Who Built the Mounds? 99 



than those placed irregularly about the patriarch of this 

 mound family. In the large mounds it is not uncommon to 

 find secondary burials, which are mostly near the surface. 

 On the other hand, the small mounds are never interfered 

 with, so far as I can ascertain from personal inspection and 

 extensive ii.quiry. Mounds are not usually opened with 

 sufficient care. In most cases, when the report is that there 

 was a confused heap of bones, critical investigation would 

 prove that the skeletons were originally placed in a sitting 

 position, and that the apparent confusion is caused by the 

 skeletons falling over at various angles, the legs alone re- 

 taining their original position. 



The Wisconsin mounds are all sepulchral, with the excep- 

 tion of the so-called animal mounds. 



Squier, after a thorough investigation of the earthworks, 

 mounds and fortifications of New York says: 



" In full view of the facts bef pre presented I am driven to 

 the conclusion little anticipated when I started on my trip 

 of exploration, that these earthworks were erected by Iro- 

 quois and Senecas or their western neighbors; that the 

 tribes that inhabited New York were to a degree fixed and 

 agricultural in habit." (Aboriginal Monuments of New 

 York, p. 83.) 



Further on he says the light thrown upon the Ohio works 

 by those situated in western New York has led to an entire 

 modification of his former views regarding the Ohio works, 

 and to the conviction that they are all of a comparatively 

 late date and probably of common origin. 



The flint arrow and spear points, the stone axes, pipes and 

 ornaments, as well as various forms of pottery, are identical 

 in shape, material and workmanship with those known to 

 be used and manufactured by the Indians, when the Euro- 

 peans first came among them. No one can tell by inspect- 

 ing these articles whether they were taken from a mound or 

 picked up on the site of a known Indian village. Shell beads 

 found so commonly in mounds and Indian graves were 

 their money — wampum — just such as the Indians living 

 along the New England coast used to make continually. 

 They gathered great quantities of small univalve sea shells 



