WHO WERE THE MOUND-BUILDERS? 263 



tents certainly indicate that, prior to the occupation of the Mississippi Valley by the 

 more recent tribes of Indians there existed here a numerous population, agricul- 

 tural in their habits, considerably advanced in the arts, and undoubtedly in all re- 

 spects much superior to their successors." 



Also, 2 "We may venture to assert that the facts thus far collected point to 

 a connection more or less intimate between the races of the mounds and the semi- 

 civilized nations which formerly had their seats among the Sierras of Mexico and 

 upon the plains of Central America and Peru." 



Lewis H. Morgan says^ : "The mound-builders had disappeared at the 

 €poch of the European discovery and cannot be classed with any known Indian 

 stock." 



Also,* "From the absence of traditionary knowledge of the mound-build- 

 ers among the tribes found east of the Mississippi an inference arises that the 

 period of their occupation was ancient. Their withdrawal was probably gradual, 

 and completed before the advent of the ancestors of the present tribes or simul- 

 taneous with their arrival." 



Dr. Joseph Jones says, ^ "The most important inference appears to be that 

 the mound-builders and stone grave races of the Mississippi Valley had a com- 

 mon origin or near affinity with the aboriginal inhabitants of Mexico and Central 

 America. 



Also, ^ " It is impossible to assign the monumental remains of Tennessee to 

 .any specific date or to any known nation of North American Indians." 



C. C. Jones, Jr., says, '^ in speakingof mounds in Georgia: "The location 

 and physical peculiarities of some tumuli and enclosures, the character of the re- 

 mains found in and near them, the presence of stone idols and metallic ornaments 

 and the traditions of modern Indians, who regard them with commingled igno- 

 rance and wonder, unite in claiming for them not only a marked antiquity, but 

 also, a striking resemblance to the monuments of the Mississippi Valley." 



Also, ^ in speaking of a great mound on the Etowah River: "To the eye 

 of the observer as it rests for the first time upon its towering form, it seems a 

 monument of the past ages, venerable in its antiquity, solemn, silent, and yet not 

 voiceless, a remarkable exhibition of the power and industry of a former race. 

 With its erection the modern hunter tribes, so far as our information extends, 

 had naught to do." 



Also, ^ " The fact has been distinctly attested by early travellers that the 

 Indians of this region never worshiped idols. We have further testimony that 

 they not only never manufactured these symbols of pagan worship, but emphati- 

 cally disclaimed all knowledge of the people by whom they were made. Who, 



2 Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, page 301. 



3 Houses and House Life of the American Aborigines, page 193. 



4 Houses and House Life of the American Aborigines, page 219. 



5 Explorations of the Aboriginal Remains of Tennessee, page 78. 



6 Explorations of the Aboriginal Remains of Tennessee, page 157. 



7 Antiquities of the Southern Indians, page 131. 



8 Antiquities of the Southern Indians, 137. 



9 Antiquities oJ the Southern Indians, 146. 



