Note 61 — Age of the Mound.

In a similar manner, Abbott, l. c., p. 449, closes a long general exposition of the reasons which speak either for or against a relatively great age of the shellmounds on the Atlantic coast, with the estimate of an age of at least 1,000 years. His deductions are based upon geological reasons (the sinking of the coast) and the dissimilarities of the cultural remains found in the mounds. Peculiarly enough, D. G. Brinton, reasoning from the analogy of the cultural character of the shellmounds with that of the Indian tribes which the explorers met in this country, thinks he has found an argument against a comparatively high age of the shellmounds. W. H. Dall considers the lower strata of his well-explored Aleutian shellmounds to have an age of about 1,000 years. (Contributions, l. c., p. 53.)