Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-06-01
No Evidence of Written Lam
guage of Mound Builders
Has Been Discovered by
Searching Scientists,
BY WILLIAM I'll. FRANCIS
neased Wire Service to The Journal')

UeaSeQ wire service " nv 'N'A'AN''
Copyright, 1922
ST. LOUIS, Mo.-The eighty or
more earthen mounds scattered
over 5O0-acre tract IN the
Cahokla district in Madison and
st. Clair counties in Illinois a snort
distance across the Mississippi rlV-
err from st. Louis have begun 10
Weld up to science their story OF a
North American people who llVed
and vanished in the vague mlsts Oh
long, long ago.
The record is a fascinating one OF
the trade, art and agriculture OF
the men who inhabited the Mlssis-
sippi valley prior to the supremacy
OF the Indians who greeted the dis
coverer, DeSoto, and the later jesuit
explorers. Hints of the story have
been obtained before, in explora'
lions of mounds in Ohio and ILL
nois and in almost forgotten at
tempts to fathom the mystery OF
the Cahokia mounds. But now a
comprehensive expedition to TINS
metropolis of the mound builders
is beginning to get results that Will
be written into history.
Professor Warren K. Moorehead,
of Massachusetts, is in charge OF
the expedition, which is being II
nanced by the University of Hi
nois and watched with interest by
the Smithsonian institution and 9th
er scientific organizations. He made
his preliminary investigation last
fall, digging through one mound 10
determine what it was composed OF,
and has just completed some spring
excavations which revealed wonders
of culture of this forgotten race.
Affairs Found
The diggers will return this fall
and again in other seasons, Tor II
will take ten syears, probably, tc
reveal the epic of a people who
brought conch shells from the sea
obsidian from Yellowstone, mica
from the Alleghenies,N copper from
the Great Lakes and flint from Mis-
souri,
During five weeks Of work just
completed, DR.. Moorehead unearth
ed three cemeteries, 50 skeletons, u
funeral jars and urns, countless
small art objects and implements
of peace and war, and, most i'm
portant, an altar. Six mounds were
penetrated. The altar was in the
center of the base of one of the
mounds. The mound has a diameter
of about 100 feet and was abou
"a feet high. The altar is a basin
like structure of baked clay, about
IS inches in diameter, its sides be
ing three inches thick. 1t was fill
ed with ashes-the nature of Which
has not been determined.
A similar altar was found dur
ing the preliminary work last fal
and others have been unearthed ii
other mounds in other sections OF
the country. 1t is the theory of DR.
Moorehead that the mound builders
used these affairs in connection Will
ceremonial rites. They were insert
ed, as this one was, in large plat
form of fire baked clay, evidently
a dance flCar, and when their CPS
monial usefulness was ended they
were covered with earth, hence the
mounds.
One of the skeletons has beer
turned over to Washington univer
sity here to be examined in an eff
fort to determine the age, sex anG
physical characteristics. Generally
speaking, the skulls which have
been found show that the mounC
builders were a powerful race
! physically, and with large brain cav
tiles, but with the protrUding lower
jaw usually associated with ANNA
cunning and cruelty. The ashes
found in the basin also will be sub
mitted to an exhaustive chemica
analysis.
DR.. Moorehead declares that the
pottery fragments which he ha!
found indicate beyond doubt tina