Chapter I: Ancient America

page The American aborigines 1 Question as to their origin 2, 3 Antiquity of man in America 4 Shell-mounds, or middens 4, 5 The Glacial Period 6, 7 Discoveries in the Trenton gravel 8 Discoveries in Ohio, Indiana, and Minnesota 9 Mr. Cresson's discovery at Claymont, Delaware 10 The Calaveras skull 11 Pleistocene men and mammals 12, 13 Elevation and subsidence 13, 14 Waves of migration 15 The Cave men of Europe in the Glacial Period 16 The Eskimos are probably a remnant of the Cave men 17-19 There was probably no connection or intercourse by water between ancient America and the Old World 20 There is one great American red race 21 Different senses in which the word "race" is used 21-23 No necessary connection between differences in culture and differences in race 23 Mr. Lewis Morgan's classification of grades of culture 24-32 Distinction between Savagery and Barbarism 25 Origin of pottery 25 Lower, middle, and upper status of savagery 26 Lower status of barbarism; it ended differently in the two hemispheres; in ancient America there was no pastoral stage of development 27 (p. xx) Importance of Indian corn 28 Tillage with irrigation 29 Use of adobe-brick and stone in building 29 Middle status of barbarism 29, 30 Stone and copper tools 30 Working of metals; smelting of iron 30 Upper status of barbarism 31 The alphabet and the beginnings of civilization 32 So-called "civilizations" of Mexico and Peru 33, 34 Loose use of the words "savagery" and "civilization" 35 Value and importance of the term "barbarism" 35, 36 The status of barbarism is most completely exemplified in ancient America 36, 37 Survival of bygone epochs of culture; work of the Bureau of Ethnology 37, 38 Tribal society and multiplicity of languages in aboriginal America 38, 39 Tribes in the upper status of savagery; Athabaskans, Apaches, Shoshones, etc. 39 Tribes in the lower status of barbarism; the Dakota group or family 40 The Minnitarees and Mandans 41 The Pawnee and Arickaree group 42 The Maskoki group 42 The Algonquin group 43 The Huron-Iroquois group 44 The Five Nations 45-47 Distinction between horticulture and field agriculture 48 Perpetual intertribal warfare, with torture and cannibalism 49-51 Myths and folk-lore 51 Ancient law 52, 53 The patriarchal family not primitive 53 "Mother-right" 54 Primitive marriage 55 The system of reckoning kinship through females only 56 Original reason for the system 57 The primeval human horde 58, 59 Earliest family-group; the clan 60 "Exogamy" 60 (p. xxi) Phratry and tribe 61 Effect of pastoral life upon property and upon the family 61-63 The exogamous clan in ancient America 64 Intimate connection of aboriginal architecture with social life 65 The long houses of the Iroquois 66, 67 Summary divorce 68 Hospitality 68 Structure of the clan 69, 70 Origin and structure of the phratry 70, 71 Structure of the tribe 72 Cross-relationships between clans and tribes; the Iroquois Confederacy 72-74 Structure of the confederacy 75, 76 The "Long House" 76 Symmetrical development of institutions in ancient America 77, 78 Circular houses of the Mandans 79-81 The Indians of the pueblos, in the middle status of barbarism 82, 83 Horticulture with irrigation, and architecture with adobe 83, 84 Possible origin of adobe architecture 84, 85 Mr. Cushing's sojourn at Zuñi 86 Typical structure of the pueblo 86-88 Pueblo society 89 Wonderful ancient pueblos in the Chaco valley 90-92 The Moqui pueblos 93 The cliff-dwellings 93 Pueblo of Zuñi 93, 94 Pueblo of Tlascala 94-96 The ancient city of Mexico was a great composite pueblo 97 The Spanish discoverers could not be expected to understand the state of society which they found there 97, 98 Contrast between feudalism and gentilism 98 Change from gentile society to political society in Greece and Rome 99, 100 (p. xxii) First suspicions as to the erroneousness of the Spanish accounts 101 Detection and explanation of the errors, by Lewis Morgan 102 Adolf Bandelier's researches 103 The Aztec Confederacy 104, 105 Aztec clans 106 Clan officers 107 Rights and duties of the clan 108 Aztec phratries 108 The tlatocan, or tribal council 109 The cihuacoatl, or "snake-woman" 110 The tlacatecuhtli, or "chief-of-men" 111 Evolution of kingship in Greece and Rome 112 Mediæval kingship 113 Montezuma was a "priest-commander" 114 Mode of succession to the office 114, 115 Manner of collecting tribute 116 Mexican roads 117 Aztec and Iroquois confederacies contrasted 118 Aztec priesthood; human sacrifices 119, 120 Aztec slaves 121, 122 The Aztec family 122, 123 Aztec property 124 Mr. Morgan's rules of criticism 125 He sometimes disregarded his own rules 126 Amusing illustrations from his remarks on "Montezuma's Dinner" 126-128 The reaction against uncritical and exaggerated statements was often carried too far by Mr. Morgan 128, 129 Great importance of the middle period of barbarism 130 The Mexicans compared with the Mayas 131-133 Maya hieroglyphic writing 132 Ruined cities of Central America 134-138 They are probably not older than the twelfth century 136 Recent discovery of the Chronicle of Chicxulub 138 Maya culture very closely related to Mexican 139 The "Mound-Builders" 140-146 The notion that they were like the Aztecs 142 Or, perhaps, like the Zuñis 143 (p. xxiii) These notions are not well sustained 144 The mounds were probably built by different peoples in the lower status of barbarism, by Cherokees, Shawnees, and other tribes 144, 145 It is not likely that there was a "race of Mound Builders" 146 Society in America at the time of the Discovery had reached stages similar to stages reached by eastern Mediterranean peoples fifty or sixty centuries earlier 146, 147