Ancient Monuments and Ruined Cities; Or, the Beginnings of Architecture (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1904 Excerpt: ...frontier, was modeled after the Dakota wigwam. The conical tent or house was very common, and its use was very widespread. We do not regard it as necessarily connected with the hunter stage and yet it may be a good representative. There is no doubt but that the hunters occupied a grade of society which was in advance of that of the fishermen. Their relics would indicate this. Both were in the stone age, but there were different degrees or periods in this age. The use of pottery and of polished stone axes has generally been regarded as a dividing line. Hunters used these; fishermen did not, or if they did they were not as common among them as among the hunters. The hunter life may be recognized by the shape of the house as well as by the character of the implements. In looking through the series of Catlin's paintings we find the conical hut among the Comanches, the Crows, the Dacotahs or Sioux, and the semi-conical among the Mandans; these were all hunters. Park man says the Algonquins used the conical hut. It was the typical house for all that region which intervened between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes, and which extended out across the prairies as far as the Staked Plain and New Mexico. It is associated with hunter life, but is more common in the prairie region than in the forests. The wild hunter tribes, who were always on the move, would naturally prefer such a house, for it could easily be taken down and was best adapted to the hunter's life. It was the habitation which was common on the prairies, especially among the Dacotahs. 2. We are next to inquire whether the house architecture of the hunter is an index of their social grade. As to this some would take the position that the form of the lodge was owing to the climate and to the surroundings ...