Chapter III: The Mound-Builders

Who were they?--Their supposed Central American Origin.--The place
they occupy in the present History.--Recent Discoveries.--Pottery
of the Lower Mississippi.--Deduction from Comparison with Peruvian.

In the central part of the North American continent, along the valleys of the Mississippi and the Ohio, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes, the land was, in a very remote age, settled by a people akin to those of Mexico and Central America. Their name is now unknown, and to designate them they are, from the great mounds of earth which they have left, called “Mound-builders.” Whence they came or whither they went is unknown. It is conjectured that they are the same people whom we have called Toltecs; that therefore they passed up from the south, and then, in course of ages, deserted their northern settlements on the incursion from the north-west of the Asiatic tribes known as North American Indians. It is surmised that they were then in part absorbed by the invaders of their lands, and that they in part sought refuge in the south, whence they had issued centuries before. Their long absence had given them all the appearance of a distinct people. The evidence in favor of these several surmises may be condensed into the following form:--

That the mounds of North America were intended apparently for both religious and defensive purposes, and are practically identical with those of Central America;

That their most populous settlements were in the southern part of the Mississippi valley, whence they passed upward until they reached and overspread the valley of the Ohio;

That, according to old books and traditions, the Toltecs reached Central America from the north-east;

That the reason given for the Toltecs deserting their settlements in the north-east, designated Huehue-Tlapalan, was the successive attacks of Chichimecs. We have already seen that the name Chichimecs was applied to all barbarians, and would in this case point to the North American Indians.

The question is an important one, since in the above view the Mound-builders would, as we shall hereafter see, form the link connecting the ancient people of South and Central America with the pottery-making Indians of our own time in New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona.

Now and again new discoveries are made which act as stimuli to fresh researches. A few months ago a terra-cotta tablet covered with written characters was reported to have been brought to light in Stoddard County, Missouri. It was said to bear the appearance of having been impressed with its undecipherable characters while the clay was still damp, to have then been hardened and glazed. A hint is all that is needed to originate speculation. We can turn to the terra-cotta tablets of Assyria and ask if there is no connection between them and this Missouri relic, and if the partially submerged continent in mid-Atlantic of old writers is really mythical. Such a hint was dropped at the time of the discovery. It might possibly be better to compare the tablet with some of the inscriptions of Central America. It concerns us more at present to find that the Mound-builders used sun-dried bricks in rearing their giant structures. In the Lower Mississippi and along the Gulf these bricks appear to have been generally employed to strengthen the embankments. One in Mississippi is described as having a supporting wall of “sun-dried brick two feet thick, filled with grass, rushes, and leaves.” On some appears the impress of human hands. As to their pottery, it may be said in general terms to compare well with that of the South Americans. In the Peabody Museum at Harvard, an extensive collection has been brought together. Some of the vases are admirably finished, and of good design. Others are quaintly designed, but somewhat rudely worked, and would appear to indicate that fictile art had little attraction for that people. We have seen numberless specimens showing a partiality even in the humblest vessels for imitations of animal and human forms. Examples of this and other kinds are given in the preceding illustrations.

From a comparison of the pottery of the Mound-builders with that of South and Central America, the conclusion will be inevitably reached that the view already taken of the migrations of the former people is correct. Between the ruder works of the two peoples there is often a striking and close resemblance. To this class belongs a great deal of the pottery of the Mound-builders to be seen in collections. Among them we find nothing equal to the best Peruvian art; but in the details of decoration and the tendency of the potter toward certain typical forms, specimens may be discovered such as we might expect from a nation composed of emigrants, and far removed from the centre where the rudiments of their art were acquired.