CHAPTER XII.
CONCLUSION.
THE dim uncertainty which envelopes the most ancient period of American antiquity, like that which obscures the beginnings of Egyptian, Assyrian and Trojan history, to say nothing of the origin of the venerable Asiatic civilizations, renders much of the effort in this field unsatisfactory. Still the results are of surpassing interest. A new cosmogony, mythology and traditional history full of weird poetic inspiration, an inspiration such as is begotten in contemplating the struggles of nature’s children after a higher development, is added to the fund of human knowledge. The poetry of the Quiché cosmogony must some day find expression in verse of Miltonic grandeur. The fall of Xibalba will no doubt afford the materials for a heroic poem which will stand in the same relation to America that the Iliad does to Greece. The doctrines of the benign and saintly Quetzalcoatl or Cukulcan must be classed among the great faiths of mankind, and their author, alone of all the great teachers of morals except Christ himself, inculcating a positive morality, must be granted a precedence of most of the great teachers of Chinese and Hindoo antiquity. It is the custom of many Europeans to regard America as having no heroic or legendary period, no heroes like Achilles, Æneas, Sigfried, Beowolf, Arthur and the Cid; but who will review the romance of American antiquity and longer entertain this view? A few years ago, writers dated North American history from the discoveries made by Columbus and his immediate successors. Now they go back to the Northmen for a starting-point. May not the beginning be pushed even farther back, and the ancient history of America receive the attention of the historiographer?
The origin of the North American population cannot be positively settled at present, though the probabilities are that new facts will be brought to light establishing the relationship of the ancestors of the Nahuas with some ancient Asiatic race, as the Eskimo have clearly been proven to belong to the Arctic race which encircles the globe near the North pole.[802] We have seen that groups of facts unquestionably point to Northern Asia as the ancient home of a large share of the tribes of North America, civilized and savage. The autochthonic hypothesis which had its first great advocate in Dr. Morton, receives no support from his mistaken argument for the unity of the American race. We think we have shown, as did Prof. Wilson before us, that no such fact as ethnic unity exists in America. Dr. Morton’s own measurements of crania which we have classified, and the recent measurements of mound skulls, disprove the argument which he sought to establish. The autochthonic hypothesis owed much of its popularity to the support which it received from Prof. Agassiz’s doctrine of the separate creations of races of men, a hypothesis which has rapidly lost ground since the decease of its eminent advocate. It is impossible to determine whether the people of the mounds of the United States were preceded in this country by any other people. Certainly they had intercourse with some race having a cranial type quite different from their own, as several low-type skulls taken from the mounds testify. If the rude weapons found in New Jersey are as old as Dr. Abbott supposes[803]—belonging to the inter-glacial age—the question of man’s antiquity on this continent may have to be viewed in a different light from that in which it has hitherto appeared. It is conjectured that this supposed inter-glacial race were the ancestors of the Eskimo of to-day, and retired or were driven to the Arctic regions, where their racial characteristics became permanent. The traditional history of both Mayas and Nahuas seem to indicate an old world origin. The former people clearly claim an origin which, if their traditions are worth anything, must be assigned to some Mediterranean country. While, on the contrary, the Nahuas persistently state that they came from the north or north-west. It is certain that many of their cosmological traditions closely resemble those of Central and Western Asiatic peoples. Why should the traditions of the ancient Americans be less reliable than those of the most ancient Egyptians, Greeks, or Hindoos?[804]
Tradition, language and architectural remains furnish us the data by which to trace the migrations of peoples. In addition to the testimony of tradition, the languages of the Mayas and Quichés present affinities to the west European and African languages; also to the languages of the West Indies and the Antilles. Whether the Quiché traditions concerning their ancient home have reference to the Atlantic coast of the United States is uncertain, though Señor Orozco y Berra believes their ancestors to have migrated from Florida to Cuba and thence to Yucatan. Linguistic and architectural evidences show that the Maya-Quiché family extended its civilization north as far as Panuco, and south as far as Honduras.
The Nahua migrations are more numerous and their accounts somewhat obscure. It is not improbable that while few in number the Nahuas arrived on our north-western coast, where they found a home until they had become a tribe of considerable proportions. Crossing the watershed between the sources of the Columbia and Missouri Rivers, a large portion of the tribe probably found its way to the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys, where it laid the foundations of a wide-spread empire, and developed a civilization which reached a respectable degree of advancement.
The remainder of the Nahuas, we think, instead of crossing the Rocky Mountains, migrated southward into Utah, and established a civilization the remains of which are seen in the cliff-dwellings of the San Juan Valley and such extensive ruins as exist at Aztec Springs. It must be conceded that this hypothesis rests on linguistic and traditional evidence, as no affinity between the architecture of the Cliff-dwellers and either the Mexicans or Mound-builders is traceable. We have in a preceding chapter summarized our reasons for considering the Mound-builders to have been Nahuas. The Olmecs, the first Nahuas to reach Mexico, came in ships from the direction of Florida, landed at Panuco, and journeyed southward until they came in contact with the advanced and already old civilization of the Mayas. The Toltecs came into Mexico by land from the North. The Chichimecs, their former neighbors in Hue hue Tlapalan, whether Nahuas or not originally, followed them and adopted their language. The Nahuatlaca tribes, speaking the same language, arrived centuries afterward from the same quarter—the North. Finally the Aztecs, the last of the Nahuas, reached Anáhuac four centuries before the Spanish conquest. Mr. Becker has conjectured that Aztlan (land of whiteness) was the name applied to the southern Mississippi Valley and the region of the Gulf States; that Hue hue Tlapalan (old red land), the ancient empire of the Nahuas, was situated on the great plains of the west and in the region occupied by the Cliff-dwellers and Pueblos, and further, that the “seven caves” or “ravines,” the Tulan Zuiva of the Quichés, is the region of the Colorado River, the land of cañons.
At best these can be but conjectures, yet the probabilities are that Hue hue Tlapalan bordered upon the great Mississippi Valley. Traditional and architectural evidence lead us to this conclusion. The linguistic argument is wanting, except the statement of the historians that the people of the Floridian region spoke Nahua. It remains for some one to compare the Aztec with the languages of the southern Indians before the investigation is complete. While the probability is pre-eminent that the ancient Americans are of old world origin and that the Mayas and Nahuas reached this continent from opposite directions, it is certain that the civilization developed by each people is indigenous—that it grew up on the soil where we find it, and was shaped by the wants of man as influenced and modified by the conditions of nature and physical surroundings. The most persistent investigation has failed to disclose any marked resemblance between the architecture, art, religion and customs of the North Americans considered as a whole and of any old world people. It is true that occasional analogies suggest intercourse and even relationship with particular races, as for instance the serpent and phallus worship common to the aboriginal Americans and the people of India. Sun-worship, so wide-spread, may also indicate an ancient community of residence for those peoples who practise it. The Calendar systems of Mayas and Nahuas present analogies to the systems employed by the Persians, Egyptians and certain Asiatic nations, and the presumption is very strong that the latter furnished the ground-plan upon which the Nahua system was constructed. The accuracy of the Aztec calendar must ever be a monument to their intellectual culture, and an undeniable proof of the advanced state of ancient Mexican civilization. The fact that Cortez found the Julian reckoning, employed by his own and every other European nation, to be more than ten days in error when tried by the Aztec system—a system the almost perfect accuracy of which was proven by the adjustments which took place under Gregory XIII in 1582 A.D.—excites our wonder and admiration. How the Nahuas, whether Toltec or Aztec we know not, were able to approximate the true length of the year within two minutes and nine seconds, thus almost rivalling the accuracy of the learned astronomers of the Caliph Almamon, is a mystery. The venerable civilization of the Mayas, whose forest-grown cities and crumbling temples hold entombed a history of vanished glory, no doubt belongs to the remotest period of North American antiquity. It was old when the Nahuas, then a comparatively rude people, first came in contact with it, adopted many of its features, and engrafted upon it new life. Like Rome, overwhelmed by the Teutons of the North, it no doubt succumbed to the vigorous aggressions of the invaders, and was compelled to resign the dominion of much of its northern territory. The powerful empire of the Quiché-Cakchiquels was the result of the union of the old and new races. The otherwise inviting picture of ancient American civilization is marred by the introduction of human sacrifices which in each instance occurred in the period of the political decadence of the people practising it, and no doubt was the most potent factor in the downfall of both Toltec and Aztec monarchies. Still, when we reflect upon the Druidical horrors of the Britons at the time of the Roman conquest, and realize that our Anglo-Saxon ancestors in the sixth century sold their relatives and even their own children into slavery, and were but slightly removed from the condition of cannibals if they were not actually such, the ancient American civilization with its many humane features and advanced culture rises up in splendor before us, in marked contrast with our barbarous origin. Although this civilization was indigenous and peculiar to itself, we find all of the American tribes possessed of certain arts and traditions which seem common to mankind in all parts of the world. The character of flint weapons and implements are the same among all primitive peoples. The modes of producing fire by friction and of grinding grain differ little, if any, in America, from those employed by ancient peoples elsewhere. The first efforts toward the development of the architectural idea all round the globe, seem to find expression in the rude mound and then in the more perfect pyramid. These and other considerations which have been noted in the preceding pages, lead us to the conclusion that at a remote period, before racial and national characteristics had been well defined, this continent received its population from the old world, at different times and from different quarters.
The uniformity with which the human mind operates in all lands for the accomplishment of certain ends, has in many instances resulted in the independent development of institutions common to several peoples. This fact, together with the probability that occasionally foreigners were cast upon the American shores, will be sufficient to account for many features which have been discovered in Mexican and Central American architecture, art, and religion, presenting analogies with the old world. The fact that civilizations having such analogies are developed in isolated quarters of the globe, separated from each other by broad seas and lofty mountains, and thus indicating a uniformity of mental operation and a unity of mental inspiration, added to the fact that the evidence is of a preponderating character that the American continent received its population from the old world, leads us to the truth that God “hath made of one blood all nations of men.”
APPENDIX.
A.
MADISONVILLE EXPLORATIONS.
SINCE the greater part of this work was put in type, the exploration of ancient mounds in several localities in the United States has yielded gratifying results. Most conspicuous for rich returns, both in pottery and human remains, are the researches which have recently been prosecuted with such rare intelligence and vigor by the Literary and Scientific Society of Madisonville, Ohio, in the aboriginal burying-grounds and among the mound-works of the Little Miami Valley. Through the liberality of the society and the courtesy of its secretary, Mr. Frank W. Langdon, we are enabled to present an authorized account of the explorations. We take this opportunity of expressing our obligations to the society, and especially to Mr. Langdon, who has kindly prepared the following report:
Notice of Some Recent Archæological Discoveries in the Little Miami Valley. By Frank W. Langdon, Secretary of the Literary and Scientific Society of Madisonville, Ohio.
The valley of the Little Miami River, in South-western Ohio, has long been noted for the number and extent of its pre-historic earthworks, which, distributed on either side of the river, from its confluence with the Ohio to the well-known Fort Ancient and beyond, form an almost continuous chain of mounds, forts, circles, and embankments, extending for more than fifty miles, and constituting an important division of the great earthworks system of the Mississippi Valley.
Of the few publications relating more especially to the ancient works of this series, one of the most important, perhaps, is the paper by Dr. Charles L. Metz, entitled “The Prehistoric Monuments of the Little Miami Valley,”[805] accompanied by a chart showing the location and character of more than forty of these earthworks, situated in Columbia, Spencer and Anderson Townships of Hamilton County. The Hon. Joseph Cox, H. B. Whetsel, Esq., Mr. Charles F. Low, and the several other gentlemen composing the organization known as the Literary and Scientific Society of Madisonville, have also, at various times, given considerable attention to archæological investigations in this vicinity, and the valuable and interesting collections of objects of pre-historic art accumulated by these gentlemen afford abundant evidence of the long-continued occupation of this region by a numerous and somewhat intelligent people of whom we have no historic record.
A renewed interest in the subject has been recently developed by the discovery, near Madisonville, of one of the cemeteries of this unknown people, and the explorations therein by the above-named society, are perhaps among the most interesting that have ever been conducted in the Mississippi Valley.
This cemetery, which is distant about one and one-half miles south-east from Madisonville, occupies the western extremity of an elevated plateau overlooking the Little Miami River, and situated from eighty to one hundred feet above the water-line. It is bounded on the south by the river “bottom”; on the north and west by a deep ravine, through which flows a small stream known as Whisky Run; on the east the plateau slopes gradually up to the general level of the surrounding country, of which it is in fact a continuation or spur, its character of an isolated plateau being derived from its position between the eroded river valley and the deep ravine above referred to. The precipitous but well-wooded bluff which forms the southern limit of this plateau extends eastward, facing the river, for perhaps half a mile, and distributed along its edge are a number of mounds and other earthworks; at its base are the Cincinnati and Eastern and Little Miami Railways, the nearest station being Batavia Junction, distant about half a mile east of the cemetery.
The original forest still covers the site of the cemetery, and measurements of some of the principal trees are recorded by Dr. Metz in his paper before mentioned, as follows: a walnut, 15½ feet in circumference; an oak, 12 feet; a maple, 9½ feet; an elm, 12 feet. The locality has long been known to local collectors and others interested in archæological matters, as the “Pottery Field,” so called on account of the numerous fragments of earthenware strewn over the surface; and it was until recently supposed to be a place where the manufacture of pottery had been carried on by the ancient inhabitants of the valley, the fragments found being considered the debris. A few scattered human remains had also been found in the adjoining ravines, but it was not until some time in March, 1879, that its true character and extent as a cemetery were brought to light.
It then became apparent that some concerted action would be necessary, in order to secure the best scientific results from the discovery; and early in April excavations were begun under the auspices of the before mentioned organization, the proprietors of the premises, Messrs. A. J. and Charles K. Ferris, having kindly granted to it the exclusive privilege of making a thorough and systematic exploration of the ground. From that time until the present (July 19, 1879) excavations have been continued with a force varying from one to three men, assisted by members of the society, every foot of the ground gone over being thoroughly explored, and full notes taken as the work progressed.
The following brief outline of the results, taken from the records of the society, will but serve to convey an idea of the general features of the discovery and of its importance to archæological science, time and space not permitting a detailed account in the present connection.
Of the four or five acres of ground over which the cemetery is believed to extend, only a small segment of the south-western portion has been explored. The exploration, however, has been exceedingly thorough and comprises an extent of perhaps half an acre of ground, from which have been exhumed in all one hundred and eighty-five skeletons. Of these, however, but a small proportion are in a good or even tolerable state of preservation, as with the utmost care only about forty crania could be preserved sufficiently well for measurement. The preservation of even this number must probably be attributed to the favorable character of the soil, a compact gravelly drift, as the various surroundings, position of some skeletons under large trees, etc., all indicate for these interments a remote antiquity.
With respect to the mode of burial, this is far from being uniform. A large majority of the skeletons are found at a depth of from two to three feet, in a horizontal position, face upwards; but exceptions to this rule are numerous, many interments being made in a sitting position, and some in groups of from three to six individuals irregularly disposed. There has been no attempt in any instance at the construction of a stone coffin, but in one case the skeleton was covered with a layer of small flat limestone from the adjacent stream. The heads of those in the horizontal position are generally directed to the east or south-east; but this rule is not constant, several being found at right angles to these. It is worthy of note, however, that, with scarcely an exception, those skeletons accompanied by the finer vases, pipes and other choice relics, have their heads directed east or south-east.
During the progress of the work on April 12, a cranium, unaccompanied by other bones, was exhumed; in searching for the rest of the skeleton, a circular excavation, three and a half feet in diameter and four and a half feet in depth, was made, from which were taken bones sufficient to represent twenty-two skeletons. But two of the crania, both evidently those of females, could be preserved; they are remarkable for their whiteness and smooth texture as compared with the average crania from this cemetery. A sacrum taken from this pit has imbedded in its anterior surface, near the promontory, one of the small triangular flints known as “war arrows,” which had passed obliquely from above downwards, and to the right, necessarily penetrating the abdominal walls and viscera in order to reach its final lodging place. The bottom of the pit was paved with the common river mussel shells (unios), and there appeared to have been some attempt at a natural disposition of the bones, those of the lower extremities being placed at the bottom, the crania at the top.
Among the human remains from this cemetery are many possessing features of surgical and anatomical interest, as, for instance, an adult male cranium in which complete anchylosis of the atlas to the condyles has occurred, the posterior arch remaining free. Other crania show evidences of severe injury with subsequent repair, and among the long bones are several showing characteristic lesions strongly indicative of rachitis and of syphilis, a fact of considerable interest in its relation to the geographical distribution of the latter disease, and also as bearing on the theory of its introduction into Southern Europe from America in the fifteenth century.
Among the graves opened are several of children, who are usually buried in close proximity to adults, and with them are found various ornaments or toys of perforated shell, bone, etc., as well as small earthen vessels.
Bowl from Ancient Cemetery, Little Miami Valley.
(Collection of W. C. Rogers, Madisonville, O.)
The pottery ware which accompanies the skeletons is usually situated near the head and presents many features of special interest. It is made of clay, finely tempered with pounded unio shells, and much care has evidently been bestowed upon its manufacture, some pieces being scarcely thicker than an ordinary teacup. Many specimens are in a perfect condition, or nearly so, and they usually contain a single unio shell when found, the shell being evidently intended for use as a spoon. The vessels range in capacity from a third of a pint, or even smaller, up to a gallon or more, the smaller ones, as before stated, being usually found in the graves of children. They are symmetrical in shape and varied in design, some being artistically ornamented with scroll work, handles representing lizards, human heads, etc., and are almost invariably provided with four handles. Among the few exceptions to this latter rule is an eight-handled bowl (see cut), in the collection of W. C. Rogers, Esq., which is a two-story affair, apparently made by combining two distinct vessels, and then removing the bottom of the upper one. Vessels having but two handles occasionally occur, and others with holes in lieu of handles; but these are exceptions to the general rule as above noted.
The total number of vessels taken from the cemetery to date is eighty-eight. There is good reason to believe, however, that each interment has been originally accompanied by a vessel, the present disparity between the number of vessels and the number of skeletons being accounted for by the fragments thickly strewn over the surface and intermingled with the surrounding soil, which have doubtless at one time constituted portions of the missing burial urns. To the growth of trees, action of frost and rooting of hogs, the destruction of so much of this valuable ware must be attributed, and to the latter cause, irregularities observed in the disposition of some of the skeletons are probably due.
Among the other articles of utility or ornament found in the graves are twelve pipes, of various patterns, three of them being made from the Minnesota Catlinite or Red Pipestone; also stone disks, axes and chisels, flint knives and spear-heads, and many ornaments and implements of bone, such as beads, awls, needles, perforated teeth, etc., together with others of unknown uses. Two small cylinders of rolled copper, about two inches in length, and two flat pieces of the same metal an inch or more square, are among the collections, as are also two stones bearing inscriptions as follows: one, an irregular piece of sandstone, measuring about 3 × 2 × 1 inches, on the flat surface of which are cut two parallel figures made of straight lines and apparently intended to represent arrows; this specimen is now in the writer’s collection. The other stone, which is in the collection of E. A. Conkling, Esq., is a flattened dark-green boulder measuring about 3½ × 2½ inches, one side of which is completely covered with a network of lines from ⅛ to ¼ of an inch apart and crossing each other at nearly right angles, thus forming quadrangular divisions of various sizes.
An interesting feature of these excavations has been the discovery of what may be designated as “ashpits”; being circumscribed deposits of ashes, shells, sand, etc., from two to three feet in thickness, placed at varying distances below the surface. A perpendicular section made of one of these pits answers to the following description, which will serve to convey a fair idea of them all. Diameter of pit, three feet; the first eighteen inches consisted of leaf mold and sandy soil; then followed nine inches of clay, burnt earth and charcoal; next, ashes and charcoal, twelve inches; clay, three inches; white ashes, two inches; sand and unio shells, six inches; pure ashes, twelve inches; total depth, five feet two inches.
Of these ashpits, more than fifty have been opened, situated in continuous rows near the edge of the bluff. They are quite uniform in size, measuring from three to four feet in diameter and from four to six feet in depth, and with one or two exceptions have not been found in any other than the above-mentioned situation. Intermingled with the ashes are pipes, implements of bone, shell, and stone, a mastodon’s tooth, bones of various wild animals, including birds and fishes, and in some of them large sherds of pottery-ware indicating vessels of from ten to twelve gallons capacity or even larger. With the exception of a single dorsal vertebra no human remains have yet been found in these pits, unless the ashes be so considered.
From the uncharred condition of the above articles it is evident that the ashes have been placed in the pits as ashes, after having been burned elsewhere, as in no case do the relics or the walls of the pits show any traces of the action of fire.
With respect to the length of time that has elapsed since these interments, mention has already been made of the situation of some of the skeletons under large trees, an instance of which may be cited: On Saturday, April 5, the ground was visited by Judge Cox and Mr. Low, in company with Dr. Metz, and in excavating beneath an oak tree, six feet two inches in circumference, a skeleton was discovered, its lower extremities extending under the tree; overlying the lower extremities of this skeleton was another, its body situated directly under the trunk of the tree and the skull so surrounded and penetrated by roots as to prevent its removal except in fragments. The bones of both skeletons were much decayed and exceedingly fragile.
In forming an estimate as to the probable antiquity of these interments, the time that must necessarily have elapsed between the abandonment of the cemetery and the springing up of the forest; the age of the trees now present and of others that have fallen and decayed; the advanced state of decay in which the human remains are found; the character of the pottery-ware; and lastly, the total absence of any evidences of communication with civilization, in the shape of glass beads or other trinkets, must all be taken into account; and it does not appear at all unreasonable to conclude that the use of this ground as a cemetery probably antedates the discovery of America by Columbus.
As regards the particular race to which this people belonged,—whether they were identical with, or related to, the celebrated “stone-grave people” of Tennessee,[806] as some of their pottery-ware and the shape and dimensions of their crania would seem to indicate; or whether they were the last remnants of the once powerful nation that erected Fort Ancient and other gigantic works in this region,—these and similar queries remain as yet unanswered. More extended investigations and a careful comparison of large amounts of material from this and other localities, may be expected to assist in the solution of these obscure but interesting problems.
At the present writing excavations are still in progress, with new developments daily, and a publication of the entire results, with full details and illustrations, may be looked for in due season.
Madisonville, Hamilton County, Ohio, July 19, 1879.
Note.—An illustrated report of the continuation of the Madisonville exploration, so remarkable in results, will be found in the Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, vol. iii, Nos. 1, 2, and 3; also a sketch by F. W. Putnam in Harvard University Bulletin for June 1, 1881.
B.
THE question as to whether man and the mastodon were contemporaneous in America, has long been a matter of dispute as the reader is aware after the perusal of our second chapter and other sources. The “elephant
Elephant Pipe from Louisa Co., Iowa. pipe” figured in the accompanying cut has been the means of calling fresh attention to the subject. Dr. R. J. Farquharson, of the Davenport Academy of Sciences, who kindly furnished us the photo from which our illustration is a reduction, states that six or seven years ago Mr. Peter Mare, a farmer (whose estate was situated on both sides of the line dividing Muscatine and Louisa Counties, Iowa) found the elephant pipe while plowing corn on his land in Louisa County. The finder, who had no idea of its archæological value, kept it with a number of “Indian stones,” as he termed them, until last year (1878), when it became the property of the Davenport Academy. Dr. Farquharson says: “The ancient mounds were very abundant in that vicinity (Louisa Co.), and rich in relics which are deposited on the surface of the soil (not in excavations), as we found in exploring a number. In such a case it is not strange that a mound having been gradually removed by long cultivation, the relics so deposited should be reached and turned up by the plow.” * * * “The pipe, which is of a fragile sandstone, is of the ordinary Mound-builder’s type, and has every appearance of age and usage. Of its genuineness I have no doubt. Together with the ‘Elephant mound’ of Wisconsin, the elephant head of Palenque (depicted in Lord Kingsborough’s great work), our pipe completes the series of what the French would call ‘documents’ proving the fact of the contemporaneous existence on this continent of man and the mastodon.”[807] The above facts, as stated by Dr. Farquharson, were substantially embodied in a paper read by Mr. Pratt before the Davenport Academy, April 25, 1879.
C.
THE CHARNAY EXPLORATION.
THE exploring expedition under French and American patronage, led by M. Désiré Charnay, began its labors in Mexico, May 1st, 1880, and continued them nearly a year. During this time a large number of ruins, scattered over the area extending from Teotihuacan and Tollan, on the north, and Palenque, on the south, are reported to have been examined. How thorough the examination was, or how scientifically accurate were the published reports, it would at present (September, 1881) be impossible to determine. Suffice it to say that they are generally viewed with distrust, partly on account of the disjointed, haphazard form in which they have appeared in the North American Review (September, 1880-June, 1881—doubtless without blame on the part of the editor), where the splendid heliotype illustrations have been rendered nearly valueless by the frequent omission, from the text and elsewhere, of descriptive reference; and partly on account of the over-confident style of the writer. It is to be hoped that the ground for criticism may be removed when M. Charnay shall formally publish his reports.
It would be superfluous in this connection to summarize his work, since his papers are accessible to all.
It is worthy of note, however, that he reports Teotihuacan, on the authority of several authors, to have contained twenty-seven thousand dwellings, besides its temples, and that the heaps of ruins which remain justify the statement. The whole area of five or six miles in diameter was found covered with heaps of ruins. Cement roadways, containing broken pottery, seemed to afford evidence of occupancy in even a more ancient epoch than that in which Teotihuacan was founded. Excavations revealed two halls of a supposed temple at the base of one of the pyramids. One of these halls is reported to be nearly fifty feet square, in the middle of which stood six pillars which had served to sustain the roof. At Tula, the ancient capital of Tollau, north-west of the city of Mexico, hitherto so fruitless of archæological, and especially of architectural remains, M. Charnay made remarkable discoveries of pyramids, and several Toltec houses of immense proportions, one of which contained forty-three apartments, besides corridors and a staircase. Sculptures were numerous, and bricks of burnt clay, twelve inches long by five inches wide, were found to have been used in constructing stairways.
Near the village of Comalcalco, thirty-five or forty miles north-west of San Juan Bautista, the capital of Tabasco, vast ruins were discovered, particularly pyramids, towers, and edifices, all forest-grown, equalling and even surpassing in proportions those at Palenque. Upon a pyramid 115 feet high an edifice of brick and mortar 234 feet in length was explored.
At the village of Palenque, M. Charnay found the two bas-reliefs seen by Waldeck and Stephens a half century ago, now built into the outer wall of a church (see this work, p. 391).
At the ancient city itself the explorer discovered the ruins to be more extensive than ever heretofore supposed, and estimates that it would require the labor of five hundred men for six months, under the direction of a corps of topographers, simply to determine the general plan of the city. Eight hundred and sixty-one square feet of casts of bas-reliefs were taken. It was ascertained at Palenque, by breaking off portions of the vesture upon the stucco reliefs, that the human body had in all cases been first carefully modeled, and that the drapery had subsequently been superposed. Whether this fact throws light simply upon the process employed, or indicates a reaction or evolution in art, is equally interesting and uncertain.
D.
HOUSE ARCHITECTURE OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS AND PUEBLOS.
AMONG the unsolved problems of American archæology is that of the use to which the extensive systems of embankments attributed to the Mound-builders were put. The Newark (Ohio) system of works, now covering two miles square, but formerly presenting twelve miles of embankment, reaching at some points a height of thirty-five feet, with sufficient width for a carriage-way on top, has been a veritable sphinx to all inquirers. Nor does it stand alone in an architectural aspect. Its square is precisely of the dimensions of a similar figure found at Hopetown, in the Scioto Valley. Its circles are connected with squares or octagons, a typical combination of features generally prevalent in mound structures. Furthermore, its trenches are all within the enclosures. The probability is that the clew to the solution of the problem has come to light. The discovery of what are pronounced to be mound-works, in connection with the Pueblo ruins of Colorado and New Mexico and Arizona, has given us the hint. Mr. Wm. H. Holmes in “A Notice of the Ancient Ruins of South-western Colorado, examined during the Summer of 1875,”[808] shows us the Mound and Pueblo ruin in close proximity. In describing a ruined village on the Rio La Plata, he says: “North of this, about 300 feet, is a truncated rectangular mound, 9 or 10 feet in height and 50 feet in width by 80 in length. On the east end, near one of the angles, is a low, projecting pile of débris that may have been a tower. There is nothing whatever to indicate the use of this structure. Its flat top and height give it more the appearance of one of the sacrificial mounds of the Ohio Valley than any other observed in this part of the West. It may have been, however, only a raised foundation, designed to support a superstructure of wood or adobe.... South of this, and occupying the extreme southern end of the terrace, are a number of small circles and mounds, while an undetermined number of diminutive mounds are distributed among the other ruins.” Mr. W. H. Jackson, in the same document (p. 29) that contains Mr. Holmes’ report, mentions the remains of “many circular towns” on a high plateau between the Montezuma and the Hovenweep. The year following, the lamented scholar, Mr. Lewis H. Morgan, acting on the suggestion or originating a hypothesis of his own, announced in the North American Review for July, 1876, what has since been called his “Pueblo Theory.” A fuller exposition of his views were embodied in his paper “On Houses of the American Aborigines,” published in the Report of the Archæological Institute of America for 1879–1880. Mr. Morgan illustrates the prevalence of communal houses among the aborigines east of the Mississippi, citing the long houses of the Iroquois; and west of the river the communal lodges of the Minnitares and Mandans, and of Columbia River Indians seen by Lewis and Clark in 1805. The writer further illustrates the communal architecture of the aborigines by discussions relating to the joint tenement houses of the Pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona. Having thus laid his foundation, he applies the communal idea and its expression in the Mandan and Pueblo structures in a conjectural restoration of the mound villages. He supposes that, as adobe would not withstand the frosts and rains of the Ohio Valley, the Mound-builder people resorted to the structure of wooden edifices. He says: “They might have raised these embankments of earth, enclosing circular, rectangular, or square areas, and constructed their long houses upon them.” Mr. Morgan would build upon the squares and circles houses having a wooden framework, upon which turf and grass were placed both upon roof and sides. In order that this should be possible, the sides are supposed to have been inclined at the same angle with the embankment, the superstructure being a continuation of the earthern foundation so far as outline and geometrical figure is concerned. To preserve analogy with the closed, windowless ground-storey of New Mexico Pueblos, Mr. Morgan supposes that the outer side or sides of the edifice were closed, presenting only blank walls of heavy turf or gravel to view; while the walls facing within the enclosure were windowed, and pierced with doors. The entrances to the enclosures, he supposes, were guarded with palisades. There the defensive feature of the Pueblo house was preserved. In his elaborate work, the “Houses and House Life of the American Aborigines,”[809] that last touch of a vanished hand, the author has discussed at length the development of the joint tenement house among the Mound-builders. After illustrating the principle, as applied in the restoration of High Bank works (Ross County, Ohio), he adds: “These embankments, therefore, require triangular houses of the kind described, and long houses as well, covering their entire length. But the interior plan might have been different; for example, the passage-way might have a long exterior wall, and the stalls or apartments on the court side, and but half as many in number; and, instead of one continuous house, in the interior, 450 feet in length, it might have been divided into several, separated from each other by cross partitions. The plan of life, however, which we are justified in ascribing to them, from known usages of Indian tribes in a similar condition of advancement, would lead us to expect large households formed on the basis of kin, with the practice of communism in living in each household, whether large or small.” The plausibility of Mr. Morgan’s hypothesis is, to say the least, striking. However, his supposition that the Mound-builders and Pueblos were of the same race, is not unattended with difficulties. Conspicuous among them is the marked dissimilarity of the ceramic ornament employed by the two peoples. Nothing is more stable than the art of a race or age. Nothing more truly reveals the inner life of a people than its pottery. The Mound-builders and Pueblos each had their ceramic types. But they were wholly unlike—apparently the work of unrelated races. Yet, community of burial, as well as community of residence, to which may be added similarity of cranial type, are facts that declare for Mr. Morgan’s hypothesis as to the relation of the peoples in question.[810]