This thread has made me look at the monuments in a slightly different light, but it hasn't fundamentally altered what I think. The stones and mounds being the result of settling, rather than agriculture, as AQ suggests, actually strengthens Mr. Cope's argument. Settling is crucial to the development of cities, perhaps more so than agriculture? It is certainly a concept that defines what a city is more accurately than that of agriculture. Cities, of course, being the defining characteristic of "civilization"...
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