152 DAVEXPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



more modern people than those who built the mounds, and occupy- 

 ing them merely because they afforded a position higher and drier 

 than the surrounding surface. These burials were at a depth of but 

 two or three feet, and after exploring so far from mere curiosity, 

 the search was carried no deeper, and the real treasures for which 

 tho mound was built were not discovered nor even dreamed of. In 

 many such cases, doubtless, the mounds have since been leveled 

 down, and their exact locality being forgotten, the opportunity of ex- 

 ploring them is lost forever. 



At about the time already referred to, 1867, attention began to be 

 turned in the direction of this research. Some discoveries were 

 made of quite a different character from anything known of the 

 habits of the modern Indians, and gradually it was learned that a 

 distinction must be made between the Indians and the people, evi- 

 dently of an earlier period, who had left these lasting memorials of 

 their greater industry. As nothing was known of them to warrant 

 the use of any descriptive or national name, the very safe appella- 

 tion of "Mound Builders " was, by common consent, adopted. 



During the last decade every year has added something new and 

 strange to the silent testimonials of the lives, the labors, and the vast 

 numbers of that mysterious people, whose very memory had utterly 

 passed from the face of the earth. 



From these relics a great deal has been learned regarding the 

 habits of this people, and a wide-spread and intense interest awak- 

 ened, and it is not too much to say that our Academy has contribu- 

 ted a fair share toward this result. 



Though the knowledge consists chiefly of a disjointed, incoherent 

 mass of facts, scarcely sufficient even now to warrant the enuncia- 

 tion of any very complete theory regarding them, yet sufficient data 

 have been accumulated to justify some ])r<:tty strong inferences, in 

 most of which, probably, nearly all persons at all familiar with the 

 subject will concur. 



The Mound-Builders were very numerous throughout the Missis- 

 sippi valley. The}^ dwelt mostly, if not exclusively, in the neigh- 

 borhood of the rivers. They were a ])eo])le entirely distinct from 

 tlie North American Indians, as we know them, had occupied the 

 country in much earlier times than the latter, and were entirely un- 

 known to them, even by tradition. 



Like the modern Indians, they were of different tribes, but less 

 warlike and less nomadic, more domestic in their habits, yet their 



