FOWKE] AECHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS 165 



'Such an explanation finds support in the vast number of these 

 structures. In building, the aborigines naturally chose the sort of 

 timber which was soft and light, consequently easy to cut and to 

 handle, such as willow or cottonwood. This soon decays. But no 

 matter what variety of wood was utilized, not many years would be 

 required, under the conditions supposed, to weaken its fiber until it 

 could no longer uphold the weight of earth on the roof, and a new 

 house must be erected. Several such renewals would be needed in 

 the course of a century; so that the ruins of an ordinary village 

 might create the impression that a large settlement had existed on 

 its site. 



The explanation of " agricultural use " is probably correct in some 

 instances, for frequently the mounds are made of earth gathered up 

 around their base, and so not only Avould be of value in a wet season, 

 but would afford a much greater depth of fertile soil for sustenance 

 of plants. In some localities modern farmers find that on such 

 mounds crops are much better than on the low spaces between them. 

 On the other hand, a majority of the small mounds in the lower 

 counties of southeastern Missouri are composed either of the hard, 

 reddish, sandy clay which forms the subsoil of the land above over- 

 flow ; or of the tough, waxy, black " gumbo " of the swampy or flat 

 lowlands. In either case they are almost invariably sterile, so that 

 in a cultivated field the position of a mound is easily determined even 

 from a considerable distance by the feebler growth on its surface. 

 Moreover, in many places, hundreds of them occurring within an 

 area of a few square miles are built on clay lowlands where crawfish 

 abound, within a few rods of sandy, well-drained ridges whose soil 

 is never muddy more than a few hours after the hardest rain, and 

 produces as fine corn and wheat as can be raised in any part of the 

 State. 



In short, no matter what suggestion has been offered as to their 

 purpose or uses, objections to it can be brought and sustained. It is 

 not improbable that, in the end, it will be found the difficulty lies in 

 trying to place in a hard and fast category a variety of structures 

 which are similar in appearance but which were intended for various 

 uses. With more comprehensive study, it may be that a classification 

 is possible which will interpret what is now obscure. Instead of uni- 

 formity, there was probably great diversity of motives, ideas, and 

 beliefs which led to the building of these as well as of other mounds ; 

 and when the key is once obtained the explanation which will 

 account for one may be very different from that which as clearly 

 accounts for another. 



A few of these mounds have been explored by the writer, but no 

 discoveries were made upon which can be based a definite statement 

 as to their probable purpose. 



