58 Some Considerations on the Mound Builders. 



extraordinarily thick ; the superciliary arches were mas- 

 sive, standing out like ropes ; the frontal bones of 

 great strength and sloping backward, encroaching on' 

 the parietals, and giving origin to a low forehead." 

 Assuming these skulls to have belonged to Mound 

 Builders, that this was the natural shape, and that these 

 were typical skulls, he inferred that the Mound Build- 

 ers differed in their physical structure from the Indians, 

 and were a race of low intellect, but mild, inoffensive, 

 easily held in subjection, and easily conquered. 



The abstract of this paper, as given in the Cincinnati 

 Medical News, does not state in what part of the 

 mound these skulls were found. Yet, as the Indians 

 frequently buried their dead in existing mounds, it is 

 always a matter of first importance to know whether ob- 

 jects found in these structures were placed there by the 

 original builders, or were subsequently inserted by a 

 disturbance of the surface. 



A skeleton found on the natural surface of the 

 ground, or near it, under the centre ofa mound,can be 

 taken as an original interment ; while one found near 

 the surface, on the. sloping sides, must be considered a 

 subsequent intrusion, a burial by the Indians. 



Very few skulls that can be certainly attributed to the 

 Mound Builders have been found which did not crum- 

 ble on being taken out. It is only when the character 

 of the soil or the circumstances of the interment have 

 kept the bones thoroughly dry that any such have been 

 found. Lapham says that only one such has been re- 

 covered in Wisconsin. All skulls now preserved that 

 indubitally belong to the Mound Builders, and all that 

 are with strong probability referred to them, are well 



