Prehistoric North America, Vol. 19 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Prehistoric North America, Vol. 19<br><br>The present volume, which constitutes the nineteenth in the History of North America, is the history of culture among the Indians in prehistoric times. It records the development of men on this continent for ages before their existence was known to the civilized races of Europe. It examines the whole field of that ancient culture and runs its lines of investigation into a past perhaps twelve centuries beyond the point at which European and indigenous North American culture met. Vestiges of the Indians of prehistoric times are not uncommon in America. Ever since the discovery of the continent by Europeans the Indian tribes have been the object of speculation, but during the last half century the origin, the migrations, the institutions, the manners and customs of Indian peoples have been studied scientifically. Thus there has accumulated a mass of evidence, - linguistic, ethnological, geographical, archaeological, climatic and artistic, - gathered by experts working alone, or under the encouragement of religious bodies, of institutions of learning, and of the Government of the United States, making possible the construction of a narrative which shall unfold the life of the continent during ancient times with all the clearness and authority of its history since the landfall of Columbus.<br><br>The development of races of men, whatever be the status of their culture, is the principal theme of all historical study.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.