﻿POPULATION 
  OF 
  ANCIENT 
  AMERICA 
  — 
  SPINDEN 
  463 
  

  

  Many 
  persons 
  are 
  familiar 
  with 
  the 
  tremendous 
  pyramids 
  of 
  the 
  

   Sun 
  and 
  the 
  Moon 
  at 
  Teotihuacan 
  and 
  the 
  great 
  structure 
  called 
  the 
  

   Citadel. 
  The 
  volume 
  of 
  the 
  pyramid 
  of 
  the 
  Sun 
  has 
  been 
  estimated 
  

   at 
  1,290,000 
  cubic 
  yards, 
  and 
  its 
  weight 
  at 
  about 
  3,000,000 
  tons. 
  But 
  

   the 
  famous 
  pyramid 
  of 
  Cholula, 
  which 
  seems 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  constructed 
  

   in 
  a 
  comparatively 
  short 
  period 
  by 
  desciples 
  of 
  Quetzalcoatl 
  in 
  the 
  

   thirteenth 
  century, 
  is 
  three 
  times 
  as 
  large, 
  with 
  a 
  total 
  estimated 
  

   weight 
  of 
  nearly 
  10,000,000 
  tons. 
  The 
  vast 
  terracings 
  of 
  Xochicalco 
  

   are 
  scarcely 
  less 
  impressive 
  evidence 
  of 
  human 
  labor 
  demanding 
  dense 
  

   population. 
  In 
  1927, 
  1 
  explored 
  a 
  scantily 
  peopled 
  section 
  south 
  of 
  the 
  

   city 
  of 
  Vera 
  Cruz 
  and 
  found 
  tremendous 
  earthworks 
  of 
  the 
  Olmeca. 
  

   Then 
  there 
  are 
  Monte 
  Alban 
  of 
  the 
  Zapoteca 
  and 
  many 
  other 
  vast 
  

   remains 
  of 
  pre-Columbian 
  Mexico 
  and 
  Guatemala. 
  The 
  evidence 
  indi- 
  

   cates 
  that 
  population 
  on 
  the 
  Toltec 
  level 
  (1000-1200 
  A. 
  D.) 
  was 
  much 
  

   greater 
  than 
  when 
  Cortes 
  arrived 
  in 
  1519 
  A. 
  D. 
  The 
  Toltec 
  Empire 
  

   collapsed 
  in 
  the 
  second 
  decade 
  of 
  the 
  thirteenth 
  century 
  with 
  civil 
  war, 
  

   starvation, 
  and 
  disease 
  as 
  the 
  designated 
  causes. 
  

  

  ANCIENT 
  INDIAN 
  POPULATION 
  NORTH 
  OF 
  MEXICO 
  

  

  Estimates 
  of 
  the 
  ancient 
  Indian 
  population 
  for 
  the 
  area 
  of 
  the 
  

   United 
  States 
  and 
  Canada 
  have 
  not 
  been 
  based 
  on 
  archeological 
  evi- 
  

   dence 
  so 
  much 
  as 
  on 
  indications 
  during 
  some 
  early 
  stage 
  of 
  European 
  

   contact. 
  A 
  most 
  complete 
  study 
  of 
  this 
  area 
  by 
  James 
  Mooney 
  has 
  

   recently 
  been 
  published 
  as 
  a 
  posthumous 
  work.^*' 
  The 
  total 
  number 
  

   of 
  Indians 
  for 
  American 
  north 
  of 
  Mexico 
  at 
  the 
  advent 
  of 
  the 
  whites 
  is 
  

   here 
  estimated 
  at 
  1,150,000, 
  divided 
  as 
  follows: 
  United 
  States 
  846,000 
  

   Canada 
  220,000; 
  Alaska 
  72,000; 
  and 
  Greenland 
  10,000. 
  

  

  Mooney's 
  figures 
  seem 
  overconservative 
  for 
  the 
  large 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  

   United 
  States 
  ,and 
  yet 
  they 
  are 
  lowered 
  in 
  detail 
  by 
  several 
  writers 
  

   on 
  special 
  fields. 
  The 
  densest 
  settlement 
  existed 
  in 
  California 
  and 
  

   along 
  the 
  Pacific 
  coast 
  as 
  far 
  north 
  as 
  Alaska. 
  All 
  the 
  tribes 
  of 
  this 
  

   area 
  were 
  on 
  a 
  preagricultural 
  plane 
  of 
  life 
  which 
  was* 
  not 
  widely 
  

   nomadic, 
  thanks 
  to 
  a 
  fair 
  food 
  supply 
  consisting 
  of 
  acorns, 
  various 
  wild 
  

   root 
  crops, 
  and 
  salmon. 
  That 
  these 
  preagricultural 
  people 
  should 
  

   have 
  established 
  themselves 
  in 
  much 
  greater 
  density 
  than 
  the 
  central 
  

   and 
  eastern 
  Indians 
  of 
  the 
  United 
  States 
  who 
  possessed 
  agriculture 
  

   seems 
  inexplicable 
  unless, 
  as 
  we 
  surmise, 
  the 
  western 
  population 
  was 
  

   near 
  its 
  crest 
  when 
  whites 
  arrived 
  while 
  the 
  central 
  and 
  eastern 
  

   population 
  was 
  already 
  depleted. 
  

  

  Mooney's 
  total 
  for 
  California 
  is 
  260,000 
  souls, 
  following 
  the 
  figures 
  

   of 
  C. 
  Hart 
  Merriam 
  based 
  on 
  mission 
  statistics. 
  Kroeber 
  ^^ 
  reduces 
  

   the 
  population 
  of 
  the 
  State 
  for 
  the 
  year 
  1770 
  to 
  133,000. 
  To-day 
  it 
  

  

  "The 
  Aboriginal 
  Population 
  of 
  America 
  North 
  of 
  Mexico, 
  Smithsonian 
  Misc. 
  Coll., 
  Vol. 
  80, 
  No. 
  7, 
  

   Washington, 
  1928. 
  

  

  " 
  A. 
  L. 
  Kroeber: 
  Handbook 
  of 
  the 
  Indians 
  of 
  California, 
  Bull. 
  78, 
  Bur. 
  Amer. 
  Ethnol., 
  pp. 
  880-891, 
  Wash- 
  

   ington, 
  1925. 
  

  

  