1876.] Proceedings of Societies. 447 
mound. If the openings were gateways defended by palisades, the whole 
structure became a fortress. We have now to suppose that the buildings 
were of timber, on the summits of the embankments, and uniform with 
the latter in slope. The walls of the buildings were coated with earth, 
and probably rose ten or twelve feet above the embankments, thus mak- 
ing a continuous sloping rampart twenty feet high. This form of house 
would harmonize with the prevailing architecture of the Village Indians; 
but a knowledge of the actual shape of the houses or of their interior 
arrangements, is not necessary to the hypothesis. The Minnitaree and 
Mandan Indians strround their houses with a wall of split timber, coated 
with earth. It may be pointed out that such structures on the edge of 
embankments could not be successfully assailed from without, either by 
Indian weapons or by fire. 
Mr. Morgan exhibited a ground plan for such buildings, showing how 
they might have been readily constructed, and would perhaps contain 
from two to three hundred families, on the communal plan, and serving 
the purposes of their former mode of life. In fact, the mode of life 
necessarily determined the form of architecture. We need not discuss 
the uses or objects of the inclosure formed by the circular embankments. 
It is not improbable that it was the Village garden. But this mode of 
life was after all not adapted to the climate, and these emigrants eventu 
ally succumbed in the struggle for existence. There is evidence of the 
better adaptation of such a life to warmer climates, from the fact of the 
longer continuance of the Village Indians in Mexico, and especi? lly n 
Central America.. 
: Major Powell has long made Indian structures a study. He men- 
honed that several of his observations indicated that where tribes had 
made an advance in civilization, their tendency was toward the com- 
munal or pueblo form of buildings ; this is indicated by the comparative 
age of the ruins, the most ancient not being inclosed at all, while the 
latest were surrounded by cliffs or walls. The age is determined chiefly 
by the thickness of the covering débris. Major Powell is inclined to 
believe that many of the cliff houses were built for refuge during the 
Spanish invasion, and such is the tradition among the Indians. Among 
Some of the Utes the land of existence after death is placed beyond the 
mountains ; but among the Pueblos heaven is an architectural affair ; 
1t is in the second or third story. 
Professor Marsh approved the conclusions of Mr. Morgan, and 
brought fresh evidence to support them from an entirely different source. 
Na long series of comparisons of Indian skulls, Professor Marsh has 
been much struck by the similarity between those of the Pueblo Indians 
and of the Mound Builders. As the shape of the Mound Builder’s skull 
18 Very peculiar, the coincidence is a very striking one. Professor New- 
berry added a few remarks about the buildings on the table lands, which 
he sa were possibly six hundred or seven hundred years old, while 
