THOMAS] MAP OF MOUND DISTRIBUTION. 527 



Wabash is confined chiefly to the middle and lower portion of the 

 valley. A short distance west of this, in Illinois, is a small group 

 which appears to form almost the only archeological mark in the 

 eastern half of this state. Turning- to the western side we And a con- 

 tinuous belt along the Mississippi from the northern boundary to the 

 most southern point. There is an apparent break immediately above 

 the mouth of the Illinois river, but this stretch is known to be as well 

 occupied by ancient works as the valley north of it. The special locali- 

 ties of these works had been but in part obtained at the time the map 

 was made, but they have been added on the general map in this volume. 

 The Illinois river formed another highway along which the mound- 

 builders located their villages. The groups in Knox and Sangamon 

 counties, like that in Wayne, are somewhat isolated and probably mark 

 the dwelling places of weak tribes or separated clans. The small group 

 in Winnebago county at the northern boundary belongs to the effigy 

 series of Wisconsin, which lies along the Eock river. 



Turning to Wisconsin, we find that nearly all the works, a large 

 portion of which are effigy mounds, are situated along the i^rincipal 

 rivers or clustered about the small lakes which dot the southern half of 

 the state. This rule has, in fact, very few exceptions in this state. The 

 principal areas are : A belt along the Mississippi from the mouth of Black 

 river southward to the southern boundary; another, along the Wiscon- 

 sin river from the forty- fourth parallel to its mouth; a third, about the 

 lakes which flow into Fox river. 



This mapping of the mound areas is important as indicating the 

 portions of our country occupied by the mouud-builders, and also as 

 possibly furnishing some indications, when connected with the distribu- 

 tion of types, of the directions whence came the people who built these 

 works and of their migrations within the mound area. 



Another question connected with the geographical distribution of 

 these remains is that which relates to the possibility of outlining areas 

 according to the characteristics of the works; or, in other words, of 

 determining whether it is possible to designate the geographical range 

 of works which appear to have been built by one tribe or people. As 

 a matter of course, the answer to this inquiry involves the discussion 

 of the question. Are all these remains the works of one people, or are 

 they due to different tribes or peoples ? As this question will be dis- 

 cussed elsewhere, only the following is added here: 



Wilson, in his "Prehistoric Man," afUrms that — 



Assuming a community of arts and certain intimate relations in race antisocial 

 conditions among the ancient people who worked the mines on Lake Superior and 

 constructed the various earthworks that reach southward into Indiana, Ohio, and 

 Kentucky, there is no reason to suppose that they were united as one nation. While 

 coincidences of a remarkable kind in the construction, and still more in the dimen- 

 sions, of their great earthworks point to a common knowledge of geometrical con- 

 figuration and a standard of measurement,' no two earthworks so entirely correspond 



' It is extremely doubtful whether they bad any other standard than the pace and the parts of the 

 body. 



