﻿POPULATION 
  OF 
  ANCIENT 
  AMERICA 
  SPINDEN 
  465 
  

  

  miles. 
  To-day 
  this 
  same 
  area, 
  resting 
  heavily 
  in 
  the 
  matter 
  of 
  food 
  on 
  

   Indian 
  plants,^* 
  supports 
  a 
  population 
  of 
  something 
  like 
  90,000,000 
  

   individuals. 
  

  

  THE 
  PROBLEM 
  OF 
  THE 
  MOUNDS 
  

  

  Now 
  the 
  mute 
  evidence 
  of 
  the 
  mound 
  culture 
  existing 
  in 
  the 
  cen- 
  

   tral 
  part 
  of 
  this 
  eastern 
  agricultural 
  area 
  attests 
  rather 
  dense 
  popula- 
  

   tion 
  over 
  a 
  considerable 
  interval 
  of 
  time. 
  Mooney's 
  data 
  show 
  that 
  

   at 
  the 
  epoch 
  of 
  white 
  settlement 
  Ohio 
  ^^ 
  and 
  West 
  Virginia 
  were 
  prac- 
  

   tically 
  deserted 
  and 
  that 
  the 
  region 
  of 
  the 
  mounds 
  had 
  in 
  general 
  a 
  

   scantier 
  population 
  than 
  the 
  surrounding 
  territory. 
  Contrary 
  to 
  

   early 
  theory 
  it 
  has 
  now 
  been 
  demonstrated 
  that 
  the 
  mounds 
  were 
  

   built 
  by 
  the 
  ancestors 
  of 
  existing 
  tribes 
  and 
  that 
  some 
  of 
  them 
  are 
  of 
  

   no 
  great 
  age, 
  since 
  they 
  contain 
  objects 
  of 
  European 
  manufacture. 
  

   What 
  is 
  the 
  answer 
  to 
  this 
  riddle? 
  I 
  believe 
  that 
  the 
  conditions 
  can 
  

   best 
  be 
  explained 
  on 
  the 
  theory 
  that 
  diseases 
  of 
  European 
  origin 
  intro- 
  

   duced 
  by 
  fleeing 
  natives 
  from 
  the 
  West 
  Indies 
  or 
  by 
  Spanish 
  explorers, 
  

   such 
  as 
  Ponce 
  de 
  Leon, 
  swept 
  up 
  through 
  the 
  mound 
  area 
  several 
  

   generations 
  before 
  the 
  establishment 
  of 
  the 
  English 
  and 
  French 
  colo- 
  

   nies. 
  But 
  the 
  culture 
  of 
  the 
  mound 
  builders 
  was 
  already 
  decadent, 
  

   and 
  its 
  peak 
  must 
  doubtless 
  be 
  placed 
  several 
  centuries 
  before 
  

   Columbus. 
  

  

  Shetrone 
  ^^ 
  says 
  of 
  ancient 
  Ohio 
  : 
  

  

  Perhaps 
  no 
  equal 
  area 
  in 
  the 
  world 
  contains 
  so 
  many 
  prehistoric 
  earthworks 
  

   as 
  the 
  territory 
  comprised 
  within 
  the 
  state 
  of 
  Ohio. 
  The 
  * 
  * 
  * 
  recently 
  

   published 
  Archeological 
  Atlas 
  of 
  Ohio 
  locates 
  a 
  total 
  of 
  5,396 
  prehistoric 
  sites 
  of 
  the 
  

   various 
  classes. 
  Of 
  these, 
  3,513 
  are 
  mounds 
  proper, 
  587 
  enclosures 
  and 
  fortifica- 
  

   tions, 
  354 
  village 
  sites, 
  39 
  cemeteries, 
  5 
  effigy 
  mounds, 
  17 
  petroglyphs 
  or 
  pictured 
  

   rocks, 
  and 
  35 
  rock 
  shelters 
  or 
  shelter 
  caves. 
  Besides 
  these, 
  190 
  flint 
  quarries 
  and 
  

   many 
  individual 
  burials, 
  some 
  graves, 
  and 
  other 
  sites 
  are 
  located. 
  

  

  Some 
  of 
  the 
  mounds 
  are 
  of 
  large 
  size, 
  and 
  their 
  construction 
  repre- 
  

   sents 
  much 
  labor. 
  The 
  largest 
  mound 
  of 
  all 
  is 
  that 
  at 
  Cahokia 
  op- 
  

   posite 
  St. 
  Louis, 
  but 
  the 
  De 
  Soto 
  mound 
  in 
  Arkansas 
  and 
  the 
  Etawah 
  

   mound 
  in 
  Georgia 
  are 
  impressive 
  constructions. 
  The 
  Cahokia 
  mound 
  

   is 
  1,080 
  feet 
  long, 
  710 
  feet 
  wide, 
  and 
  100 
  feet 
  high, 
  and 
  covers 
  16 
  acres. 
  

   The 
  volume 
  has 
  been 
  calculated 
  at 
  21,690,000 
  cubic 
  feet. 
  But 
  it 
  is 
  

   only 
  one 
  out 
  of 
  many 
  manifestations 
  of 
  high 
  population 
  in 
  a 
  restricted 
  

   district. 
  

  

  In 
  Mooney's 
  estimate 
  we 
  are 
  asked 
  to 
  believe 
  that 
  only 
  about 
  

   150,000 
  Indians 
  dwelt 
  in 
  the 
  mound 
  area 
  at 
  the 
  advent 
  of 
  the 
  whites. 
  

  

  " 
  About 
  four-sevenths 
  of 
  the 
  agricultural 
  production 
  of 
  the 
  United 
  States 
  (farm 
  values) 
  are 
  in 
  economic 
  

   plants 
  domesticated 
  by 
  the 
  American 
  Indian 
  and 
  taken 
  over 
  by 
  the 
  white 
  man. 
  

  

  w 
  The 
  Erie 
  nation 
  had 
  been 
  destroyed 
  in 
  1656 
  by 
  the 
  Iroquois, 
  and 
  after 
  that 
  for 
  half 
  a 
  century 
  Ohio 
  was 
  

   uninhabited. 
  

  

  " 
  H. 
  C. 
  Shetrone: 
  The 
  Indian 
  in 
  Ohio, 
  Ohio 
  Archaeol. 
  and 
  Hist. 
  Quart., 
  pp. 
  274-510, 
  Vol. 
  27, 
  1928; 
  referenca 
  

   on 
  pp. 
  467-468. 
  

  

  