Anthropology 749 



on this collection, with an account of related tradition, history, 

 and other material such as he had obtained in eight years' 

 experience in the region of the globe in which they were 

 found. His memoir, which is well illustrated, was an im- 

 portant contribution to a little known subject. 



CENTRAL REGION 



The most striking of the many archaeological problems 

 of the central region are those connected with the mound 

 builders, the antiquities of the Mississippi valley and those 

 of the Saint Lawrence. The influence of the Smithsonian 

 Institution has always been wisely directed to fostering and 

 advancing the investigation of these mounds of the United 

 States, and its publications are recognized, both at home 

 and abroad, as most important contributions to this subject. 

 Previously to 1847 the unaided pioneer work of Caleb 

 Atwater and others had called attention to these antiquities, 

 but without awakening a widespread interest in the sub- 

 ject. To no one institution does archaeological science owe so 

 much as to the Smithsonian in quickening dormant interest 

 in the study of the mound builders, and there is probably no 

 department of anthropology where the publications of the 

 Institution have done more to arouse interest in research than 

 in this. The " Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledgfe " 

 open with a most valuable article on the "Ancient Monu- 

 ments of the Mississippi Valley," by E. G. Squier and E. H. 

 Davis, a classic work illustrated by forty-eight lithographic 

 plates and two hundred and seven woodcuts. This volume, 

 which appeared in 1848, was followed two years later by 

 another written by the senior author on a related subject : 

 " Aboriorinal Monuments of the State of New York." These 

 memoirs, especially the former, may be regarded as epoch - 

 48* 



