Note 11 — Chapter VIII

See upon this subject Mr. Warden’s very curious work, entitled Remarks upon the Antiquities of North America.

[No theory, formed from the examination of a few of these mounds, can, with any propriety, be resorted to for the purpose of explaining the intentions of the ancient tribes in their formation. That they were erected for various uses, is sufficiently evident from their difference of construction, some being evidently merely monumental, while others must have been designed for military, religious, or other services. No one has examined the square and circular erections at Circleville, in Ohio, (now rapidly disappearing before the industry of the brick-makers), or those found near Piqua, or elsewhere in that state, without feeling convinced that they were destined to different uses from the mounds which occur in their vicinity, and appear to have been erected by the same people. Dr. Clarke, and other travellers in the north of Asia, inform us, that mounds, in all respects similar to those of St. Louis, are very numerous in many places, and that they are unquestionably sepulchral is proved by the bones, urns, and ornaments found within them. These observations go far also to establish the belief of the common origin of the American aborigines and the nomadic tribes of the old continent. See Atwater’s very interesting Archæologia Americana.—T.]