The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1895-12-17
MOUND BUILDERS.
WHO THEY WERE TOLD BY THE.
BUREAU BY ETHNOLOGY.
They Were Ancestors of the Indians
and Came to America i'm Two
Distinct Bodies-Uses c.
the Mounds.
CCORDING to the

the question: "Who were the mound
builders?' This question has been
debated by psychologists and ethnolo.
eists the world over for hundred
years or more. Ever since the latter
part of the last century, when the nm
tlquity of these mounds was first real
lzed, speculation has been rife as to
who were the people able to construct
edlhces differing so widely from the
modern habitations of the modern In
dams.
DR.. Franklin attributed them to De
Soto and his followers. Savants of
the present century have said that
they were temples, others sacrificed
affairs. and still others burial struc-
lures, built by tribe now lost In oh.
hvlon. The introduction to every his
torlcal text book devoted to this con-
tlnent and taught to the American and
foreign youth, es well, opens with n
chapter on this subject. Almost all of
these speak of the mound builders as
prehistoric race distinct from the
Indians, and who were driven out bv
the latter. This has been the state of
affairs even up 10 the present dav.
But the opinion of the Bureau of
Ethnology is that all these historians
nave gone astray on this question. In
other words, 1t is now believed that
the me und builders were no more than
the ancestors of the same Indians found
by the first Europeans landed on our
shores. Professor McGee, chief eth
nologist of the bureau, in announcing
TINS decision says that its Importance
hn Tnllt lN,.A he,
OF history IN all parts Of the world.
1t was as early rs 1853 when Major
Powell, the present chief of the bu.
reau, began to examine the mounds of
ONO. Since 1881 systematic line
of work has been cnrried on under
Professor Cyrus Thomas and CORPS
OF assistants, who have examined,
possibly, all of the many hundreds of
| prehistoric mounds to be found in the
whole eastern half of tho continent.
This work has now been completed.
In considering the opposing opinions
! OF those who believe that man first
landed on the Pecifc coast and those
VINO think he first arrived on the At
lantIc side, Professor Thomas "splits
Inc difference" with them by conclud-
ing that he came to both sides in two
distinct tribes, each afterward occu-
| pylng distinct half of the continent.
In other words, the Indians were two
separate races of men.
Very briefly, the arguments made
/ by Professor Thomas in behalf of the
bureau are as follows: All the an
Gent artificial works known as
| mounds" found east of the Rockies
are attributed to those tribes found in
| possession of this region at the time
/ OF its discovery, and their ancestors
! 1t is probable that there was inter.
/ course between some tribes OF this re.
| glon and the early people of Mexico
and Central America, as well as the
| Pueblo tribes, but the three latter
named races must not be given any
/ credit for building the mounds.
The Indian has been CONSIDERED un-
able to build such structures because
OF the universal opinion that when
first discovered by Europeans he was
the same rowing, unhoused and I'M
/ agricultural being RS he is to-day.
! The Indian, however, has degendrated
since the coming of the white man.
/ Judging from the extent OF their
works, the mound builders must have
had fixed villages, and they must have
| depended upon agriculture rather
than the hunt for food. This has
pointed to the supposed fact that they
were not indiana. But latest investi-
cation proves that when first visited
by Europeans there was scarcely a
tribe between the Atlantic and the
rrairies but which had its liked seat
But what were the mounds used for?
In some southern districts it was Gus
tomary to build dwellings on low ter.
races, apparently artificial. When
deaths occurred it seems to have been
the practice TO bury the bodies he.
meath the earthen floors. The houses
were then set on fire and mounds we're
bcapcd over the ruins while still smol-
deriug. These houses we're built bv
setting upright sticks i'm the ground
and joining them 10y Intervening
twigs or canes, then plasteriug these
rude walls with clay, and finally
matching the roofs This is exactly
rs described by the early French ex-
plorers.
The fact that a great many mounds
have been found near streams subject
] 20 oNtIuoW MS lcu many urCnaCOlO-
gists TO believe that they we're built
for the purpose OF raising the hon as
above the floods Historical records
state That Moscoso, who after De So.
tO's death succeeded 10 the command
oi the Spanish soldiers, visited an In.
dian town along tho Mississippi, when
the river overRowed to the tree tons
The city Was surrounded by mound
OF earth, TO be used as n protection
against such floods, and each house
was built upon q mound, in case tho
nike should break Professor Thomas
has also found historical evidences
that some Indians living IT, the south
when visited by WHIT men built
mounds for fortifcat.1n in warfare.
These he scores as convincing points.
for If one tribe could do it, why
couldnt another?
But in addition to all this evidence
there are found 20 have been great
similarities between the mound build
ers and Indians, which convincos Pro