due in part to their remarkable character but in a much greater
degree to the "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," by
Messrs. Squier and Davis, in which these monuments are described
and figured.

The constantly recurring question, "Who constructed these works?"
has brought before the public a number of widely different
theories, though the one which has been most generally accepted is
that they originated with a people long since extinct or driven
from the country, who had attained a culture status much in
advance of that reached by the aborigines inhabiting the country
at the time of its discovery by Europeans.

The opinion advanced in this paper, in support of which evidence
will be presented, is that the ancient works of the State are due
to Indians of several different tribes, and that some at least of
the typical works, were built by the ancestors of the modern
Cherokees. The discussion will be limited chiefly to the latter
proposition, as the limits of the paper will not permit a full
presentation of all the data which might be brought forward in
support of the theory, and the line of argument will be
substantially as follows:

FIRST. A brief statement of the reasons for believing that the
Indians were the authors of all the ancient monuments of the
Mississippi Valley and Gulf States; consequently the Ohio mounds
must have been built by Indians.

SECOND. Evidence that the Cherokees were mound builders after
reaching their historic seats in East Tennessee and western North