The article talks about 'cabinet curios' collected in the 1800's by amateurs. I remember the drug store downtown Iowa City, had a cabinet with 'indian bones' di

The article talks about 'cabinet curios' collected in the 1800's by amateurs. I remember the drug store downtown Iowa City, had a cabinet with 'indian bones' displayed among other things. The old guy was long gone but his collection remained on display. Later I discovered a 'History of Johnson County' local vanity-press book published in 1882 that described the collecting! There were 50 to 100 'indian mounds' in the county, and one person's interview in the book told of digging them up. They'd find a burial in each one, curled up with arms around knees and facing West if I remember right. Anyway one of the skeletons was a particularly robust individual. That was the skull and jaw on display in the drug store! The guy claimed it came from some proto-man because of the enormous jaw. But who knows. The drug store is long gone, the collection scattered to the four winds or discarded. The mounds long ago plowed over and no trace remaining (I've looked).