Conclusions

The following data is extracted from Southern Contacts of the Indians North of the Gulf of Mexico.

1. Proof of the direct influence of southern cultures upon the culture of the Indians north of the Gulf of Mexico or of transplantation of peoples there from the south is as yet wanting.

2. There are evidences of more intimate contact between the Indians of the Southeast and the Pueblos than between the former and Mexico.

3. Single cultural elements are known to have been introduced from the south but for only a few of these is the evidence entirely satisfactory.

In spite of the small number of proved cases of transmission there
is good reason to believe that the cultures of the southeastern United
States as well as that of the Southwest constituted marginal areas in that
succession of semi-civilizations extending through Mexico and Central
America to the Andean region of South America.

Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, D. C.

John R. Swanton

Source: Southern Contacts of the Indians North of the Gulf of Mexico

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