THE MUSEUM. 



A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Research in Natural Science. 



Vol. I\- 



ALBION, N. v., 1'1:BRUARY 15, 1898. 



No. 4 



A Study in Archaeology. 



Seeing;^ in the December number of 

 Ml'SEIm, the article entitled "An 

 Aboriginal \illage Site, " has aroused 

 in me a desire to hear still more on 

 the subject, and to help matters along 

 will donate a few stray thoughts from 

 my corner of the plantation, while yet 

 the memory of the above mentioned 

 article is fresh in our minds. 



I shall endeavor only to give the 

 reader, in plain descriptive, the results 

 of a little personal observation and re- 

 search in regard to pre-historic habita- 

 tions in my localit)-. 



We have read many accounts of the 

 more gigantic arcluLological monu- 

 ments to an extinct race of men as 

 seen in the mounds found in the east- 

 ern and central states, but thus far the 

 more western have been somewhat 

 neglected, though not because there 

 are no fruitful fields here; for there 

 lies in Kansas many an acre of soil, 

 rich in its history of bygone days of 

 savagery, though unmarked in many 

 cases, save by a few broken points and 

 the shavings from their work-shops— 

 the flint clippings, flakes and unfin- 

 ished implements thrown aside by the 

 artisan because of a flaw in the ma- 

 terial or stubbornness of the flint in 

 clipping. These and many other evi- 

 dences, noted only by the experienced 

 eye, show us that ages ago Kansas has 

 nursed upon her heaving breast a 

 family of children, who, though rude 

 in methods and warlike in disposition, 

 had hands as skilled in their arts, 

 hearts as brave, a love as fervent and 

 patriotism as loyal to the dear old hills 

 and prairies — and doubtless more so — 

 than her present generation. 



That such have been the facts, 

 written history and traditions tell us, 

 and a still more tangible and undoubt- 



ed evidence to the truth may be found 

 within a league of almost any of our 

 homes if we but look for theni. 



Especially numerous will be the 

 proofs along the valleys of our streams 

 where, long before our eyes beheld the 

 light of day or gloom of darkness; and 

 when yet the rocks with which our 

 homes are built, were fresh in their 

 beds, our brother — the Indian, mound- 

 builder, cliff dweller, or whatever 

 vague term we may use in speaking of 

 him — was studying the laws of resist- 

 ance and how to construct his missiles 

 of death so as lo be least retarded by 

 them, as shown in the various and 

 novel shapes, in which, with patience 

 he formed the flinty tips for the arrow 

 and blade for his spear, how he 

 rearched among mother earth's treas- 

 ure store for the material most suit- 

 able to his purpose, and at the same 

 time with an eye for beauty in form, 

 color and symmetry, also seen in the 

 apparently insignificant scraps, which 

 he carelessly left behind. How he 

 worshipped the Supreme, as seen in 

 the location'of his temples and altars, 

 probably now a mere shapeless mass 

 of dirt and partially burnt stones, 

 pillars or_ mounds of earth, fast being 

 scattered and obliterated by careless 

 hands and plowmen 



The thought must come to one in a 

 moment of reflection, "Will the day 

 come, when in the years that ate still 

 in oblivion of the future, man shall 

 have become so far superior in intel- 

 lect and methods, and yet know and 

 think as little of us as we now know of 

 our ancestral race; that he must look 

 upon a few of the more lasting and 

 least destructible of our works of civi- 

 lization and say, alas! 'how crude were 

 his works!" and yet with all his civi- 



