, and comparing them with analogous remains in other countries. Some of 

 his former opinions respecting the earthworks in that section are changed or modi- 

 fied, and the fruits of much inquiry and mature study are brought to bear upon 

 the question of the origin and use of the various structures. 

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