/ 
^, 
100 
Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis 
they passed through New Madrid County and may have had 
some part in the building of the ancient settlements of that sec- 
tion. Here again, as with the Michigamea, our meagre knowl- 
edge of the archeology of the Quapaw prohibits us from saying 
with certainty that they were the builders of the Matthews 
Village and earthworks. However, the lack of any sign of white 
man's influence at this site makes us think an occupation by any 
historic tribe was unlikely. 
IX. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 
Summing up all the evidence gathered by the excavations 
at the Matthews site, we seem to have the picture of a people 
primarily sedentary and agricultural in nature, but with hunting 
portant 
M 
a rather complex state of primitive society, possibly with a caste 
system and elaborate ideas of religion, we infer from the nature 
r 
and diversity of the mounds, the methods of burial, and the en- 
closing of large number of house sites within a protecting em- 
bankment or palisade. The lack ot manufactured articles have 
led the writers to conclude that this village was the home of an 
unidentified tribe of the prehistoric or possibly protohistoric 
period. 
idle Missi 
Middle M 
Madrid 
Middle M 
dates somewhere between 400 and 800 years ago. However, 
the question of the exact chronology must await the deter- 
mination of the cutting date of the house posts and timbers 
found in the burned dwellings. Specimens of charred posts 
from different parts of the 
were carefully saved and 
portation to the 
versity of Chica 
paraffin in gasoline 
Laboratory of the Uni- 
In view of the present data the writers incline to the theory 
►untry, 
this 
possibly 
and what finally became 
