Show COMMERCE OF THE MOUND BUILDERS new york tork independent when prof putnam took charge of the ethnological department of the columbian exposition at chicago he be made it a condition that the director dir ectore furnish him with means to send out several exploring parties so that his hie collection should be in large part of new material and thus a real addition to the worlds world la knowledge among the most moat successful of the explorations set on foot was that of W K morehead among the prehistoric mounds of ohio his work was chiefly limited to the hopewell group in the valley of paint creek near Chilli chillicothe 0 a region made famous by the early ex 01 squair and ana that they did not exhaust the field is in shown by the marvelous collection which mr morehead More bead was able at the cost coat of a few thousand dollar work to br bring i ng to chicago and which may be fand found in about the middle of the anthropological building in all the exploration of the mounds heretofore no other collection from a f single ingle group of mounds can at all compare with this lo in the number variety and richness of its objects from this single group aloi e une one sties most moat impressive evidence both of the extent of the commerce carried on by the mound builders and of the high degree of skill possessed by them in the manufacture of implements and ornaments together with the great respect which they paid to their lend dead on an altar on one of the mounds was found a large number of obsidian arrowheads arrow heads beads and spear heads some of which were three or four inches in length many of these bad been cracked by the heat beat of the altar fire alto jether gether they would probably fill a halt balf bushel measure yet the material from which these implements were made must have come from the rocky mountain region possibly from the yellowstone park more probably from arizona or mexico in any case a dis of some borne 2000 miles on another altar was found an immense number of perforated teeth of various animals and ana perforated pearls of all sizes toese too had been charred by the altar fires and the pearls alone would well nigh fill a peck measure it is not easy to tell the source from which the uie pearls were derived very likely taley were obtained in the neigh hoo boo but numerous large shells in the collection must have come from the shores of the gulf of mexico there were also a number of large flakes of mica a foot or more in diameter which could have been found no nearer than north carolina or southern virgins Virg lna while large numbers of copper implements and ornaments are clearly traceable to the region about lake superior thud indicating a commerce as wide as the continent here as elsewhere among the mounds the copper was hammered and not cast but the skill of the arti fibers is shown in tile the evenness with which thin plates were hammered out and the regularity with which circular holes had been made in them for ornamental purposes so true are these made that some experts have supposed them to have been made by europeans and obtained by commerce but accurate measurements show that the circles and curves are not made by machinery but have those minute variations characteristic done by the eye thin flakes of mica as well as the copper are carved into various ornamental forms of considerable ing the use of scissors but their manufacture is by no aberns means impossible with the patie doe and ruile rude tools at the command of primitive man in these discoveries there is nothing to indicate what we should call a high state of among the driml tive inhabitants of americo america but bui they certainly bad great perseverance persevera ace and geographical knowledge enabling them to execute long journeys for the pur pose of obtaining the objects which they prized and they had bad great skill enabling them with the rudest of tools toole to fashion ornaments and objects of considerable beauty represent ing the forms forma of animals quite creditably though not so BO well as was done by the native natives of south america in mr dorsey doreena Dore eya pis collection from peru made also alao for prof putnam lat at the expense of the columbian directors there are a large number of animal forma iol and human faces worked in elay clay and burned into pottery which though small email would do credit to ao the classic days daya of grecian sculpture these aborts ineis inea det lighted to make caricatures turee but they delighted also in the beautiful features of the human face and were able to reproduce them with remarkable sue suc but apparently this skill both in north america and ana in south had largely disappeared before the discovery of the continent by columbus Colum bui and as aa in so many other regions of 01 the world the golden age of the people was waa in the post and not la in the present or the future |