OUTLINE OF THIS PAPER. 



For tho benefit of those who desire to learu the more important <.oncliision8 reached 

 in this treatise, without the necessity of a thorough examination of tho entire re- 

 port, an outline of them is here presented : 



(1) That the mound-builders of the area designated consisted of a number of tribes 

 or peoples bearing about tho same relations to one another and occupying about the 

 same culture-status as did the Indian tribes inhabiting this country when first visited 

 by Europeans. 



(2) That the archoological districts ;is determined by the investigations of the 

 mounds and other ancient remains conform, in a general way, to the areas occupied 

 by the dift'ercnt Indian tribes or groups of cognate trilies. 



(3) That each tribe adopted several different methods of burial, these differences 

 depending to some extent upon the relative position, social standing, and occupation 

 of the individuals. 



(4) The custom of removing the flesh before final burial prevailed very extensively 

 among the mound-builders of the northern districts, and was not uncommon among 

 those of the southern districts. 



(5) Very often some kind of religious ceremony was performed at the burial in 

 which fire played a conspicuous part. Notwithstanding the common belief to the 

 ooutrary, there is no cxidence whatever that human sacrifice in the true sense was 

 practiced. It is possiljle that cremation may have been practiced to a limited 

 extent. 



(6) In some of the southern districts, especially those of the valley of the lower 

 Mississippi, where the bottoms are much depressed, it was the custom to erect dwell- 

 ings on low mounds apparently constructed for this purpose, and, when deaths oc- 

 curred, to bury tlie remains in the floor of these dwellings, burn the houses, and heap 

 mounds over them before they were entirely consumed, or while the embers were yet 

 smoldering. The houses in these districts ajipear to have been constructed of up- 

 right posts set in the ground, lathed with cane or twigs, and plastered with clay, 

 having the roofs thatched precisely as described by the early French explorers. 



(7) The links directly connecting tho Indians and mound-builders are so numerous 

 and well established that archeologists are justified in accepting the theory that 

 they are one and the same jicople. 



(8) The statements of the. early navigators and explorers as to tlic habits, customs, 

 social condition and art, of the Indians when first visited by Europeans arc largely 

 confirmed by discoveries in the mounds and other ancient works of our country. 

 This is especially true as regards tho discoveries made by this l)urcau in Arkansas, 

 Georgia, and other southern states. They bear out, even to details, the statements 

 of the chroniclers of De Soto's expodifiou and of tho early French cxjdorers of the 

 valley of the lower Mississippi. 



(9) The evidence obtained appears to be sufficient to justify the conclusion that 

 particular works, and the works of certain localities, are attributable to particular 

 tribes known to history ; thereby enabling the archeologist to determine in some 

 cases, to a limited extent, the lines of migration. For example, the proof is appar- 

 ently conclusive that the Cherokees were niound-buildcrs and that to them are to be 



li: KTH -J. 17 



