Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-08-05

be supposed that they were relics Of an an
cient race which peopled this continent
before the Indians. Twelve years ago Mai
J. w. Powell set a corps Of experts at the
business Of investigating them. The re-
suit OF that inquiry has been a revolution
in ideas.
''The first thing done was to locate the
mounds which were looked upon as relics
OF a vanished population" said Mai. Pow
ell yesterday. 1T was a big task, for they
are scattered all over the United States,
from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from
the Canadian border to the gulf There are
thousands Of groups. and the mounds are
numbered by hundreds Of thousands
Next, the shapes Of the mounds were
studied. 1t was found that their forms
were of infinite variety. Many of them
were shaped like various animals. and
these have been termed 'effigy' mounds
"A great many of them were dug into,
and all sorts of things were taken out Of
them. In about 10 per cent of them arti-
cles were found which were Of white mans
manufacture-sucha as brass kettles. beads,
knives and bayonets. It was evident that
these mounds must have been built after
me white man arrived In this country.
an ancient and vanished race.
"A search was made for testimony in
all the books written by the old explorers
Spanish, French, Dutch and English. They
said that they found the Indians of North
America living on top of mounds. burying
their dead In mounds, and holding relig-
furnished pictures of mounds, showing the
savages occupying them and using them
Tor ceremonial purposes. Columbus, when
ne landed. found the Indians building and
using mounds.
The truth is that the Indians have been
ouiidlng mounds right along from prehis-
tor1c times until the present. They are con-
structing them today. and for the same pur-
poses as anciently. myself have seem two
~: such mounds in process of building-one by
the Piutes In Santa Clara county, Utah. and
the other In the Pitt River valley. Cal, by the
Wintum. They were both designed for
cemeteries.
Contents of Mounds.
Two classes Of objects have been found in
the mounds. The first Class was composed
Of articles made by white men. The second
class comprised articles which are in all
respects exactly like those OF modern In
dian manufacture. What reason. then. is
tnere Tor assuming that the mounds were
ouilt by lost people in remote antiquity !?
On the contrary. there Is every reason for
ancestors of the Indians of today. " 'Ae
The oft-repeated assertion that the arts
OF the mound builders were superior to the
arts Of the Indians is absolutely lacking in
corroborative evidence Among hundreds
OF thousands of articles found in the
mounds the only ones not satisfactorily &C
counted for in the ways l have spoken Of
are a Few ornaments of sheet copper,
which seem to exhibit an artistic knowi-
edge far beyond that possessed by the mod
ern oborigines. They have been dug up in
various parts Of the country. The Indians
call them thunder birds They are cere-
m Ilo ornaments and are of various de-
signs representing eagles, women wearing
helmets and carrying what look like scep-
tiers, etc. These objects have caused a
better have had several of them mounted
on glass and have studied them with a
powerful magnifier. l find that they were
dies.
Made by Whites.
so much for the thunder birds Evil
IDENTIFY they were made by white men for
the Indians. As late a century ago the
whites manufactured great quantities Of
stone knives and hammers for sale to the
aborigines They turned them out by ma
chinery. as they did shell money or wan
pun. with which they inflated the currency
OF the red man. For the same market they
produced thousands of copper Implements
Not long ago group of mounds was dug
into near Chillicothe. Ohio and hundreds Of
skeletons were found with copper masks
Very possibly these masks were made by
the whites. However, the savages before
Columbus came knew how to obtain copper
py building fire about piece Of rock con-
tanning the ore and pouring water on the
hot stone, thus causing it to split in frag-
ments and release the metal. The latter
was afterward heated and beaten out into
sheets.
Just now I referred to the purposes for
Wnich these mounds were built Some of
y.
of them, because an elevation was adyan-
tageous for defense. On a small mound
might stand single house, or the earth
work might be large enough to afford site
Tor whole town. Other mounds were for
the burial Of the dead. dead man was
inferred in tumulus. in sitting posture
Another person dying, he was buried in
the same mound, more lateral being add
co. Al every fnterment the mound was
made bigger. Thus 1t went on from gener-
atom TO generation, and from century to
century, until the structure Of earth at
tanned enormous size
Manner of Burial
Some of the Indians placed each body in
q little cyst, or box Of stone Others made
the box Of poles. In either case the object
was to keep the corpse from contact with
Yet others Of the savages preferred to build
scanolds in trees and lay out the cadayers
on them, permitting the flesh to waste
away by the natural processes of decompo-
sitlon. subsequently they buried the bones
When they had twenty or fifty skeletons
thus prepared they inferred them all to-
gether In a mound with a grand ceremony
Some Indians. as the Dakota have prac-
ticed this method within recent years OF
course, the bones of the skeletons fell apart
and they were placed in a heap at the bot
tom OF the grave, with the skulls on top
The individuals might be buried separately
or there would be a pyramid of bones in a
single tomb. When the defunct was laid
to rest In the flesh his personal property
bow, arrows, stone ak, &c.,-was put with
the body. In the case of a woman, her pots
and other domestic utensils were inferred
with her.
'"The greatest assemblage of mounds in
this country Is the famous Cahokia group
seen from the railway approa ching the city
from the east. This group is most rerna rk-