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Transcriber's Note

A number of typographical errors and inconsistencies have been
maintained in this version of this book. They have been marked with a
[TN-#], which refers to a description in the complete list found at the
end of the text. Oe ligatures have been expanded.




[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Gateway at Labna. [See p. 144.]




           ANCIENT AMERICA,
                  IN
    NOTES ON AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY.


      BY JOHN D. BALDWIN, A.M.,
  AUTHOR OF "PRE-HISTORIC NATIONS."


        _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS._


              NEW YORK:
    HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
           FRANKLIN SQUARE.




  Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by
  JOHN D. BALDWIN,
  In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.




PREFACE.


The purpose of this volume is to give a summary of what is known of
American Antiquities, with some thoughts and suggestions relative to
their significance. It aims at nothing more. No similar work, I believe,
has been published in English or in any other language. What is known of
American Archaeology is recorded in a great many volumes, English,
French, Spanish, and German, each work being confined to some particular
department of the subject, or containing only an intelligent traveler's
brief sketches of what he saw as he went through some of the districts
where the old ruins are found. Many of the more important of these works
are either in French or Spanish, or in great English quartos and folios
which are not accessible to general readers, and not one of them
attempts to give a comprehensive view of the whole subject.

Therefore I have prepared this work for publication, believing it will
be acceptable to many who are not now much acquainted with the remains
of Ancient America, and that some who read it may be induced to study
the but as Ancient America covers all time previous to the discovery by
Columbus, they may not be deemed out of place. Materials for the paper
on "Antiquities of the Pacific Islands" came to me from the Pacific
World while I was preparing the others. The discovery of the Pacific is
so intimately connected with the discovery of America, that this paper
would not be out of place even if the Mexican and Peruvian traditions
did not mention that a foreign people communicated with the western
coast of America in very ancient times.

WORCESTER, MASS., _November_, 1871.




CONTENTS.


                                                              Page
     I. ANCIENT AMERICA.--THE MOUND-BUILDERS                    13
        Works of the Mound-Builders                             14
        Extent of their Settlements                             31
        Their Civilization                                      33
        Their Ancient Mining Works                              43

    II. ANTIQUITY OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS                         47
        How long were they here?                                51

   III. WHO WERE THE MOUND-BUILDERS?                            57
        Not Ancestors of the Wild Indians                       58
        Brereton's Story                                        62
        American Ethnology                                      65
        Who the Mound-Builders were                             70

    IV. MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA                              76
        Their Northern Remains                                  77
        The "Seven Cities of Cevola"                            85
        Central Mexico                                          89
        The great Ruins at the South                            93

     V. MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA                             103
        Palenque                                               104
        Copan and Quiragua[TN-1]                               111
        Mitla                                                  117
        An Astronomical Monument                               122
        Ruins farther South                                    123
        The Ruins in Yucatan                                   125
        Mayapan                                                127
        Uxmal                                                  131
        Kabah                                                  137
        Chichen-Itza                                           140
        Other Ruins                                            144

    VI. ANTIQUITY OF THE RUINS                                 151
        Distinct Eras traced                                   155
        Nothing perishable left                                156
        "The Oldest of Civilizations"                          159
        American Cities seen by Tyrians                        161

   VII. WHENCE CAME THIS CIVILIZATION?                         165
        The "Lost Tribes of Israel"                            166
        The "Malay" Theory                                     167
        The Phoenician Theory                                  171
        The "Atlantic" Theory                                  174
        It was an original Civilization                        184

  VIII. AMERICAN ANCIENT HISTORY                               187
        The Old Books not all lost                             189
        The Ancient History sketched                           197
        The Toltecs our Mound-Builders                         200
        Some confirmation of the History                       205

    IX. THE AZTEC CIVILIZATION                                 207
        The Discovery and Invasion                             209
        The City of Mexico                                     211
        The Conquest                                           213
        Who were the Aztecs?                                   216
        They came from the South                               217

     X. ANCIENT PERU                                           222
        The Spanish Hunt for Peru                              223
        The Ruins near Lake Titicaca                           226
        Other Ruins in Peru                                    237
        The great Peruvian Roads                               243
        The Peruvian Civilization                              246

    XI. PERUVIAN ANCIENT HISTORY                               257
        Garcilasso's History                                   258
        Fernando Montesinos                                    261
        His Scheme of Peruvian History                         264
        Probabilities                                          268
        Conclusion                                             272

  APPENDIX                                                     277
        A. The Northmen in America                             279
        B. The Welsh in America                                285
        C. Antiquities of the Pacific Islands                  288
        D. Deciphering the Inscriptions                        292




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


                                                              Page
   1. Gateway at Labna                             _Frontispiece._
   2. Great Mound near Miamisburg                               16
   3. Square Mound near Marietta                                18
   4. Works at Cedar Bank, Ohio                                 19
   5. Works in Washington County, Mississippi                   20
   6. Works at Hopeton, Ohio                                    22
   7. Principal Figures of the Hopeton Works                    23
   8. Graded Way near Piketon, Ohio                             25
   9. Great Serpent Inclosure                                   29
  10. Fortified Hill, Butler County, Ohio                       30
  11. Stone-work in Paint Creek Valley, Ohio                    35
  12. Work on North Fork of Paint Creek                         36
  13. Ancient Work, Pike County, Ohio                           38
  14. Work near Brownsville, Ohio                               38
  15. Works near Liberty, Ohio                                  39
  16. Work in Randolph County, Indiana                          40
  17. } Vases from the Mounds                                   41
  18. }
  19. Ancient Mining Shaft                                      45
  20. Pueblo Ruin at Pecos                                      80
  21. Modern Zuni                                               81
  22. Ruins in the Valley of the Gila                           83
  23. Pueblo Building restored                                  87
  24. Ground Plan of the Building                               88
  25. Arch of Los[TN-2] Monjas, Uxmal                           98
  26. Arch most common in the Ruins                            100
  27. Casa No. 1, Palenque                                     107
  28. Casa No. 2 (La Cruz), Palenque                           108
  29. Great Wall at Copan                                      112
  30. Ruins at Mitla                                           116
  31. Great Hall at Mitla                                      118
  32. A ruined "Palace" at Mitla                               119
  33. Mosaic Decoration at Mitla                               120
  34. Great Mound at Mayapan                                   127
  35. Circular Edifice at Mayapan                              129
  36. Casa del Gobernador, Uxmal                               132
  37. Ground Plan                                              132
  38. Two-headed Figure at Uxmal                               133
  39. Decorations over Doorway, Uxmal                          134
  40. Ground Plan of Las Monjas, Uxmal                         136
  41. Ruined Arch at Kabah                                     139
  42. Casa Colorada, Chichen-Itza                              141
  43. Great Stone Ring                                         143
  44. Great Mound at Xcoch                                     145
  45. Bottom of an Aguada                                      146
  46. Subterranean Reservoir                                   147
  47. Plan of the Walls of Tuloom                              148
  48. Watch-tower at Tuloom                                    149
  49. Specimen of Inscriptions on Stone                        190
  50. Specimen of the Manuscript Writing                       191
  51. Ancient Masonry at Cuzco                                 227
  52. Ruins of a "Temple" on the Island of Titicaca            228
  53. Ruin on the Island of Titicaca                           229
  54. Ruin on the Island of Coati                              231
  55. Monolithic Gateway at Tiahuanaco                         233
  56. Remains of Fortress Walls at Cuzco                       234
  57. End View of Fortress Walls at Cuzco                      235
  58. End View of Walls at Gran-Chimu                          238
  59. } Decorations at Chimu-Canchu                            238
  60. }
  61. Edifice at Old Huanuco                                   239
  62. Ground Plan of the Edifice                               240
  63. "Look-out" at Old Huanuco                                240
  64. Ruins at Pachacamac                                      242
  65. Peruvian Copper Knives                                   249
  66. Copper Tweezers                                          249
  67. Golden Vase of Ancient Peru                              251
  68. Ancient Peruvian Silver Vase                             251
  69. Ancient Peruvian Pottery                                 252
  70. Ancient Peruvian Pottery                                 253




ANCIENT AMERICA.



I.

THE MOUND-BUILDERS.


One of the most learned writers on American antiquities, a Frenchman,
speaking of discoveries in Peru, exclaims, "America is to be again
discovered! We must remove the veil in which Spanish politics has sought
to bury its ancient civilization!" In this case, quite as much is due to
the ignorance, indifference, unscrupulous greed, and religious
fanaticism of the Spaniards, as to Spanish politics. The gold-hunting
marauders who subjugated Mexico and Peru could be robbers and
destroyers, but they were not qualified in any respect to become
intelligent students of American antiquity. What a select company of
investigators, such as could be organized in our time, might have done
in Mexico and Central America, for instance, three hundred and fifty
years ago, is easily understood. In what they did, and in what they
failed to do, the Spaniards who went there acted in strict accordance
with such character as they had; and yet we are not wholly without
obligation to some of the more intelligent Spaniards connected with the
Conquest.

There are existing monuments of an American ancient history which invite
study, and most of which might, doubtless, have been studied more
successfully in the first part of the sixteenth century, before nearly
all the old books of Central America had been destroyed by Spanish
fanaticism, than at present. Remains of ancient civilizations, differing
to some extent in degree and character, are found in three great
sections of the American continent: the west side of South America,
between Chili and the first or second degree of north latitude; Central
America and Mexico; and the valleys of the Mississippi and the Ohio.
These regions have all been explored to some extent--not completely, but
sufficiently to show the significance and importance of their
archaeological remains, most of which were already mysterious antiquities
when the continent was discovered by Columbus. I propose to give some
account of these antiquities, not for the edification of those already
learned in American archaeology, but for general readers who have not
made the subject a study. My sketches will begin with the Mississippi
Valley and the regions connected with it.


THE MOUND-BUILDERS--THEIR WORKS.

An ancient and unknown people left remains of settled life, and of a
certain degree of civilization, in the valleys of the Mississippi and
its tributaries. We have no authentic name for them either as a nation
or a race; therefore they are called "Mound-Builders," this name
having been suggested by an important class of their works.

[Illustration: Fig. 2.--The Great Mound, near Miamisburg.]

Prominent among the remains by which we know that such a people once
inhabited that region are artificial mounds constructed with
intelligence and great labor. Most of them are terraced and truncated
pyramids. In shape they are usually square or rectangular, but sometimes
hexagonal or octagonal, and the higher mounds appear to have been
constructed with winding stairways on the outside leading to their
summits. Many of these structures have a close resemblance to the
_teocallis_ of Mexico. They differ considerably in size. The great mound
at Grave Creek, West Virginia, is 70 feet high and 1000 feet in
circumference at the base. A mound in Miamisburg, Ohio, is 68 feet high
and 852 feet in circumference. The great truncated pyramid at Cahokia,
Illinois, is 700 feet long, 500 wide, and 90 in height. Generally,
however, these mounds range from 6 to 30 feet high. In the lower valley
of the Mississippi they are usually larger in horizontal extent, with
less elevation.

Figure 2 represents the great mound near Miamisburg, Ohio, which may be
compared with a similar structure at Mayapan, Yucatan (Fig. 34). Figure
3 shows a square mound near Marietta, Ohio.

[Illustration: Fig. 3.--Square Mound, near Marietta.]

There have been a great many conjectures in regard to the purposes for
which these mounds were built, some of them rather fanciful. I find it
most reasonable to believe that the mounds in this part of the continent
were used precisely as similar structures were used in Mexico and
Central America. The lower mounds, or most of them, must have been
constructed as foundations of the more important edifices of the
mound-building people. Many of the great buildings erected on such
pyramidal foundations, at Palenque, Uxmal, and elsewhere in that region,
have not disappeared, because they were built of hewn stone laid in
mortar. For reasons not difficult to understand, the Mound-Builders,
beginning their works on the lower Mississippi, constructed such
edifices of wood or some other perishable material; therefore not a
trace of them remains. The higher mounds, with broad, flat summits,
reached by flights of steps on the outside, are like the Mexican
_teocallis_, or temples. In Mexico and Central America these structures
were very numerous. They are described as solid pyramidal masses of
earth, cased with brick or stone, level at the top, and furnished with
ascending ranges of steps on the outside. The resemblance is striking,
and the most reasonable explanation seems to be that in both regions
mounds of this class were intended for the same uses. Figure 4 shows the
works at Cedar Bank, Ohio, inclosing a mound. The mound within the
inclosure is 245 feet long by 150 broad. Figure 5 shows a group of
mounds in Washington County, Mississippi, some of which are connected by
means of causeways.

[Illustration: Fig. 4--Works at Cedar Bank, Ohio.]

[Illustration: Fig. 5.--Works in Washington County, Mississippi.]

Another class of these antiquities consists of inclosures formed by
heavy embankments of earth and stone. There is nothing to explain these
constructions so clearly as to leave no room for conjecture and
speculation. It has been suggested that some of them may have been
intended for defense, others for religious purposes. A portion of them,
it may be, encircled villages or towns. In some cases the ditches or
fosses were on the inside, in others on the outside. But no one can
fully explain why they were made. We know only that they were
prepared intelligently, with great labor, for human uses. "Lines of
embankment varying from 5 to 30 feet in height, and inclosing from 1 to
50 acres, are very common, while inclosures containing from 100 to 200
acres are not infrequent, and occasional works are found inclosing as
many as 400 acres." Figures 6 and 7 give views of the Hopeton works,
four miles north of Chillicothe, Ohio. Combinations of the square and
circle are common in these ancient works, and the figures are always
perfect. This perfection of the figures proves, as Squier and Davis
remark, that "the builders possessed a standard of measurement, and had
a means of determining angles."

[Illustration: Fig. 6.--Works at Hopeton, Ohio.]

[Illustration: Fig. 7.--Principal Figures of the Hopeton Works.]

About 100 inclosures and 500 mounds have been examined in Ross County,
Ohio. The number of mounds in the whole state is estimated at over
10,000, and the number of inclosures at more than 1500. The great number
of these ancient remains in the regions occupied by the Mound-Builders
is really surprising. They are more numerous in the regions on the lower
Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico