IMPLEMENTS OF METAL.
The first inquiry suggested by an inspection of the mounds and other
earthworks of the West, relates to the means at the command of the
builders in constructing them. However numerous we may suppose the
ancient people to have been, we must regard these works as entirely
beyond their capabilities, unless they had some artificial aids.
As an agricultural people, they must have possessed some means of
clearing the land of forests and of tilling the soil. We can hardly
conceive, at this day, how these operations could be performed
without the aid of iron; yet we know that the Peruvians and Mexicans,
whose monuments emulate the proudest of the old world, were wholly
unacquainted with the uses of that metal, and constructed their
edifices and carried on their agricultural operations with implements
of wood, stone, and copper. They possessed the secret of hardening
the metal last named, so as to make it subserve most of the uses to
which iron is applied. Of it they made axes, chisels, and knives.
The mound-builders were acquainted with several of the metals,
although they do not seem to have possessed the art of reducing
them from the ores. Implements and ornaments of copper are found in
considerable abundance among their remains; silver is occasionally
found in the form of ornaments, but only to a trifling amount; the
ore of lead, galena, has been discovered in considerable quantities,
but none of the metal has been found under such circumstances as
to establish conclusively that they were acquainted with the art
of smelting it. No iron or traces of iron, except with the recent
deposits, have been discovered; nor is it believed that the race of
the mounds had any knowledge of that metal. The copper and silver
found in the mounds were doubtless obtained in their native state,
and afterwards worked without the intervention of fire. The locality
from which they were derived seems pretty clearly indicated by the
peculiar mechanico-chemical combination existing, in some specimens,
between the silver and copper, which combination characterizes only
the native masses of Lake Superior. In none of the articles found is
there evidence of welding, nor do any of them appear to have been
cast in moulds. On the contrary, they seem to have been hammered out
of rude masses, and gradually and with great labor brought into the
required shape. The lamination, resulting from hammering the baser
metals while cold, is to be observed in nearly all the articles.
But, notwithstanding the disadvantages which they labored under, the
mound-builders contrived to produce some very creditable specimens of
workmanship, displaying both taste and skill.
No articles composed entirely of silver have been discovered: the
extreme scarcity of that metal seems to have led to the utmost
economy in its use. It is [p197] only found reduced to great
thinness, and plated upon copper. By «plated», it should not be
understood that any chemical combination, or a union produced by
heat, exists between the two metals, but simply that thin slips
of silver were «wrapped» closely around the copper, their edges
overlapping, so as to leave no portion exposed. This was done so
neatly as, in many cases, almost to escape detection.
AXES.—Among the implements recovered from the mounds, are several
copper axes, the general form of which is well exhibited in the
engravings herewith presented. They are well wrought, and each
appears to have been made from a single piece,—showing that the metal
was obtained in considerable masses. The largest of these, Fig. 81,
weighs two pounds five ounces. It measures seven inches in length, by
four in breadth at the cutting edge, and has an average thickness of
about four tenths of an inch. Its edge is slightly curved, somewhat
after the manner of the axes of the present day, and is «bevelled»
from both surfaces.
[Illustration: Fig. 81.]
[Illustration: Fig. 82.]
Fig. 82 is less in size, but of heavier proportions. It weighs two
pounds, and [p198] measures six and one third inches in length, by
three and one third in width on the edge. Unlike the other, it has
a nearly straight cutting surface; the blade, however, is curved
or «gouge-shaped», closely resembling the adze at present used in
hollowing timbers, and it was probably applied to a similar purpose
with that instrument. Its head is slightly battered, as if it had
sustained blows from a hammer, or had itself been used in pounding.
It may seem incomprehensible to many persons, how these axes, being
destitute of an eye for the insertion of a handle, and not even
possessing the groove of the Indian stone axe, for the reception of
a withe, could have been used with any effect. They were doubtless
fitted in the same manner with those of the ancient Mexicans and
Peruvians, with which, from all accounts, they seem to be identical
in form.
“The Mexicans,” observes Clavigero, “made use of an axe to cut trees,
which was also made of copper, and was of the same form with those
of modern times, except that we put the handle in an eye of the axe,
while they put the axe in an eye of the handle.”[128]
The Pacific Islanders have a sort of adze, which is formed by firmly
lashing a blade of stone, with its cutting edge at right angles, to a
handle, having a sharp crook at its extremity. This mode of fastening
would enable the axe with the curved blade to be used with the
greatest efficiency as an adze. That it was designed to be so used,
seems apparent from the fact that the edge is not formed by bevelling
from both sides, but from the inner surface only, precisely in the
manner that the adze of the present day is ground. Fig. 83 exhibits
the probable manner in which these instruments were fitted for use.
[Illustration: Fig. 83.]
The circumstances under which these interesting relics were
discovered, are detailed in the chapter on the Mounds. (See page
154.) It will be seen they were not found where, as a general and
almost invariable rule, we must look for the only authentic remains
of the mound-builders, viz. at the bottom of the mound. They are
nevertheless classed as undoubted relics of the ancient race. The
implements of the modern Indians are found, whenever they occur in
the mounds, in [p199] connection with human remains, in the position
in which they were deposited with the dead. We have no evidence that
the northern tribes of Indians possessed copper articles of this
description, and but slender evidence at best that they were in
use among the Indians along the Gulf.[129] A positive argument in
favor of the origin imputed to them, is presented in the fact that
many of the articles found both in the sepulchral and sacrificial
mounds are of copper, and of similar workmanship, denoting that the
mound-builders possessed the metal in considerable abundance, and
were very well acquainted with its capabilities. That they have an
antiquity higher than the date of the first European intercourse,
is established by their form; but if this were insufficient, the
evidence may be found in the fact that from immediately over them was
removed the stump of a tree, originally of the largest size, which
had long since fallen and decayed.
[Illustration: Fig. 84.]
This implement (Fig. 84) was found in a mound near one of the great
works on Paint creek. It resembles a double-bladed hatchet, and was
perhaps used as such. It measures six inches in length, and is three
inches broad at each end; across the middle it measures but two and a
half inches. It weighs about one pound and a half. The hole through
the centre may have been designed for the insertion of a rivet, so
as to fasten it firmly in a handle, as represented in the reduced
sketch, number 2. [p200]
[Illustration: Fig. 85.]
Copper axes similar in all respects to those here described have been
found at various places in Ohio. One of them, now in the possession
of a gentleman of Hillsboro’, is of the same shape with Fig. 82; it
weighs two pounds. It was found near the great hill-work in Highland
county (Plate V). Another, corresponding with the above, is in the
possession of R. Buchanan, Esq., of Cincinnati. It was found, in
connection with six others, a few miles north of Yellow Springs,
in the valley of the Little Miami river. They were discovered in
excavating a cellar, three or four feet beneath the surface. Large
trees had been growing on the spot. Another axe, of different shape,
was found not many years since, in a mound near Deerfield, on the
Little Miami. It was worked up by the village blacksmith. Still
another, of comparatively rude workmanship, is deposited in the
Cincinnati Museum. The circumstances under which it was discovered
are unknown.
DRILLS OR GRAVERS.—Among the remains on the sacrificial altars, have
been found graving tools or rude chisels of copper. These were formed
by hammering the copper into rods, with sharp tapering points or
with chisel-shaped edges. Full size sketches of several of these are
presented, Fig. 85. Nos. 1 and 2 were found in the long mound, No. 3
“Mound City,” in connection with numerous other remains.
An implement of copper, identical in shape with No. 1, although
somewhat larger in size, is deposited in the Philadelphia Museum. It
was taken from a mound in Alabama.
Nos. 3, 4, and 5, were discovered in making excavations in the works
at Marietta. The character of each of these is sufficiently well
explained by the engravings. No. 1 measures eight inches in length,
and weighs about two ounces. No. 2 is less in size, and seems to have
been used as a graver. It cuts the softer varieties of stone with
facility. Whether those found at Marietta were designed for similar
purposes, or were intended to be bent together for ornaments, it is
not undertaken to say. That some instruments, of similar character
with these, were used by the mound-builders, in their carvings in
stone, will be apparent when we come to speak of their sculptures.
[p201]
[Illustration: Fig. 86.]
Fig. 86. No. 1 is a greatly reduced sketch of a copper spear or
lance-head, found three miles north-west of Cincinnati, Ohio. It was
discovered about two feet below the surface, at the base of a small
hill, which was crowned by an Indian grave. The original is eight
inches in length.[130]
No. 2 is a reduced sketch of a rude copper knife found in the summer
of 1847, on Isle Royal, Lake Superior. It was discovered three feet
below the surface, by the uprooting of a tree, which had grown above
it. It has the lamination of surface already referred to, in a marked
degree, and was evidently hammered from a single piece of native
copper.
[Illustration: Fig. 87.]
The copper articles above represented (Fig. 87) were all found, in
connection with other relics and some human skeletons, in excavating
the St. Lawrence canal, Canada West. The drawings, from which the
engravings are reduced, were kindly furnished, together with a full
description, by T. REYNOLDS, M.D., of Brockville, in whose possession
the originals now are. “The spot where they were discovered, is a
picturesque point on the banks of the river St. Lawrence, near the
head of the first rapid or cascade met with in descending the river.
They were found deposited fourteen feet below the surface, in a soil
composed of blue clay and sand. A score of skeletons were found
[p202] arranged around them, their feet pointing to the spot where
they were placed. The bones crumbled upon exposure to the air. A few
yards from this place, and at about the same depth from the surface,
another circular space was exposed to view; but strange to say, here
the organic remains had been subjected to the action of fire, and the
half-burned bones with the charcoal and ashes, evinced the fact that
natural decomposition had been anticipated by the hand of man.
“Numbers 1 and 2 were evidently designed for spears, and intended
to fit into handles. The blades are of considerable thickness, not
much corroded, but of rude proportions. They are pointed, and have a
double cutting edge, and were undoubtedly weapons of some service.
No. 1 is a foot in length. No. 3 is a copper knife, engraved of half
size. One edge is sharp, and has marks of considerable use. The point
is broken off. No. 5 is also a knife, less in size, and has a hooked
extremity, as shown in the engraving. It was probably designed to be
used without a handle. No. 4 is an implement ten inches in length.
It has a hollow or socket for the reception of a handle, with a
corresponding convexity on the back. The chisel-shaped extremity is
blunt, but capable of receiving a sharp edge. It may have been used
as a chisel, or gouge,—perhaps as a sort of spade.
“With respect to the question whether these remains are of European
origin or manufacture, I have merely to remark that their workmanship
is very rude; that no traces of iron or of European implements were
found with them, and that the copper corresponds exactly with the
specimens of native metal obtained from Lake Superior. The nature of
the soil at this spot is favorable for the preservation of organic
remains; the fact, therefore, that the bones found with these relics
were in so advanced a stage of decomposition, induces me to believe
that they were deposited long before the discovery and occupation
of Canada by Europeans. We might expect here to find relics bearing
the stamp of French manufacture; but there is nothing in the form
or composition of these which would lead one to suppose them to be
of French origin. This spot was not the usual burying-place of the
Indians. Their cemetery seems to have been some distance back from
the river, upon a high sandy ridge, where their remains, apparently
of very ancient deposit, are now found in abundance.”
From what has been presented, it appears that the mound-builders were
very well acquainted with the use of copper. They do not, however,
seem to have possessed the secret of giving it any extraordinary
degree of hardness. The axes above described were found, upon
analysis, to be «pure copper», unalloyed, to any perceptible extent,
by other metals. The hardness which they seem to possess, beyond the
copper of commerce, is no doubt due to the hammering to which they
were subjected in their manufacture. As already observed, the metal
appears to have been worked, in all cases, in a cold state. This is
somewhat remarkable, as the fires upon the altars were sufficiently
strong, in some instances, to melt down the copper implements and
ornaments deposited upon them, and the fact that the metal is fusible
could hardly have escaped notice.
It has already been suggested, upon the strength of the fact that
some of the specimens of copper obtained from the mounds have
crystals of silver attached to them, that a part of the supply of
the ancient people was obtained from the [p203] shores of Lake
Superior, where alone this peculiar combination is known to exist.
The circumstance that the mound axes are made of unalloyed copper,
does not affect this conclusion; for a large proportion of the native
metal found at this locality is pure. The conclusion is further
sustained by the amount of the metal extracted from the mounds,
implying a large original supply. Besides numerous small pieces, some
large fragments are occasionally discovered. One of these, weighing
twenty-three pounds, and from which portions had evidently been cut,
was found a few years since near Chillicothe. Still, it does not
appear that copper was sufficiently abundant to entirely supersede
the use of bone and stone implements.
FOOTNOTES:
[128] “The copper axes of the Peruvians differ very little in shape
from ours, and it appears that these were the implements with which
they performed most of their works. They are of various shapes and
sizes, the edge of some is more circular than others, and some have a
concave edge.”—«Ulloa», vol. i. p. 483.
[129] It is asserted by the Portuguese chronicler of De Soto’s
ill-fated expedition, that copper hatchets were found in possession
of some of the Indian tribes along the Gulf, “which were said to have
a mixture of gold.” These, the Spaniards were told, were obtained
in a province towards the north, called «Chisca», “where there was
a melting of copper, and of another metal of the same color, save
that it was finer and far better to the sight, which they used not
so much, because it was softer.” The Spaniards did not visit the
province of Chisca; as they were informed high mountains intervened,
which could not be passed with horses. This, it is believed, is the
only account of anything of the kind occurring north of Mexico.
[130] In the cabinet of R. BUCHANAN, Esq., Cincinnati.
[p204]