950 



MOUNDS AND MOUND-BUILDERS 



[b. a. e. 



vailed in the arrangement of mounds in 

 groups, but some exceptions occur, as, in 

 the effigy-mound region, tlie small conical 

 mounds are sometimes arranged in regu- 

 lar lines, somewhat evenly spaced and 

 occasionally connected by low embank- 

 ments; and in Calhoun co.. 111., and n. e. 

 Minnesota they were frequently built 

 in rows. Although a few mounds have 

 been observed on the Pacific slope, n. 

 of Mexico, they are limited chiefly to 

 the Mississippi basin and the Gulf states, 

 the areas of greatest abundance being 

 along the banks of the Mississippi from 

 La Crosse, Wis. , to Natchez, Miss. , the cer^ 

 tral and s. sections of Ohio and the adjoin- 

 ing fjortion of Indiana, and s. Wisconsin. 

 The E. side of Florida is well dotted with 

 shell-heaps. 



Inclosures include some of the most 

 important and interesting monuments 

 of the United States. In form they are 

 circular, square, ob- 

 long, octagonal, or 

 irregular. Those 

 which approach 

 regularity in figure 

 are either circular, 

 square, or octag- 

 onal, and with few 

 exceptions are 

 found in Ohio and 

 the adjoining por- 

 tions of Indiana, 

 Kentucky, and West Virginia. These 

 works vary in size from an area of 

 less than an acre to that of more 



WITH MOAT 

 WALL, WEST VIRC 

 100 FT (jHOMAsi 



ENCII 



than 100 acres. Some are exceedingly 

 interesting because of the near approach 

 they make to true geometrical figures. 

 The diameters of the circle in one or two 



instances vary less than 10 ft in 1,000 ft, 

 and the corners of the square in one or 

 two other examples vary less than one 

 degree from 90°. 



In s. E. Missouri and in one or two 

 other sections the inclosures have scat- 

 tered through them small earthen circles 

 marking the sites of circular dwellings. 

 There are indications that some at least 

 of the Ohio inclosures contained similar 

 circles which were obliterated by cultiva- 

 tion. 



Another important class of ancient 

 monuments are the refuse or shell heaps 

 found along tidewater and at a few 

 points on the banks of inland streams 

 and lakes, and the mound-like heaps 

 which cover the ruined pueblo dwell- 

 ings of the S. W. Many hundreds of the 

 mounds and many of the refuse heaps 

 have been opened and their contents ex- 

 amined. Although one or two artifacts, 

 especially certahi copper plates with 

 stamped figures, have been discovered 

 which aie difficult to account for, the 

 contents otherwise present nothing incon- 

 sistent with the conclusion that they are 

 the works of the Indians who inhabited 

 these regions prior to the advent of the 

 whites. It has been contended that many 

 of the artifacts found in the mounds indi- 

 cate a higher degree of culture than that 

 reached by the later Indians of the mound 

 area. After excluding those derived from 

 the whites or otherwise introduced, this 

 is found to l)e a mistake, as it aj)pears 

 from the evidence that the historic In- 

 dians could and did make articles similar 

 in type and eijual in finish to those of the 

 mounds. Some of the articles found show 

 contact with Europeans, and hence indi- 

 cate that the mounds in which they were 

 discovered are comparatively modern. 

 Notwithstanding these facts and many 

 others tending to the same conclusion, it 

 was maintained by the majority of writ- 

 ers on American archeology, until very 

 recently, that the builders of the mounds 

 of the Mississippi basin and the Gulf states 

 were a specific people of higher culture 

 than the Indians found inhabiting this re- 

 gion ; that they were overrun by incoming 

 Indian hordes and finally became extinct, 

 leaving the monuments as the only evi- 

 dence of their former existence. Other 

 writers suppose that they were Mexicans 

 (Aztec) who were driven s. into Mexico, 

 while others concluded that they were 

 driven into the Gulf states and were the 

 ancestors of the tribes inhabiting that 

 section. The more careful exploration 

 of the mounds in recent years, and the 

 more thorough study of the data bearing 

 on the subject, have shown these opinions 

 to be erroneous. The articles found in the 

 mounds and the character of the variolis 

 monuments indicate a culture stage much 



