THE PKOBLEM Oi^ THE OHIO MOUNDS. 15 



eartbeii structures is to be found. The utmost tliey attained in this 

 direction was the construction of stone cairns, rude stone walls, and 

 vaults of cobble-stones and undressed blocks. This fact is too signiti- 

 caut to be overlooked in this comparison, and should have its weight 

 in forming a conclusion, especially when it is backed by numerous other 

 important differences. 



Though hundreds of groups of mounds marking the sites of ancient 

 villages are to be seen scattered over the Mississippi Valley and Gulf 

 States, yet nowhere can there be found an ancient house. The inference 

 is therefore irresistible that the houses of the mound-builders were con- 

 structed of perishable materials; consequently that the builders were 

 not sufficiently advanced in art to use stone or brick in building, or 

 else that they lived a roving, restless life that would not justify the 

 time and trouble necessary to erect such permanent structures. As the 

 last inference is irreconcilable with the magnitude and extent of many 

 groups of these remains we are forced to the conclusion that the first 

 is true. 



One chief objection to the Indian origin of these works is, as already 

 stated, that their builders must have been sedentary, depending largely 

 upon agriculture for subsistence. It is evident, therefore, that they had 

 dwellings of some sort, and as remains of neither stone nor brick struct- 

 ures are found which could have been used for this purpose, we must 

 assume that their dwellings were constructed of perishable material, 

 such as was supplied in abundance by the forest region in which they 

 dwelt. It is therefore apparent that in this respect at least the dwell- 

 ings of mound-builders were similar to those of Indians. But this 

 is not all that can be said in reference to the houses of the former, for 

 there still remain indications of their shape and character, although 

 no complete examples are left for inspection. In various places, espec- 

 ially in Tennessee, Illinois, and southeast Missouri, the sites of thou- 

 sands of them are yet distinctly marked by little circular depressions 

 with rings of earth around Ihem. These renmins give the form and 

 size of one class of dwellings that was common in the regions named. 

 Excavations in the center usually bring to light the ashes and hearth 

 that mark the place where the fire was built, and occasionally unearth 

 fragments of the vessels used in cooking, the bones of animals on whose 

 flesh the inmates fed, and other articles pertaining to domestic use. 



During the ex[)lorations of the Bureau in southeastern Missouri and 

 Arkansas, finding the remains of houses in low, flat mounds was a 

 common occurrence. Although the wood in most cases had disap- 

 peared, what had not been converted to coals and ashes having rotted 

 away, yet the size and form, and, in part, the mode of construction, 

 were clearly indicated. The hard-tramped, circular, earthen floor gave 

 the size and foriu; the numerous fragments of burnt clay foruiing a 

 layer over the floor — often taken by explorers for brick — revealed the 

 method of plastering their dwellings ; the charred remains of grass and 



