| Show relios RELICS OF THE mound MOUND BUILDERS AT the annual meeting of the davenport iowa academy of natural sciences the president I 1 read a very inheres interesting biting report of the progress sa of the institution in which extended notice was wa given to the subject of the tue mound builders of the 1 mississippi kr issis valley the address shows that they were a numerous and industrious dust rious people altogether different from the present race of american indians and occupying the country in much earlier times than the latter that they were of different tribes but domestic iii in their habits that they lived in a very simple m eneri possessed few mechanical contrivances but were a laborious pains taking people that they had some system of arter carter with neighboring tribes as shown by the occurrence in the mounds of large sea shells which ich the reader opined opened at the nearest must have hive come from the gult quit of mexico obsidian which must have come from the farbest Far West mica not ta be found in this region galena etc it appears too that they smoked toi tol tobacco jacco not merely for pleasure but as a ceremonial observance for the pipes discovered are in many instances very elaborately and hud beautifully carved oud out of a great variety of kinds kind sor of stone generally of a rather soft character and were apparently patently ly held in very high estimation perhaps almost sacred the report says they are all in the upper mississippi valley of the same admel general fy type haying having the flat curved base w which ge ich ieh is perforated perforate to serve as a stem and not at all adapted to retain in the mouth for smoking continuously which fact with the smallness of the bowl itself would indicate that it was tobe tobo to be used by passing no 0 from one to another of so sons n s assembled this would indicate that the present degenerate tribes obtained from the more ancien ancient fc race the custom of CM smoking the calumet or pipe of ol 01 peace which prevails even amono among the lowest bands of indians when holding councils or pow bows wows on important po t matters mii mif fitters th the report says further on the bub bbb jeet of these pipes they represent a great virleta vt niety of animal forms some ome difficult to determine but among them are i two well and distinctly representing the elephant though differing s somewhat from each other in form and position these plainly and unmistakably show that the sculptors tord were acquainted with the elephants the mammoth or mastodon of which ab though long extinct numerous remains r are found throughout this country readers of the book of mormon will w i M see in this a corroboration of the statement in that sacred book that there were elephants on this land when the Jared ites colonized it which was wag atone one ono U tine une ne cited as proof of the fallacy of the book as it was not generally believed that elephants were indigenous to america we quote from the report other paragraphs which will be toe interesting as corroborative of bf the book of mormon strangest of all and most contrary to the opinion of all arch archaeologists molo moio hitherto it now appears that the mound builders had a written language whence derived or what its ita origin is matter of the merest conjecture what its affinities or whether any connection with other written languages ancient or modern no bo one has as yet been able to det determine erraine the inscribed tablets in our museum the only ones of much significance or og importance perhaps which have as yet been discovered in the mounds have attracted much attention both in this country and in europe and by all eminent and well informed archaeologists are considered of ot the highest importance they are certain to stimulate research which will mill doubtless doubt lesa lead to further discoveries until it may well be hoped that the key to the language an may ultimately be discovered and something of a history of this ancient people may be made out as written by oy themselves whether the language was understood by all or only by a more moro learned few or whether the tablets were heirlooms heir looms and inid cherished relics cannot now be scarcely even I 1 guessed arathea agather significant circumstance perhaps I 1 the fiat that m in the same mound with the abe two tablets first found were the bones of a young child partially pres preserved Oved by ahe the contact of a large number about copper beads indicating nio rio it to be an important persona personage y and th that t persons dersons of high rant rang rank were b buried burled uri url authere there some doubts of course have been expressed regarding the genuineness of the tablets though not to any great extent by competent compe compo tent t and candid and we feel no uneasiness on or that thai thatah account count athe the i tablets have been sent to the 9 smithsonian a institute for examination and were retained there and subjected to the most thorough scrutiny for two months during which time the national academy y of sciences held its meeting there and the heliotype hello type typo plates of them were obtained under the directions of prof pro f baird himself they were also exhibited throughout the sessions of the meetings of tho the american Association so c lation por for the advancement of science at boston last august any author or other person who cared to inform himself of the facts has and has always had bad ample opportunity port unity to do so and would at once see thal thai the circumstances of the nind find finding ing lug w were e such as utterly to preclude all I 1 possibility of fraud or imposition the evidence that they are coeval with the other relics that is that they were inhumed with them and before the mound was bul bui built bulit lt is ample and conclusive and will be so considered by any unbiased un biased man no prehistoric pre pro historic reilo relio ever found has better evidence to establish its genuineness than these and not nob one suspicious circumstance in connection with them has been pointed out nor can tb there ere be we shall confidently hope for and gladly welcome further discoveries by whomsoever made tending to throw more light upon this still ob and intensely interesting problem of our earliest predecessors on this continent our collections of mount moun a relics now consists of the four inscribed tablets sa 32 mound builder s pipes 25 copper 1 copper beads 04 14 copper awls and a great number and variety of other relics from the mounds of this region constituting the most extensive rare and unique collection of its kind in this country an and d probably in the world besides these this department contains vessels of ancient pottery over 1000 stone implements and of flints flint beside about an equal number of broken ones and fragments worth preserving this evidence is valuable as it is conclusive that the prehistoric inhabitants ba bi tan ts of this country did As as described in the book of mormon make record records s in a language which through changes and ad mixtures was different from others the report port s ays says curing qu ring the last decade every year has added something new and strange to the silent testimonials of the lives the labors and the vast numbers of that mysterious people whose very memory has utterly passed from the face of the earth earths from these relics a great deal has been learned regarding the habits babits of this people and a wide spread and intense interest awakened and it is not too much to say that our academy has contributed a fair share towards this result though the knowledge consists chiefly of a disjointed incoherent mass of facts scarcely sufficient even now to warrant the entin enunciation cia of any very complete theory regarding them yet sufficient data have been accumulated to justify some pretty strong inferences in most of which probably nearly all I 1 persons at all familiar with the sub eject will cola tola tue tur we are pleased to chronicle the discoveries which as the report declares have been BO so numerous dur ing the arst past ten years for they add to the 0 immense mass of testimony already accumulated in support of the record which the prophet joseph smith translated by the ifland gift and power of god and which is the true key to the intensely inter esting problem of our earliest arede censors on this una continent the disjointed incoherent mass of facts collected by antiquarians explorers and other persons will remain in that unsatisfactory condition to the learned men of the age until they are willing to accept the revelation made by the almighty which connects harmonizes harmon barmon izes and makes plain tho the otherwise heterogeneous mase of data which scientific res research earch eatch has ha exhumed from the buried past pasti and while the lwis wisdom of the wise perishes or is nid aid the simple simpie souls who exercise faith in god rejoice in of the truth and have a clear understanding of that which puzzles the learned proud in their own conceit and can take the developments of archie experts and fit them into the place to which they belong in the history of the ancient inhabitants of this vo vast vast st and wonderful continent |
