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44 warned that these maps "present some features which are calculated to mislead," and that the maps indicate "to some extent the more thoroughly explored areas rather than the true proportion of the ancient works in the different sections," still some conclusions have already been reached which future exploitation will never weaken.

It is not expected that future investigation will change the verdict that the heaviest mound-building population found its seat near the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. "There is little doubt," writes Dr. Thomas, "that when Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia have been thoroughly explored many localities will be added to those indicated but it is not likely that the number will be found to equal those in the area drained by the Ohio and its affluents or in the immediate valley of the Mississippi."

This fact, that the heaviest populations of the mound-building Indians seem to have been near the Mississippi and Ohio is, of