Customer Reviews

Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley (Classics in Smithsonian Anthropology)

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Ancient Monuments (more familiarly known as "Squire and Davis") is the undisputed primary reference source on Indian mounds in the eastern US till the mid-1800s. While there were a few others (such as Caleb Atwater's book), Squire and Davis offers the grandest illustrations of what remained of the unbelievable civilizations that inhabited this continent. Even as they published in 1848, hundreds of mounds were being plowed into oblivion; so few are still extant that theirs is the only guide to what was lost. The text is enjoyable on many levels, and can be forgiven for any lapses of scientific accuracy. They trekked over Ohio at a time when we weren't even sure who made the mounds, so everything they recorded is gold. The engineering prowess, the sheer magnificence and scale of some of the works, is astounding.

Did any of you people actually read this? OK, I'm probably the only guy in the world that spends many an evening reading old site reports on eastern North American archaeology, and the original Squire and Davis has been on my wish list since I was a kid. Well the Smithsonian reprint reviewed here has a problem that is unforgivable...one of the plates is missing and another has been printed twice in place of the missing one.

A must buy if you have any common sense regarding the analysis these ancient architectures and their meaning in the modern world. While Squire and Davis have skewed north alignment at times, and in spite of the fact that they had to borrow from other sources due to time constraints, nevertheless they contributed a priceless gift to nineteenth century science and American Indian history.

We were really surprised with all of the information this book has revealed. We are amazed at all of the earthworks that existed here in North America. It is a shame that most of them have been destroyed in the name of civialization (ha ha). There really was a great native nation that existed here before the U.S. began. I would highly recommend this book.

This is a reprint of a book published in the 19th century. A source book for all other books on the Adena and the Hopewell. A Must have.