The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-04-21
THE MOUND BUILDERS.
What IL known and What IL Guesned OF fhs
PrehisfOrIc Americans.
New York Times.


In q lecture before the New York
Academy of Science, on the prehistoric
races of the American Continent, Pro-
fessor John S. Newberry furnished, per-
haps, the finest and most lucid summary
that has yet been given of the present
state of our verified scientific informa-
ton as to the mound builders, the house
builders, the AZtecs of the South, and
the condition of the arts of civilization
among these representatives of lost
types. So many ingenious scientific
romances have been elaborated by
speculative antiquaries as to the origin
of these races, and their possible relation
to the prehistoric types of the Old,
World, that such a resume as DR. New
berry gave of what is actually ascertained
or fairly inferable from the data of
mounds, pottery, inscriptions, textile
fabrics, and other remains, Is peculiarly
valuable to the general student, who,
bewildered by speculative theories
cleverly interlaced with facts, and sadly
puzzled by remote inference stated as
verified information, finds himself with
out starting point for the formation
of an opinion. While not sharing in the
fanatic enthusiasm that places these
races in advance of the contemporary
civilizations of the prehistoric races Of
Europe and Asia, and while taking no
part in the endeavor to trace a relation
between them, DIR. Newberry comedies
their progress in certain arts and the
magnificent scale upon which their
public works were constructed. He re-
CARDS the mound builders of the Valley
of the Mississippi, among whom the
symbolical form appears to have been
neglected In the construction OF their
works of sepulture, and the races further
West who built in the forms of birds
and now extinct animals, as belonging
to the same primitive stock, now prob
ably represented by few tribes of West
ern Indians-Indians so called for want
of better name, but differing In ances-
trail descent from the savage hordes to
whom that term has been appropriated
as widely as the Arab differs from the
Persian. Unfortunately for science,
and, perhaps, for Dr. Newberry's view
of the subject, the remains of textile
fabrics that were buried in the mounds
have been destroyed by time and damp
ness, with the exception of a few shreds,
which have been preserved by the salts
of copper generated by the utensils with
which they were originally inferred.
These shreds are not sufficient to estab-
lish an identity of design between the
textile products of the mound builders
and the curious blankets manufactured
by certain house building tribes extant
at the present day. Evidences derived
from physical structure are, however, by
no means to be disregarded in such
cases, and here the testimony Is strikingly
In favor Of the hypothesis that the de-
scendants of the mound builders are TO
be sought In certain types of so-called
Indians in the far West. Dr. Newberry
has made large and valuable collection
of the textile fabrics bearing upl2 the
question, and it IS a singular fact tfia6
the distaff in use among these tribes
and the mode of weaving are exactly
identical with those of the ancient races
of the Old World. One must not be
misled by such condolences, which,
though striking and curious, are, like
pathological analogies and resemblances
of root words, to say nothing of designs
in the decoration of pottery, insufficient
grounds for the assertion of a theory.
If, as prehistoric geographers contend,
the area now occupied by the Indian
Ocean was once the seat of a densely
populated continent, it is very possible
that some historical relation may be
finally made out between the primitive
races of the great continents on the sur
face of the globe, but at the present
juncture, as DIR. Newberry shows, there
is not even sufficient basis for the most
shadowy impression to that effect.