American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1876-07-08
Prehistoric America.

The subject of American archaeology
is exciting growing attention in Europe.
This movement of antiquarian research
can scarcely be deemed a reflex of
special activity on our part, for prior to
the voluminous compilation by Bancroft
of San Francisco, nothing of value had
appeared in this country since
Stephens's explorations in Yucatan.
Moreover, the materials amassed by Mr..
Bancroft, while presenting an exhaust
i've summary of the information ac-
cessible in books, are not skillfully CO.
ordinated or carefully graded with re-
spect to weight and authority, neither
are the precise problems to be
solved and the true methods of elucida-
ton distinctly enunciated. All this
was done, however, by the congress of
so-called Anericanistes, whose last
meeting was held at Nancy, and whose
report, lately published, constitutes
digested programme of the work to be
accomplished.
Combining ourselves to the continent
of North America, we find three ma
tons whose vestiges may be expected
to reward scientific investigation. These
dominant races are the Mound Builders
of the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys,
the Nahuas, whose principal monu-
ments are encountered on the plateau
of Anahuac, and the Mayas, whose
progressive development seems to have
eliminated in Honduras and Yucatan.
The centers of civilization were APP
parently independent of one another,
and what is actually known respecting
them may be stated in few words
The basins of the Mississippi and its
eastern tributaries present three or four
successive terraces formed by the al
luvial deposits of the streams. Now,
the tumuli, of which thousands have
been discovered between Lake Erie and
the Gulf of Mexico, are invariably
placed on the highest of these levels,
and from this circumstance some
archeologists have sought to approx
mate the date of.their construction. tits
noteworthy that these mounds in GER
tain cases exhibit correct geometrical
shapes, squares, and circles, for exam
pie, as regular as if they had been trac-
ed by modern engineer. Elsewhere
they represent in relief the colossal i'm
ages of animals or men, here bird
with outstretched wings, and there an
alligator with twisted trunk, bent tail,
and open mouth, in the act of swallow
ing smaller egg-shaped mound. Some
of these tumuli are of considerable size,
one in Illinois measuring at the base
ego feet by 480, and reaching height
of 80 feet above the soil. They seem to
have served in many instances as fort
resses, in others as places of sacrifice.
Besides bones, various objects have
been disinterred, indicating certain
stage of progress in the arts. Among
these may be mentioned cut flints, earth
enware of graceful shapes, and pipes
deliberately carved. Silver and copper
were likewise employed by the Mound
Builders, both metals being probably
derived from the mines of Lake Supe-
rior.
There existed then in the Mississippi
basin numerous people dwelling under
the same laws and the same religion,
since remains identical in character are
found dispersed throughout an extern
| sive territory. They were apparently
an agricultural race, since nomads erect
no permanent structures, and moreover
the region which they elected to inhabit
is the most fertile of North America.
For their epoch they were manifestly
civilized, yet their work, like certain
| Egyptian monuments, evinces more per-
severance than artistic skill. That they
were religious is demonstrated by many
edifces which can only have subserved
purposes of worship, and their cruelty
may be inferred from the fact that the
neighborhood of their affairs abounds in
vestiges of human sacrifices. This sub
stantially sums our knowledge of the
Mound Builders. But when did the ma
ton disappear, and was it the ancestor
of the Mayas and Nahuas who colonized
Mexico and Central American That is
one of the problems which still awaits
solution. Doubtless the pyramidal form
of certain earthworks is but vague in
dex of relationship, since the same
architectural type is encountered in the
Nile valley at thesdawn of another civil
lization. And again, if all the primitive
races of North America were of one
stock, how does it happen that the in
| termediate territory of Arkansas, Lou
isiana, and Texas reveals NO traces of
migration?
The origin and history of the flour
ishing nation which confronted Cortes
on the plateau of Mexico have hitherto
remained impenetrable to ameteur and
fitful research. 1t is yet questionable
whether the cradle of the race may be
detected in the casas grandes, or the
abodes of the Pueblo Indians of New
Mexico and Arizona. 1t seems, howev-
er, that about the fifth century of our
era Anahuac, or the "land of waters, "
was occupied by the Toltecs, a branch
of the Nahua stock, to whom Aztec ira
dition ascribed the finest Mexican mon
uments. The Toltecs were prosperous,
rich, and in many respects enlightened.
At all events, the civilization which
they bequeathed to succeeding
races was little inferior to
that of the Spanish conquerors.
Gradually exhausted by repeated fam
ines and destructive civil wars, they