The Mound-Builders

Chapter IV: Agriculture, Commerce, and Industry

CHAPTER IV AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, AND INDUSTRY The mound-building peoples as agriculturists-Corn, beans, squash, and other food plants-Tobacco and its cultivation-Agricultural implements and methods-Prehistoric cornfields and garden beds-Commercial activities: trade, barter, and exchange-Character and extent of Mound-builder commerce -Primitive industry of the mound area-The quarrying of flint and other materials-The mining of copper, iron ore, and other minerals-The quest for fresh-water pearls-Minor raw materials-The art of flint-chipping -Use of copper and other metals-Utilization of stone, bone, shell, and wood-Pottery and pottery-making-The textile arts: spinning and weaving. T HE fact that agriculture, commerce, and industry were extensive and diversified activities in the economy of the Mound-builders, as evidenced by exploration of the ancient mounds and village sites, is indicative of the comparatively high status to which several of the prehistoric cultures had attained. The reconstruction of these activities, from the mute evidences of exploration and through comparison with customs of historic representatives of the native American race, constitutes a most interesting phase of archreological procedure. THE MOUND-BUILDING PEOPLES AS AGRICULTURISTS It is customary to think of agriculture as pertaining only to civilized peoples, or at least to peoples who have emerged from so-called barbarism into the realm of what we are pleased to term civilization. As a matter of fact, the beginnings of agriculture can be traced back to very primitive times and primitive peoples, and the artificial fostering of food plants seems to be almost instinctive with the human race. Contrary to widespread popular belief, most of the historic tribes of native American Indians were agricultural in varying degrees, and to corresponding degrees sedentary in their manner of life. 54 AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, AND INDUSTRY 55 Agricultural development in the United States in prehistoric times ranged from those occasional tribes which were purely nomadic and without apparent agriculture to those which, like the Pueblos of the Southwest, had developed artificial propagation of food plants to a high degree. Second only to the Pueblos with their intensive agriculture aided by irrigation were the peoples of the general mound area. As in all the more advanced areas of North and Central America, maize, or Indian corn, was the staple agricultural product with the builders of the mounds. The giant cereal was supplemented by other cultivated products, such as beans, squash, pumpkins, melons, sunflowers, and probably a number of other plants of real or fancied value for food and medicinal purposes. And though maize was the staple food product throughout the mound area, the indispensable tobacco seems to have commanded almost equal attention from the moundbuilding peoples. The manner in which the archreologist proceeds to determine the extent to which the Mound-builders had developed the science of agriculture and to identify the plants they cultivated is of exceptional interest. The process consists principally in discovering, in the mounds and village sites, the actual plant materials which served as food, both cultivated and uncultivated; in finding, under the same conditions, the implements and utensils used in planting, cultivating, harvesting , and preparing such products for food purposes; in observing the material evidences of cultivation of the soil, such as extensive and systematic irregularities of the surface, usually designated as "cornfields" and "garden beds"; and in studying for purposes of comparison the methods of agriculture practiced by the historic tribes of the native American race at the time of discovery and colonization. CORN, BEANS, SQUASH, AND OTHER FOOD PLANTS In addition to all the native wild fruits, nuts, seeds, and other edible plant elements, there occur freely in the mounds THE MOUND-BUILDERS and village sites of the general mound area remains of such cultivated products as corn, beans, squash, tobacco, and some FIG. 2I. A STORAGE REFUSE PIT The arch