8 



MOUND EXPLORING OF THE 



departments to which they go in the National Museum. This aftbrds 

 opportunity for a careful comparison of the catalogues with each other 

 and with the specimens. The final catalogues contain not only the col- 

 lector's, Bureau, and Museum numbers, which form checks upon one 

 another, but also the name of the article, the locality, the collector's 

 name, and remarks indicating the conditions under which each was 

 found. These particulars are, of course, incomplete in reference to 

 specimens purchased or donated. 



As an illustration the heading of the columns and one line from the 

 general catalogue are given here: 



Name of article. 



Boat-shaped pot . . 



Locality. 



Lenoir Rroiip, Lou- 

 don Co., Tenii. 



Collector. 



John W. Emiuort. 



Keniarks 



From mound No. ?, 

 by skeleton No. 49. 



Two copies of this catalogue are made, one to be retained by the 

 Bureau, the other to be transmitted with the specimens to the Secretary 

 of the Smithsonian Institution for use in the National Museum. 



Although the specimens go into the general collect ion of the National 

 Museum they are so carefully marked and numbered that by roference 

 to the catalogue any one, under the systematic arrangement adopted 

 in the archaeological division of the Museum, can easily be picked out, 

 and the precise locality in which and circumstances under which it was 

 ibund can be ascertained. It may not be amiss to add that the col- 

 lections made by the Bureau are kept well in hand until this accuracy 

 is assured and the duplicate catalogues are made out and compared, 

 so that antiquarians and students of American archa'.ology may rely 

 implicitly on what is stated in regard to them. I>y reference to the 

 forthcoming report all the particulars known regarding them, as well 

 as all the facts ascertained in reference to the works from whi(;h they 

 were obtained, will be found. 



The sections in which operations have chiefly been carried on are as 

 follows: Southwestern Wisconsin and the adjoining sections of Minne- 

 sota, Iowa, and Illinois, the northeastern part of Missouri, the west- 

 ern part of Southern Illinois, Southeastern Missouri, the eastern \y.\\t 

 of Arkansas, certain points in Northern and Western Mississip].!, the 

 Kanawha Valley of West Virginia, East Tennessee, Western North 

 Carolina, Northern Georgia, and a few points in Northern Florida. 

 Some work has also been done in New York, Ohio, Kentucky, ^V(^st 

 Tennessee, Alabama, and Southwestern Georgia. 



Hundreds of groups have been examined and, in most cases, sur- 

 veyed, platted, and descril)ed. Over two thousand mounds have been 

 explored, including almost every known type as to form, from the low, 

 diminutive, circular burial tumulus of the North to the huge, truncated, 



