Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. I.

I. View of ancient works at Marietta, ---- II. Map of a section of 12 miles of Scioto valley, 3 III. Map of a section of 6 miles of Miami valley, 4 No. 2. Map of 6 miles of Pain...

The ancient monuments of the Western United States consist, for the most part, of elevations and embankments of earth and stone, erected with great labor and manifest design. In...

The Enclosures, or, as they are familiarly called throughout the West, “Forts,” constitute a very important and interesting class of remains. Their dimensions, and the popular o...

The structure not less than the form and position of a large number of the Earthworks of the West, and especially of the Scioto valley, render it clear that they were erected fo...

We are in possession of very little authentic information respecting the monuments of the Southern United States.[74] All accounts concur in representing them as very numerous a...

It has already been observed that the ancient monuments of the Southern United States, although partaking of the general character of those of the central region, are neverthele...

In connection more or less intimate with the various earthworks already described, are the Tumuli or MOUNDS. Together, these two classes of remains constitute a single system of...

Mounds of this class are very numerous. They are generally of considerable size, varying from six to eighty feet in height, but having an average altitude of from fifteen to twe...

These mounds are distinguished by their great regularity of form and general large dimensions. They occur most usually within, but sometimes without, the walls of enclosures. Th...

Besides the mounds already described, the purposes of which seem pretty clearly indicated, there are many which will admit of no classification. Some of them possess features in...

The condition of the ordinary arts of life amongst a people capable of constructing the singular and imposing monuments which we have been contemplating, furnishes a prominent a...

The first inquiry suggested by an inspection of the mounds and other earthworks of the West, relates to the means at the command of the builders in constructing them. However nu...

Notwithstanding that it was often used for implements, copper seems to have been most highly valued by the mound-builders for purposes of ornament. The supposition is based upon...

In the absence of a knowledge of the metals, the ingenuity of man contrives to fashion from the different varieties of stone, from the tusks and bones of animals, and the harder...

A large proportion of the articles found in the mounds may be classed as ornaments. It is not undertaken to say, however, that all which follow under this head were really desig...

Many of the carvings in stone, already noticed, display no inconsiderable degree of taste and skill. There is, however, a large class of remains, comprising sculptural tablets,...

Frequent allusion has been made, in the preceding pages, to the numerous rare and beautiful varieties of minerals, fossils, and shells, disclosed from the mounds; but no opportu...

It has already been several times observed that the human remains found in the mounds are of different eras. The superficial burials, it has been abundantly shown, are of compar...

Rocks rudely inscribed with figures of men and animals, have been observed at various points within the United States, and have commanded no small share of attention. Their gene...

With the facts presented in the foregoing chapters before him, the reader will be able to deduce his own conclusions, as to the probable character and condition of the ancient p...