GENERAL CONCLUSIONS.

The more important conclusions reached in the foregoing paper may be briefly summed up as follows: 

That of the carvings from the mounds which can be identified there are no representations of birds or animals not indigenous to the Mississippi Valley.

And consequently that the theories of origin for the Mound Builders suggested by the presence in the mounds of carvings of supposed foreign animals are without basis.

Second.  That a large majority of the carvings, instead of being, as assumed, exact likenesses from nature, possess in reality only the most general resemblance to the birds and animals of the region which they were doubtless intended to represent.

Third.  That there is no reason for believing that the masks and sculptures of human faces are more correct likenesses than are the animal carvings.

Fourth.  That the state of art-culture reached by the Mound Builders, as illustrated by their carvings, has been greatly overestimated.

INDEX.

Animal carvings from mounds of the Mississippi Valley,
by H. W. Henshaw, 117
Bat, Carving of the, 144
Birds domesticated by Indians, 138
Buzzard, Range of the, 142
Carvings, Animal, from mounds, 117
“Cherry Bird”, Carving of the, 145
Cincinnati tablet, 133
Conch shell, Range of the, 143
Coues, Dr. E., on bird carvings from mounds, 148
Cougar, Range of the, 142
Crow, Carvings of the, 136
Cushing, F. H., on Zuni fetiches, 145
Dall, W. H., on the conch shell (Pyrula), 143
Eagle, Carvings of the, 146
“Elephant mound”, 152
pipes, 155
“Grouce,” Carving of the, 144
Henshaw, H. W., Animal Carvings from Mounds of the
Miss.  Valley, 117
Human sculptures, 160
Jaguar, Range of the, 142
Manatee, Sculptures of the, 125
Mound-builders’ art vs. Indian art, 164
carvings, 117
skill in sculpture, 148
methods in art, 149
Mounds, Animal, 152
Otter, Carvings of the, 125
Owl, Carvings of the, 144
Panther, Range of the, 142
Paroquet, Carving of the, 139
, Range of the, 140
Pipe sculpture of the mounds builders, 124
Pipes, “Elephant”, 155,157
Pyrula perversa, Range of the, 143
“Rattlesnake,” Carving of the, 147
Skill in sculpture of the Mounds Builders, 148
Squirrel, Ground, Carving of the, 128
Totemism, 150
Tropical animals known to Mound Builders, 142
“Turkey” Buzzard, Carving of the, 145
White, C. A., Unios identified by, 129
Wilson on the conch shell (Pyrula), 143
carvings of tropical animals, 142
Woodpecker, Carvings of the, 146