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CHAPTER XIX.
CONCLUD ING OBSE l t VAT I ONS .
W lTII the facts presented in the foregoing chapters belore him, the reader willbe able to deduce his own conclusions, as to the probable character and conditionof the ancient population of the Mississippi valley. That it was numerous andwidely spread, is evident from the number and magnitude of the ancient monuments,and the extensive range of their occurrence. That it was essentially homogeneous,in customs, habits, religion, and government, seems very well sustained by thegreat uniformity which the ancient remains display, not only as regards positionand form, but in respect also to those minor particulars, which, not less than moreobvious and imposing features, assist us in arriving at correct conclusions. Thisopinion can be in no way affected, whether we assume that the ancient race wasat one time diffused over the entire valley, or that it migrated slowly from oneportion of it to the other, under the pressure of hostile neighbors or the attractions of a more genial climate. The differences which have already been pointedout between the monuments of the several portions of the valley, of the northern,central, and southern divisions, are not sufficiently marked to authorize the beliefthat they were the works of separate nations. The features common to all areelementary, and identify them as appertaining to a single grand system, owing itsorigin to a family of men, moving in the same general direction, acting undercommon impulses, and influenced by similar causes.Without undertaking to point out the affinities, or to indicate the probable
origin of the builders of the western monuments, and the cause of their final disappearance,-inquiries of deep interest and vast importance in an archffiologicaland ethnological point of view, and in which it is believed the foregoing chaptersmay greatly assist,-we may venture to suggest that the facts thus far collectedpoint to a connection more or less intimate between the race of the mounds andthe semi-civilizt:,d nations which formerly had their seats among the sierras ofMexico, upon the plains of Central America and Peru, and who erected theimposing structures which from their number, vastness, and mysterious significance,invest the central portions of the continent with an interest not less absorbing thanthat which attaches to the valley of the Nile. These nations alone, of all thosefound in possession of the continent by the European discoverers, were essentiallystationary and agricultural in their habits,-conditions indispensable to large population, to fixedness of institutions, and to any considerable advance in the economical or ennobling arts. That the mound-builders, although perhaps in a less degree,were also stat ionary and agricultural, clearly appears from a variety of facts and
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ANC I ENT MONUMENTS .02circumstances, most of which will no doubt recur to the mind of the reader, butwhich will bear recapitulation here.
It may- safely be claimed, and will be admitted without dispute, that a largelocal population can only exist under an agricultural .,;ystem. Dense commercialand manufacturing communities, the apparent exceptions to the remark, are themselves the offspring of a large agricultural population, with which nearly orremotely they are connected, and upon which they are dependent. Now it isevident that works of art, so numerous and vast as we have seen those of the Mississippi valley to be, could only have been erected by a numerous people,-andespecially must we regard as numerous the population capable of constructingthem, when we reflect how imperfect at the best must have been the artificial aidsat their command, as compared with those of the present age. Implements ofwood, stone, and copper, could hardly have proved very efficient auxiliaries to thebuilders, who must have depended mainly upon their own bare hands and weakpowers of transportation, for excavating and collecting together the twenty millionsof cubic teet of material which make up the solid contents of the great mound atCahokia alone.
But the conclusion that the ancient population was exceedingly dense, followsnot less from the capability which they possessed to erect, than from the circumstance that they required, works of the magnitude we have seen, to protect themin danger, or to indicate in a sufficiently imposing form their superstitious zeal,and their respect for the dead. As observed by an eminent archreologist, whoseopinions upon this and collateral subjects are entitled to a weight second to thoseof no other author, " it is impossible that the population, for whose protectionsuch extensive works were necessary, and which was able to defend them, shouldnot have been eminently agricultural." The same author elsewhere observes, ofthe great mound at Grave creek, that " i t indicates not only a dense agricultnralpopulation, but also a state of society essentially different from that of the modernrace of Indians north of the tropic. There is not, and there was not in thesixteenth century, a single tribe of Indians (north of the semi-civilized nations)between the Atlantic and the Pacific, which had means of subsistence sufficient toenable them to apply, for such purposes, the unproductive labor necessary for thework; nor was there any in such a social state as to compel the labor of the peopleto be thus applied." *
* GALLATIN'S "Notes on the semi-civilized nations of Mexico," Tralls(tr'liolls of American EthnologicalSociety, vol. i. p. 207.
Mr. Gallatin, in the memoir here quoted, has discussed at considerable length the question of the origiuof agriculture among the American nations. His views, altogether the most philosophical of any hithertopresented on the subject, may not be without their interest in this connection. I t should be observed, atthe outset, that M1'. Gallatin is of the opinion, not only that agriculture on this continent was of domesticorigin, bu t also that it originated between the tropics,-spreading thence in different directions to thenorth and south. 'The evidence in support of the latter conclusion is not presented in sufficient detailto enable us to judge how well sustained it may be. I f we admit its cOlTectness, we must derive theagricnlture of the mound-builders from the' south, and assign 'hat race chronologically a comparativelylow date. Tbi3 we are not yet prepared to do ; on the contrary, there are many facts going to establish
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303ONCLUD ING OB S ERVA T I ON S .Another evid3nco of the prob'Lble agricultural character of the mound-builders,
is furnished in the fact already several tim3s rem'Lrked, that these rem'Lins arealmost entirely confined to the fertile valleys of streams, or to- productive alluvionsbordering on the lakes or on the Gu1f of M3xico,-precisely the positions bestadapted for agricultural purposes, and capable of sustaining the densest population,as also affording, in fish and game, the mast efficient secondary aids of support.
If the mound-builders were a numerous, stationary, and an agricultural people,it follows of necessity that their custom" laws, and religion, had assum3d a fixedand well defined form,-a result inseparable from that condition. The construction therefore of perman:mt fortifications for protection against hostile neighbors,and of vast and regular religious structures, under this hypothesis, fell clearly withintheir capabilities.
The modes of warfare which they practised, so far as they can be made out,and the probable state of the civil relations between them and their neighbors, andamong themselves, have been noticed in the remarks on the Works of Defence,in a previous chapter. Little can, at present, be added upon these points.
for the mound-builders very high antiquity, and tending to the conclusion th:1t the degree of civiliz:1tionwhich they possessed w ~ attained by a course of development in the Mississippi valley. It is notimpossible that future investigiltions milY show that the ag ..icultare and civiliZltion of the Mexic'lns,Central Americans, and Peruvians, had its origin among the builders of the ancient manuments on thebanks of the great Mississippi river,-the Nile and the G:1nges of No,th America.
"What w ~ the first indispensable transition which withdrew a certa in pOl'tion of the abor igines ofAmerica from the barbarism and ignorance in which all the other tribes are still found? That it was thetransition from the hunter to the agricultural state, no one can doubt. I t i" true some of the tribes amongwhom agriculture was introduced, are still s:wages; but not an in,tance exists in America of a nation,either populous or to a certain extent civilized, which is not agricultural. * * * * We are thenled to inquire how agricul tllre W,IS introiuced into Am"ric'l, and w:wther it was impolted or of domesticorigin.
"W e have here two leading facts, one positively ascertained, and the other generally admitted by thosewho have inquired into the subject, the importance of which has not, it seems to me, been adverted to.
"The first is that all those nutritious plants cultivated in the other hemisphere, and which are usuallydistinguished by the name of ce"eals (millet, rice. whelt, rye, b'lrley, O:1,cs), were entirely unknown tothe Americans.
"The second is that maize, which was the great and almost sole foundation of American agriculture, isexclusively of American origin, and was not known in the other hemisphere till after the discovery ofAmerica, in the fifteenth century.
" I f these two facts be admitted, it necessarily follows th'lc the intro:luction of agriculture,-that first,difficult, and indispensable preliminary step before any advance whatever can be made towards civilization,---originated in America itself; that it was not imported from abroad; and that it was the result ofthe natu ral progre ss from barbarism to a more refined social stat e by the race of red men, insulated, leftto themselves, and without any aid or communie'ltion from any foreign country. I t is therefore highlyimportant for a correct view of the history of m:m, that the presumed fact of maize being exclusively anAmerican plant, should be thoroughly investigated. * * * I f a domestic origin is admitted, it is({UiLe natural that agriculture should have had its birth in the most genial climate, and in the nativecountry of the maize."- Transactions of American Ethnological Society, vol. i. p. 192.
What climate more genial, and what soil better adapted to the cul tivation of maize, in its perfection,tlwn those portions of the Mississippi valley where the evidences of ancient civilization are most abundantand imposing '?
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304 ANC I ENT MONUMENTS .If we are not mistaken in assigning a religious origin to that large portion of
ancient monuments, which are clearly not defensive, nor designed to perpetuatethe mEmory of the dead, then the superstitions of the ancient people must haveexercised a controlling influence upon their character. If, again, as from reasonand analogy we are warranted in supposing, many of these sacred structures aresymbolical in their forms and combinations, they indicate the prevalence amongtheir builders of religious beliefs and conceptions, corresponding with those whichprevailed among the early nations of the other continent, and which in theirelements seem to have been common to all nations, far back in the traditionalperiod, before the dawn of written history. Their consideration under thisaspect involves a preliminary analysis of the religious belief of the variousaboriginal American families, an examination of their mythologies and superstitious rites, and a comparison between them and those of the primitive nations ofthe old world. It involves, also, an attention to the sacred monuments of theeastern continent, to the principles upon which they were constructed, and to theextent to which a symbolical design is apparent in their combinations and ornaments. But it is alike beyond the scope and design of this work to go into theseinquiries, which in themselves, from their attractiveness and importance, deserve afull and separate consideration. We may, however, be permitted to express thebelief, that researches in this department, philosophically conducted, must lead toresults of the highest value, and greatly aid in the solution of the interesting problems connected with our aboriginal history. For, in the words of a writer ofdistinction, "o f all researches that most effectually aid us to discover the origin ofa nation or people, whose history is unknown or deeply involved in the obscurityof ancient times, none perhaps are attended with such important results, as theanalysis of their theological dogmas, and their religious practices. In such mattersmankind adhere with greatest tenacity, and though both modified and corrupted inthe revolutions of ages, they still preserve features of their original construction,w hen language, arts, sciences, and political establishments no longer retaindistinct lineaments of their ancient constitutions." *'
The antiquity of the ancient monuments of the Mississippi valley has been madethe subject of incidental remark in the foregoing chapters. I t will not be out ofplace here to allude once more to wme of the facts bearing upon this point. Ofcourse no attempt to fix their date accurately can, from the circumstances of thecase, be successful. The most that can be done is to arrive at approximate results.The fact that none of the ancient monuments occur upon the latest-formed terracesof the river valleys of Ohio, is one of much importance in its bearings upon thisquestion. If, as we are amply warranted in believing, these terraces mark thedegrees of subsidence of the streams, one of the four which may be traced hasbeen formed since those streams have followed their present courses. There isno good reason for supposing that the mound-builders would have avoided buildingupon that terrace , while they erected their works promiscuously upon all the others.
* McCru.OH, P h i l o . ~ o p h i c a l f/ml Antiqllarian Rcsmrche,l, p. 225.
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305ON C LU D J N n ( ) H S E H V A 1 ' I O N ~ . And if they had built. upon it, some slight traces of their works would yet be visi-ble, however much influence we may assign to disturbing causes,-,overflows, andshifting channels. Assuming, then, that the lowest terrace, on the Scioto river forexample, has been formed since the era of the mounds, we must next consider thatthe excavating power of the Western rivers diminishes yearly, in proportion asthey approximate towards a general level. On the lower Mississippi,-wherealone the ancient monuments are sometimes invaded hy the water,-the hed of thestream is rising, from the deposition of the materials brought down from the uppertributaries, where the excavating process is going on. This excavating power, itis calculated, is in an inverse ratio to the square of the depth, that is to say, dimi-nishes as the square of the depth increases. Taken to be approximately correct,this rule establishes that the formation of the latest terrace, hy the operation ofthe same causes, must have occupied much more time than the formation of anyof the preceding three . Upon these premises, the time, since the streams haveflowed in their present courses, may be divided into four periods, of differentlengths,-of which the latest, supposed to have elapsed since the race of themounds flourished, is much the longest.
The fact that the rivers, in shifting their channels, have in some instancesencroached upon the superior terraces, so as in part to destroy works situatedupon them, and afterwards receded to long distances of a fourth or half a mile orupwards, is one which should not be overlooked in this connection. (See pages50,60, and 89.) In the case of the" High Bank Works," Plate XVI, the recessionhas been nearly three fourths of a mile, and the intervening terrace or " bottom"was, at the period of the early settlement, covered with a dense forest. Thisrecession, and subsequent forest growth, must of necessity have taken place sincethe river encroached upon the ancient works here alluded to.
Without doing more than to allude to the circumstance of the exceedingly decayedstate of the skeletons found in the mounds, (see page 168,) and to the amount ofvegetable accumulations in the ancient excavations, and around the ancient works, (seepages 55 and 90,) we pass to another fact, perhaps more important in its bearingupon the question of the antiquity of these works than any of those presented above.I t is that they are covered with primitive forests, in no way distinguishablefrom those which surround them, in places where it is probable no clearingswere ever made. Some of the trees of these forests have a positive antiquity offrom six to eight hundred years (see pages 14 and 16). They are found sur-rounded with the mouldering remains of others, undoubtedly of equal originaldimensions, hut now fallen and almost incorporated with the soil. Allow areasonable time for the encroachment of the forest, after the works were aban-doned by their builders, and for the period intervening hetween that event and thedate of their conRtruction, and we are compelled to assign them no inconsiderahleantiquity. But, as already observed, the forests covering these works correspondin flll respects with thB surrounding forests; the same varieties of trees are found,in the same proportions, and they have a like primitive aspect. This fact wasremarked oy the late PrRf,ident HARRISON, and was put forward hy him as one of
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:-l06 A N 0 J E N 'l' M 0 N U I\1 E N '1' 8 .the strongest evidences of the high antiquity of these works. II I ali address beforethe Historical Society of Ohio, he said:
"The process by which nature restores the' forest to its original state, afterbeing once cleared, is extremely slow. The rich lands of the West are, indeed,soon covered again, but the character of the growth is entirely different, and continues so for a long period. In several places upon the Ohio, and upon the farmwhich I occupy, clearings were made in the first settlement of the country andsubsequently abandoned and suffered to grow up. Some of these new forests arenow sure of fifty years' growth, but they have made so little progress towardsattaining the appearance of the immediately contiguous forest, as to induce anyman of reflection to determine that at least ten times fifty years must elapse beforetheir coinplete assimilation can be effected. We find in the ancient works all thatvariety of trees which give such unrivalled beauty to our forests, in natural proportions. The first growth on the same kind of land, once cleared and thenabandoned to nature, on the contrary, is nearly homogeneous, often stinted to oneor two, at most three kinds of timber. If' the ground has been cultivated, theyellow locust will thickly spring up; if not cultivated, the black and white walnutwill be the prevailing growth. '-* '-* '-* Of what immense age then mustbe the works so often referred to, covered as they are by at least the secondgrowth, after the primitive forest state was regained?"
It is not undertaken to assign a period for the assimilation here indicated totake place. I t must unquestionably, however, be measured by centuries.
In respect to the extent of territory occupied at one time, or at successiveperiods, by the ra.ce of the mounds, so far as indicated by the occurrence of theirmonuments, little need be said in addition to the observations presented in the firstchapter. It cannot, however, have escaped notice, that the relics found in themounds,--composed of materials peculiar to places separated as widely as theranges of the Alleghanies on the east, and the Sierras of Mexico on the west,the waters of the great lakes on the north, and those of the Gulf of Mexico onthe south,-denote the contemporaneous existence of communication betweenthese extremes. For we find, side by side in the same mounds, native copperfrom Lake Superior, mica from the Alleghanies, shells from the Gulf, and obsidian(perhaps porphyry) from Mexico. This fact seems seriously to conflict with thehypothesis of a migration, either northward or southward. Further and moreextended investigations and observations may, nevertheless, serve satisfactorily tosettle not only this, but other equally interesting questions connected with theextinct race, whose name is lost to tradition itself, and whose very existence isleft to the sole and silent attestation of the rude but often imposing monumentswhich throng the valleys of the West.
