140 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



cephalic skulls in the Historical collection were taken out of a burial 

 mound or tumulus near the banks of Lake Erie. 



Here, then, are mound builders' skulls found in the environments of 

 the later Indians, and the skulls of the later Indians, as we suppose, 

 probably Wyandots or Eries, in the tumulus of the mound builder. The 

 anomaly somewhat puzzles us. The only explanation which I have been 

 able to give is that possibly the spot was a battle held. There are in the 

 collection a few skulls which have all the characteristics of the red 

 Indians, large occipital protuberance, low frontal sinus, short lateral 

 diameter, the longitudinal diameter in great proportion. There are also 

 the skulls of little children in the collection, and the number and variety 

 in the pit give some indications of an indiscriminate slaughter. 



The only difficulty in this supposition is that there are no traces of 

 wounds in any of the crania, and yet their shapes and variety preclude 

 the idea that they were deposited in a funeral feast after the manner of 

 the later Indians. Allow me to say that we are accustomed to draw the 

 distinction in this State between the two races with considerable cer- 

 tainty. We rely not only upon the traditions of the Algonquins, but the 

 study of the remains, in their skull formations, their attitudes in burial, 

 and the relics attending them, and especially the differences of the 

 earthworks. 



By these three sources of evidence we are able to ascribe different 

 geographical localities to the two races. AVe find on the streams running 

 north traces of a great military race, who are supposed to have been red 

 Indians. South of the watershed there ai'e traces of another race, which, 

 from the evidence of their high state of architectural and artistic skill, 

 their agricultural mode of life, and their highly developed religious sys- 

 tem, we judge to have been entirely different from the Indians, and these 

 we call the mound builders. In this state, the division is geographical. 

 The point of enquiry now is, whether we shall discover the differences 

 which shall prove to be chronological and ethnical. There are mounds 

 which contain skeletons in a recumbent position at the north and on the 

 lake shore. The red Indians generally buried in lone heaps or in sitting 

 postures, and rarely, so far as we know, in the recumbent attitude, or in 

 mounds. Were the two races successively occupants of the whole terri- 

 tory, and are their works to be distinguished chronologically V We hope 

 to secure attention to the subject, so as to u^ltimately arrive at some sure 

 conclusions in reference to the pre-historic races. 



Very respectfully, 



Stephen D. Peet. 



AshtahulUy Ohio, Ajiril^ 1877. 



