NORTH AMERICAN ARCniEOLO GY. 
25 
selves ; the second, that of the garden beds; and the third, that of 
the forests. 
But American agriculture was not imported from abroad; it 
resulted from, and in return rendered possible, the gradual develop¬ 
ment of American semi-civilisation. This is proved by the fact, that 
the grains of the Old World -were entirely absent, and that Ame¬ 
rican agriculture was founded on the Maize, an American plant. 
Thus, therefore, we appear to have indications of four long periods. 
1. That in which, from an original barbarism, the American tribes 
developed a knowledge of agriculture and a power of combination. 
2. That in which the mounds were erected and other great works 
undertaken. 
3. The age of the “ garden beds,” which occupy some at least 
of the mounds. Hence it is evident that this cultivation was not 
until after the mounds had lost their sacred character in the eyes of 
the occupants of the soil; for it can hardly be supposed that works 
executed with so much care would be thus desecrated by their 
builders. 
And 4. The period in which man relapsed into barbarism, and 
the spots wdiich had been first forest, then (perhaps) sacred monu¬ 
ments, and thirdly cultivated ground; relapsed into forest once 
more. 
But even if we attribute to these changes all the importance 
which has ever been claimed for them, they will not require an 
antiquity of more than three thousand years. We do not, of course, 
deny that the period may have been very much greater, or very 
much less, but, in our opinion at least, it need not be greater. At 
the same time there are other observations, which, if they shall 
eventually prove to be correct, would indicate a very much greater 
antiquity. 
One of these is an account “ given of a Mastodon found in Gras- 
“ conade County, Missouri, which had apparently been stoned to 
“ death by the Indians, and then partially consumed by fire. The 
“ pieces of rock, weighing from two to twenty-five pounds each, which 
“ must have been brought from a distance of four or five hundred 
“ yards ‘ were,’ says the narrator, ‘ evidently thrown with the inten- 
“ tion of hitting some object.’ Intermixed with burned wood and 
“ burned bones, were broken spears, axes, knives, &c., of stone.” This 
statement, which, if true, is of the highest importance, is given by 
Mr. Haven # without a word of caution, and is repeated by Hr. 
Wilson.f Both these gentlemen refer to the ‘ American Journal of 
Sciences and Art’ (Hirst Series, Yol. xxxvi. p. 199), as if they were 
quoting from an article communicated to that respectable journal. 
Now, the fact is, that the only authority for the statement is an ano¬ 
nymous correspondent of the 4 Philadelphia Presbyterian.’ The 
editor of the American Journal, while reprinting the communication, 
* L. c. p. 142. 
f L. c. v. i. p. 112. 
