[Illustration: Fig. 20—Primitive Agricultural Implements.]
Although the Mound-builders, like all primitive peoples, drew freely on
nature’s bounty for food supplies, such as hunting, fishing and
gathering wild nuts, fruits, and roots, they had developed agriculture
to a considerable degree. Tending their crops with rude Hoes made from
clam shells (A) and shoulder blades of the deer (B), they produced corn,
beans, squash, tobacco, etc. It is probable also that some of the burial
mounds were built with the aid of such Hoes, which were used for
loosening the soil and scraping it into baskets and carrying bags.