The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-09
INDIAN REL ICS. LOST ID ALABAMA.
But Law Put Through By I. M. Owen Now Keeps An-
 tiuuitieS In State
STATE CAPITAL BUREAU I
 THE AGE-HERALD Wout~npaarV Ala Dec 3

A detailed review of the work of Clarence B. Moore of the Philadel- phia Academy of Natural Sciences at Moundville, located on the county line between Hale ard Tuscaloosa is one of the features of the Decem- Der number of Arrow Points, official organ of the Alabama Anthropologi- cal society.
 Dr. Moore conducted an extensive survey and exploration of the Ala bama, Tombigbee and the Black Warrior rivers in this state in 1899 and 1900 and fn 1904 and 1905. The results of his work here were pub lished in the reports of the Phila- delphia Academy. profusely illus trated, and are said to be one of the finest contributions to work of this kind ever gotten out by any institu- tion in the United States. Unfor- tunately, the objects consisting of urns, many stone relics and objects of copper, found their way into the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, the Phillips Academy of Andover, Mass, and the museum of Harvard university.'
 The exploration work at Mound vile was conducted long before the organization of the Alabama An thropological society and prior to any interest having been displayed on the part of the people of the state for the preservation of their anti auities and of course these items were lost to us. The legislature of 1915, passed an act which was drawn by the late Thomas M. Owen. known as the Alabama Antiquities act, and which makes 1t misdemeanor to take from the borders of this state objects of that character found in this state.
 Antiquities Protected.
 Further than that, the possession of the state is claimed In Indian mounds, historic fort and town sites and such antiquities, of course con- it's citizens. Alabama leads all southern. states in the interest in matters of this character, having been the first in the American Union to provide a state official agency for the preservation, the organization and caring for of it's archieves and official records. This depart n.ent is cooperating with local his torical societies and interested groups of that character In preserv- ing the traditions of their early set clement and development.
 At Moundville at the present time, are 20 mounds. They extend over an area of about one and half by three fohrths of a mile and demonstrate without doubt that they were built over a period of long occupancy of that region. In 1859, pr. Lupton long time connected with the state university, later state chemist, had conducted some work here and in pe- riods since that time others have visited the site. No investigator has ever found any objects of any sug- gestion which will indicate that these people who lived here in prehistoric times, ever had contact with the white man.
 o o o
 Aborigines We'll Up.
 Certainly, no European object has ever been seen. They were workers of copper and the copper indicates that they had purchased it from the Lake Superior region. Their art in- dicates that they not only exceeded any other people in the present United States in their execution of designs on their pottery and on shell and stone, but they compared well and favorably with those natives of the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico.
 The Moundville Historical society Is organized with the purpose in view of acquiring the 100 acres on which these mounds are situated, and make it park. fitting 1t as the United States government has the great National Monuments in Arizo- ma and New Mexico.