108 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. GO 



Some of the tribes were excellent potters, and the elaborately 

 engraved and painted vases and effigy vessels of the middle Missis- 

 sippi region and the scroll-decorated vessels of the lower Mississippi 

 and Gulf coast evince excellent taste and great skill, falling short, 

 however, of the achievements of the ancient tribes of the arid region 

 in some important respects. The stamp-decorated ware of the south 

 Appalachian region is of much interest. 



It is observed that the culture of this area in certain of its typical 

 phases extends down to the Atlantic in Georgia, 

 states' o/ Culture t>lending with that of the Florida area, and to the 

 Gulf in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. 

 It has much in common with the culture of the Upper Mis- 

 sissippi and Great Lakes region, and grades somewhat abruptly 

 into the culture of neighboring areas on the east and west. Although 

 presenting a certain degree of homogeneity throughout, this area 

 is by no means a simple culture unit. There are a dozen or 

 more somewhat localized centers of development and differentia- 

 tion, no one of which could in the present state of our knowledge 

 be safely selected as a type for the entire area. Aside from the more 

 typical forms of culture, tliere are limited areas in which very primi- 

 tive conditions seem to have prevailed down to the coming of the 

 whites. There are some indications of culture relations wdtli Mexico, 

 among which are certain sculptured figures in stone, repousse figures 

 in copper plates, and engraved designs on shell ornaments and pot- 

 tery, but as a whole the cultures stand well apart. 



This area has been the field of extensive though somewhat scat- 

 tered research. Some of tlie more important explorations are those 

 of Tondinson, Squier and Davis, Force, Putnam, Moorehead, ISIills, 

 Fowke, Thomas and his assistants, Phillips, Thruston, Moore, Jones, 

 Peet, Whittlesey, MacLean, Holmes, and Metz. 



4. The Upper Mississippi and Great Lakes Area 



The Upper Mississippi and Great Lakes region is not very sharply 

 differentiated from the neighboring areas in either its aboriginal 

 inhabitants or its culture, ancient or modern. The historical tribes 

 are of the Algonquian and Siouan stocks, and important commu- 

 nities of the former are still found within the area. The ancient 

 culture is about on a ]-)ar with that on the east and in some respects 

 is inferior to that on the south. Hunting, fishing, and seed-gather- 

 ing were the leading avocations of the people, but agriculture was 

 practiced in favorable localities and the so-called garden beds of 

 Michigan are among the most novel and mysterious features of our 

 northern archeology. Burial mounds of ordinary forms are widely 



