710 MOUND EXPLORATIONS. 



figures of the Sionaii tribes. As this evidence is giveu in the preceil- 

 iii;4' part of tliis volume, it is unnecessary to repeat it here. 



It is not only possibk? but apparently evident that there are many 

 mounds in the northwestern section of which we are now speaking 

 that were built by other tribes, but there is no longer any substantial 

 reason for denying that the effigies and other works ]>ertaiuing thereto 

 are due to the 8iouan tribes. 



EVIDENCES OF CONTACT WITH MODERN EUROPEAN CIVILIZA- 

 TION FOUND IN THE MOUNDS. 



It lias been customary whenever an article indicating contact with 

 Europeans was discovered in a mound to attribute it to an intrusive 

 burial, or where this was incompatible with the conditions, the moun<l 

 was placed in the category of modern Indian mounds, as distinguished 

 from the works of the tinu^ ''mound-builders. " The more careful inves- 

 tigations of the past few' years show that these distinctions fail to 

 account for all the finds of this character, as many of the articles of Eu- 

 ropean manufai'ture, or those showing evidence of contact ^^•ith Euro- 

 peans, are often found so connected with undoubted works of the 

 mound-builders as to forbid both these explanations. 



rOPPER ARTICLES. 



For example, a careful examination of the copper articles found in 

 the mounds should lead anyone, not swayed by some preconceived 

 notion, to the conclusion that many of them were made of copper 

 brought over to America by Europeans, which would as a matter of 

 course indicate (if they do not pertain to intrusive burials) that the 

 mounds in wliich such specimens are found were erected subsequent to 

 the discovery by Columbus. 



The copi^er articles found in the mounds and ancient graves belong, 

 as niaj' be readily seen by those who will inspect them, to two usually 

 very distinct classes; those of the one class evidently hammered out 

 with rude stone implements ; those of tlu^ other class showing as plainly 

 tliat they have been made from quite thin, siiu)otli, and even sheets. If 

 we examine, for instance, the bracelets, of which there are numerous 

 specimens in the various museums and collections of our country, this 

 difference will be found very ai)parent. Those of the one class are 

 solid, usually about the thickness of the larger end of a large iiorcupine 

 quill, and roughly hammered (mt. A figure of this type may be seen 

 on page 'M of the Fifteenth lleport of the Feabody IMuseum, and others 

 in Schoolcraft's History of American Indians, also our Fig. 299. Those 

 of the other class are made of sheet co])per by first forming a cylinder 

 of the required size, then bending it to the ])ro])er shape. These are 

 usually found in Indian graves and intrusive burials; but occasionally 



