Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 April 1893 — THE MOUND BUILDERS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE MOUND BUILDERS.

BELldfe OF A RACE ABOUT WHICH LITTLE IS KNOWN. Mounds of the Missteglppl Valley—Cliff Homes of the Colorado and the Palaces of Central America- >*}lant Structures In the Forests of Tropical America. A Queer People. Americans have become so accustomed to the oft-repeated assertion that this is a new country that the idea that America may have its own antiquities comes as a novel suggestion To most American people Europe and Asia contain the only remains of former races, and when Americans wish to study antiquity in its ruins they go to Italy, Greece, or Asia Minor. But the researches of the

last few years have demonstrated beyond a doubt that on this continent there are ruins which rival in extent ana grandeur those of the once proud cities of tbe East, and perhaps equal then ia antiquity. Tbe Indians found here at the

coming of the Europeans were not the first inhabitants, says the Globe-Democrat, for from the great hikes of North America to the Patagonian deserts, everywhere may be found abundant and impressive evidences of a former civilization. In

the valleys of the Ohio and its tributaries, along the banks of the Missouri and the Mississippi, are mounds and earthworks, some constructed for purposes of fortifications, others as places of sepulture, and others again for religious purposes or as places of worship. In Colorado and Arizona, the great canyons cut by the rivers through the mountains <in4 desCTck, were once the homes of prosperous*tribes whose numbers may be judged, from the extent of She ruins which once composed "their habitations. Further south are the Pueblos, great communes in vrKtch', under a common roof and sheltered by a common wall, many families lived together under a primitive form of government. The mound builders and cliff dwellers disappeared, leaving only the traces of their existence to arouse interest and awaken speculation in the minds of historian and antiquarian; but the ?xu?bto3,,fa decadence; we still have * Furtb£i south, in Mexico, Central America, and Peru, the destructive bapd of the Spaniard was not able to obliterate the striking evidences of a.former civilization. Everywhere in these countries are to be found the remains of mounds built for purposes of religion, of temples, of palaces, of

roads, coosutictM with the nicest regard to the peculiarities of the climate; of irrigating canals which converted wide tracts of sterile sand in to blooming gardens; of cities whi h

once contained their thousands of inhabitants. The Spaniards took for granted that the temples which they saw, the idols which instantly exj cited their religious prejudices, the pyramids on which some of their com-

rades taken prisoners in war were sacrificed, were all the work or the, Aztecs. Later investigators have found excellent reason for believing that these structures were the creations of a previous race, who, perhaps, had

been driven from their homes by the Aztec invaders. This viewisstrengtliene I by the fact that some of the cities were in ruins: some of the gorgeous temple shrines were already deserted at the coming of the Spaniard, and so long had they been desolate that the Aztecs or Mexicans knew nothing about them or their builders. The character of the pyramids, most of which were evidently constructed for religious purposes, is very diverse. Some, like the pyramids of the sun and moon in Mexico, are simply mounds of earth, closely resembling the huge pile which formerly rose in the north central part of this city. Others are mounds, similar in character, but having at the top a temple more or less ornate and extensive, the elevated plateau which formed the summit evidently furnishing an assembling place where the worshipers might greet the rising sun. Still others, while preserving the pyramidal form, were pyramids only in shape, being terraced with successively retreating stories, each providing suites of chambers, which were, doubtless, appropriated to the priests and servants of the temple. One such structure in Central America, considerably exceeding

100 feet in height, consists of seven stories, the various terraced rooms of which must have furnished accommodations for a host of attendants. Grand even in its ruins, when the giant structure was in perfect repair

and the Jong stairways leading to the summit were crowded with ascending and descending worshipers the scene must have been impressive beyond description. But the pyramids are not the only

of former powerful nations. Palaces of extensive dimensions are to be found covering acres of ground, and the enormous blocks In their cyclopean walls, rivaling In size the

great stones of Baalbec, cause astonishment as to the means by which such masses were cut and transported from distant quarries. Great walls, extending sometimes for hundreds of yards and containing millions of cubic feet of stone; obelisks, monolithic statues —all, both in their construction and workmanship, give evidence of great advancement in architecture and mechanics. The principles of the arch were not Known to these builders, the nearest approach to a perfect arch being a structure closely resembling the famous gateway of lions at Mycenae. Neither did they often make use of the circular forms in tKe construction of their buildings, though occasional illustrations may be found; massiveness, perfect solidity, were the distinguishing features. The statues found in Copan and well known to the reading public from the researches of Stevens and the elaborate illustrations of Catherwood, are heroic in size, the smallest of the fourteen there found being eleven, the largest sixteen feet high; but all are alike in one respect, that each is carved with an elaborateness of design and particularity of detail that excite the utmost astonishment as to the tools with which the work was done, for as yet no traces of iron have been found in these ruins, and the copper implements were too soft to have had much effect on the stone, Not only in their architecture and sculpture, but also in theii painting, these mound and temple builders excelled, for, although the colors are faded, the work shows nc little artistic taste and skill of execution. The subject is generally a battle or a procession, sometimes evidently triumphal in character, showing that conquests in America before the advent of the whites were commemorated in the same way as conquests in the days of Trajan or the military monarchs of Nineveh. Above all, as evidence of a high grade of civilization, are the innumerable hieroglyphics everywhere to be found on these ancient monuments. .None of them have as yet been deciphered, but they indicate a written language, possibly a literature, perhaps as complete as the annals which cover the obelisks of Egypt or the slabs of Nimroud. They have nothing In common with the Aztec picture paint ing, which they antedate possibly hundreds of years. When their mean-

ing is deciphered, as in time perhaps it may be, the annals of prehistoric America will be unrolled for our inspection and the vexed questions, who were the mound builders, whence they came, and what were their adventures during their long migrations, who were their leaders and what dynasties of kings ruled when these great pyramids were erected, may all be answered. The prehistoric civilization of which these ruins are the visible trace reached its highest point in Central America, where are found its most remarkable remains. In the last fifty years the ruins of over TOO cities have been identified as such, and as each, judging from the indications, possessed a population of from 5,000 to 20,000, the density with which these regions were peopled must have tasked even the incredible fertility of a tropical soil. Until lately these cities were unknown, most of them being located in forests almost impossible to penetrate, infested with poisonous insects and reptiles, and rendered doubly perilous by the malarial diseases which alj most invariably attack unacclimatecl strangers. In such a district of Honduras are found the ruins of Copan, once a great city, but a ruin even in the time of Cortez, who passed within a few miles, but heard nothing of it. The.palace of Copan is a gigantic ruin, 900 by 1,600 feet in extent, with a wall 25 feet thick at the base, composed of enormous stones brought by unknown means from a quarry two miles distant. Close by ! the palace is the temple, built upon a walled terrace 024 feet north and south by 800 from east to west, and rising over 100 feet above the river which flows by one of its sides. Over 20,000,000 cubic feet of stone were employed in the construction of this great monument, while idols and altars, columns and sculptured stones innumerable are to he found on every hand. The time is coming when our knowledge of,,the mysterious builders will probably be greatly increased, and one of the most puzzling questions in American arehteology will then be solved.

A MOUND BUILDER'S ARCH.

srx WORSHIP AT GrATEMALA.

AjjKAYSIDE SHRINK.

A CORRIDOR AT COPAJT.

A MOUND BUILDER'S ROUND TOWER

A TYPICAL MEXICAN PYHAMID

A NICARAGUAN PYRAMID RESTORED.