Above is pictured the Smithsonian Institute, which financed and supported the research of Cyrus Thomas http://anthro.siuc.edu/muller/Thomas/Thomas.html
Archaeological evidence has been used to prove the five basic arguments against the Indian-Moundbuilder connection to be wrong. Following is a discussion on these arguments, as well as their respective refutations, mostly developed and published by Cyrus Thomas in 1894.
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Poor Argument #1 Indians are primitive and thus incapable of the advanced techniques needed to produce moundbuilder artifacts and sites.
Thomas quotes the Gentleman of Elvas and William Bartram as having witnessed civilized Indian cultures, many dwelling in developed areas with vast fields having been cultivated by them. It has also been shown in many archaeological digs of these mound sites, and in concurrence with the observances of these men, that cultivated beans and maize were a main part of the diet of the moundbuilder cultural centers, which in some cases numbered in the thousands in population. To be able to support such a large number of people in one area these people must have had some sort of structured civilization which allowed for proper farming, trading, and the general well being of the people. The fact that early settlers encountered these people indicates their absolute existence, and that their observances correspond directly with archaeological finds also indicates their relation.
 Cyrus Thomas, pictured above, performed much of the research supporting today's information on the Indian Mound Builders. http://anthro.siuc.edu/muller/Thomas/Thomas.html |
Poor Argument #2 Indians hadn’t been here long enough to be responsible for the ancient mounds.
According to Feder text, which on pages 173-182 describes Thomas’ findings related to these arguments in great detail, Indians have been populating the Americas for over 13,000 years. If the Watson Brake site is in fact the oldest site, at as much as 5,400 years old according to Feder, we have got a clear example of ignorance perpetuating a myth. The Indians predate the moundbuilding civilization by as much as 8,000 years. If the people who had promoted this myth had been aware of the Indian’s 8,000 year seniority over the mounds, perhaps they would have been more hesitant to include this as one of their arguments. Poor Argument #3 Alphabetic inscriptions on the Newark Holy Stones, pictured above, the Grave Creek Mound Stone, and the Bat Creek Stone came from known alphabets-many from European nations-meaning the mound builders had come from any of those nations.
These stones and tablets are some of the real hoaxes involved in this archaeological myth. Whereas the myth as a whole is built on denial of facts and misinformation, the stones were “found” by people who wanted to promote the myth. These people clearly and maliciously promoted these lies with the intent of deceit for personal reasons.
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Poor Argument #4 Europeans never saw any Indians building mounds and Indians had no prior knowledge of the mounds, thus their ancestors of thousands of years before could not possibly have been involved in building mounds.
This argument is perhaps the most preposterous one yet. By this same rationale, an uneducated person in an outlying region of China could not possibly be a descendant of someone who had worked on the Great Wall. Lack of historical education simply does not change lineage. To make this claim even more ridiculous, the Gentleman of Elvas recalls in his notes actually seeing the mounds in their original uses, one specifically with the house of the chief on top. Not to mention that the archaeological finds show many examples of these people in areas and times corresponding with the existence of Indians. Poor Argument #5 The metals found in moundbuilder artifacts were unknown to Indian cultures. This argument screams of ignorance, as Thomas found when he researched the metal issues. The metals that were allegedly of a nature unavailable or not usable by the Indians turned out to not even be part of the artifacts. The idea that these metals had been used as materials by the moundbuilders was a complete falsehood.
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