ARCHEOLOGICAL AREAS AND DISTRIBUTION OF 



TYPES. 



PRIMARY ARCHEOLOGICAL SECTIONS. 



Notwithstandiug the uuineious volumes aud articles which have beeu 

 Ijublislied, rehitiug' wholly or in part to the aucieut I'emaius aud prehis- 

 toric times of North America, we search through their pages in vaiu 

 for a chapter ou the distribution of the different forms aud types of 

 the works of the mound builders. We look in vaiu for any adequate 

 reference to these types, or discussion of the evidence bearing upon the 

 question of ethnic or tribal distiuctions. This important branch of our 

 archeology seems to have beeu entirely overlooked by these writeis. This 

 is ijrobably due in part to the undeniable fact that the data relating to 

 North American Archeology are in a chaotic coudition, no adequate 

 system having been adopted or satisfactory arraugement proposed by 

 which these may be so correlated as to lead to couclusions generally 

 acceptable to antiquarians aud ethnologists. For tliis reason consider- 

 able attention is devoted to this subject which, as can be readily seen, 

 has an important bearing ou the problems that arise in regard to these 

 ancient monuments. It is chiefly by the study of the distribution of 

 the types of the works, the forms and features of the vestiges of art, 

 and of the customs and peculiarities indicated by these, that we can 

 hope to outline tlie districts occupied by the different tribes or peoples 

 of the mound-builders. In carrying out this purjiose reference has 

 not been limited to the explorations of the Bureau, as the published 

 results of the work of other explorers have been freely used. 



Before referring to the distribution of types in the mound area under 

 consideration, attention is called briefly to the question of primary 

 archeological sections of North America. 



No attempt has so far been made to point out and define the different 

 primary or comprehensive archeological sections of our continent, a 

 fact probably due to the scanty data on which to base such an attempt. 

 Nevertheless an examination of the general works on prehistoric 

 America will show, by the terms used, a decided tendency to arrange, 

 or at least consider, the antiquities in a few couiprehensive classes per- 

 taining to different sections; such, for example, as "The works of the 

 Mound-builders;" the remains of the '•Clift Dwellers," and ^f the 

 "Civilized Races of Mexico and Central America." 



521 



