The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-05-28
MOUNDS MAY YIELD HISTORY OF EARLY AMERICAN INDIANS
Scientists Are Digging Into Earthen Heaps Near St. Louis-IntereSting
 Discoveries
By WILLIAM H. FRANCIS Special Correspondent of The AKe-Heral


 Special Correspondent of The Herald
 Copyright, 1929. by The Age-Herald)
 St. Louis, May 27.-The eighty CT more earthern mounds scattered over a 5oo-acre tract in the Cahokia dis trict in Madison and St. Clair coun- ties in Illinois. a short distance across the Mississippi river from St. Louis, have begun to yield up to science their story of a North Ameri- can people who lived and vanished in the vague mists of long, long ago.
 The record is a fascinating one of the trade. art and agriculture of the men who inhabited the Mississippi valley prior to the supremacy of the Indians who greeted the discoverer. DeSoto, and the later Jesuit explor- CTS. Hints of the story have been ob- tained before. in explorations of mounds in Ohio and Illinois and in almost forgotten attempts to fathom the mystery of the Cahokta mounds. But now 6 comprehensive expedition to thasmetropoiis of the mound build CTS is beginning to get results that will he written into history.
 Moorehead in Charge
 Pref. Warren K. Moorehesd. Mas sachusstts aruheologtst. is in charge of the expedition. which ts befng fi- nanoed by the University of Illinois. and watched with intanest by the Smithsonian Instituien and other scientific organizations. He made his preliminary investigation last fall Digging trough one mound to dekexnsinA what 1t of various kinds of earth arranged by human hands. and has just com I trlsted some spring excavations which have revealed wondeu1 of-6hs -culturs of ttas forgotten racs.
 ]. The dige> ' win return xtfB fan end agasy kn other seasons, for it win ta2s ta years. probably. to re- veal the epsoyof & people who brought conuh shells hvm tho sea. obstdian from Vef1ssustene. nssoa tfronethe AL ieghanfes. cnppas from the great l lakes and hzns fsuHn Missouri. X UneaxaAx Canaetextcs 1 puxang Stve weeks of work 3ust , cempisted, DS. Moerehesd unearthed three cerns<erfea. 52 skeletons. 23 funeral SSTs and uzns. counties small art 1h1ec1s and implements of peace and war, axfd. most important. an al- tar. Six mounds were penetrated. The altar waA in the oenter ef tho base ef ena of the nonndR. Tho m0uitd 0H8 A a1A100N&E 01 AUOWE. LoV feet and was. about a< feet high. The altar ix a basin-iike structure of baked play. szbout Is inches in diame- ter, It's sides being three inches thick It was filled with ashes--the nature of which has not been determined.
 A similar altar was found during the preliminary work last fan. and others have been unearthed in other mounds in other sections of tho coun- try. It Is the theory of Dr. Moorehead that tho mound builders used these altars in connection with ceremonial rites. They wore inserted. as this one was, In a large platform of fire-baked clay, evidently . dance f1oors and when their ceremonial usefulness was ended they were covered with earth hence the mounds.
 Skeleton Examined
 One of the skeletons has been turned over to Washington univer- sity hero to be examined in an effort to determine the aga sex and physi- cal characteristics. Generally speak show that the mound builders were a powerful race. pfiysicslly, and withs large brain cavities. but with the pro truding lower jaw usually associated with animal cunning and orueltys The ashes found in the basin also will be submitteds Aosans nsexhaustfveschema cal analySts.
 pr. Moorsassd declares <nsx ths| pottery fraEmsnts which h~ has found Indicate heyend doubt thsts the women of the mound builders had develope4 . oayaudo art higher than that AohAgved hy AnT ether rre-his- torto mound builders north of the cliff A'Wu1Ievw of the southwast, Tho fvagmeasee unoovsred in the mounds weee 0nooped mp by the Indian wom- on aA &sav z1lted thsAE baskets to oasvy e the mo1ndA
 Thssaa1xeaEsof tho Cxhs1E1A u1oundz, known as N0nkS mound, because of the fa.c4 that srappist monks biilt . menastszy eu fs summit, ts larger than the sYsaes pyramid of the Cheops in Hgypt. It ts nearly 1000 feet in diaunotsr end mora than 100 feet high. It oovers more than 16 acres of ground and sontains moro than S4,- ooo,0oo cnbao yards of earth. It has beso estimated that with modern ma cf1insry, it would require more than two ysaxs for 2.Soo men to build 1t. And the Indian women who carried every bit of this earth in baskets. "toted" ouax . peck or two at
 w.e,1.ooo Ys.rv ,ora A'sA
 Dr. s11porehead will not enter into any discussion of the ags of the skeletons and implements he has found. He has indicated, however, that he does not believe they are 1000 years old.
 Whenever 1t was--400 years ago, TOO, 1,0oo--squaws gave dinner parties then, just as they do nowadays. A few days ago five white men. d!g- ging near Cahokia creek, in tho VI cinity of ono of the mounds, uncov-