SCULPTURED OR INSCRIBED ROCKS.
Rocks rudely inscribed with figures of men and animals, have been
observed at various points within the United States, and have
commanded no small share of attention. Their general character
seems, however, but imperfectly understood; and for this reason
care has been taken to preserve sketches and descriptions of such
as fell under notice in the progress of the investigations recorded
in this volume. In presenting the following illustrations, we are
not to be understood as supposing that any of these rude monuments
are referable to the era of the mounds, or that they have any
extraordinary significance.
These illustrations comprise sketches of six sculptured rocks which
occur upon the Guyandotte river in Virginia, and which have never
before been noticed; together with a sketch of one occurring upon
the Ohio river, never before figured, but to which distant allusion
has several times been made. Notices of the locality and general
character of several others, occurring chiefly within the valley of
the Ohio, are also appended.
Proceeding upon a very vague intimation of the existence of certain
rocks of this kind, upon the banks of the Guyandotte river, in
Cabell county, Virginia, a visit was made to the locality in the
autumn of 1846. The first of the series of rocks was found near the
pathway, about eight miles above the town of Barbersville, or sixteen
miles above the mouth of the river. It is a large detached block of
weather-worn sandstone, of coarse texture, presenting above ground
a flat but somewhat irregular surface. The edges are much rounded,
and the rock closely resembles the water-worn boulders sometimes
found on the alluvions. Immediately in the centre, which is slightly
depressed, is cut in outline a rude effigy of a human figure, with
arms extended and elevated, and apparently in the attitude of
running. It is manifestly intended to represent a female, the breasts
and other distinctive features being depicted. The action of the
figure is well expressed, and the proportions are not materially
wrong. It is four feet in height. Upon the edges of the rock are
other outlines of the human figure, though too much obliterated to be
traced with satisfaction or exactness. They are considerably less in
size than the one just described. Besides these there are cut into
the rock, at all angles to the plane of stratification, a number of
tracks of various beasts and birds. Among them are those of the deer,
bear, wolf, and turkey. They are very truthfully indicated, and it
is no longer a matter of [p294] surprise that similar sculptures
have been mistaken by the uninformed for veritable impressions from
the feet of the animals themselves. They were cut at a later date
than the other figures, or have been cut deeper or subsequently
retouched. The turkey tracks are as distinct as if they had been left
but yesterday in plastic clay by the bird itself. Among the tracks of
the animals occurs the Roman capital P, exactly formed. This cannot
be supposed to be anything more than an accidental coincidence. The
lines are from one half to three fourths of an inch deep, and for the
most part appear to have been «pecked», instead of chiselled, into
the stone. The rock measures about ten feet square. It lies close by
the side of the road or bridle-path, upon the east bank, and about
seventy-five yards from the river. Just below this point is quite a
broad interval of level land, which is now under cultivation.
[Illustration: Fig. 200.]
From this place onward, the path winds under beetling cliffs of
ragged sandstone, huge blocks of which, occasionally worn into
fantastic shapes, are met at every step. At the distance of two
miles, the traveller comes suddenly upon a confused mass of rocks,
weighing many thousands of tons each, which have fallen from the
very brow of the cliff, crushing the puny forests in their course
and bedding themselves deep in the earth, which it has forced up
in billows around them. Here occur the sculptured rocks of the
Guyandotte. Two only had been heard of originally; but after a
careful examination, removing fallen trees and stones and rubbish,
three others were discovered, which, if not so large, nevertheless
proved quite as interesting as those which had at first attracted
attention. Drawings were taken of these on the spot, which will give
a better conception of the character of the sculptures, than any
description can possibly afford.
Fig. 201. The larger rock measures thirteen feet in length by an
average of ten feet in width. Upon its horizontal face is cut, in
deep outline, the figure of a man, six feet three inches in height,
by two feet in breadth at the shoulders. There seems to have been
no attempt at drapery. The proportions of the figure, the curve
of the leg, etc., are very well represented. The legs are placed
near [p295] together, the feet turned outwards, and the arms
represented close by the side of the body. Something like a cocked
hat, perhaps designed to represent the hair, covers the head. The
face is triangular, and the eyes are represented by lines somewhat
resembling an inverted W. The nose and mouth are indicated by simple
lines. From the neck depends a singular figure, which rests upon the
breast. Perhaps it had a typical meaning, in common with similar
representations among the wild Indians of the present day. The head
of a deer or elk, with its branching antlers, is depicted upon
the face of the rock below, and considerably to the right of the
feet of the principal figure. There are also the tracks of certain
animals, and two rows of round holes, numbering thirteen and fifteen
respectively,—these last perhaps designed to indicate the number of
achievements in war or chase of the chieftain whose effigy is beside
them. There are many other lines; but the surface of the rock is so
much worn and frayed by exposure to the elements, that it is quite
impossible to make them out.
[Illustration: Fig. 201.]
[Illustration: Fig. 202.]
Fig. 202. Upon one of the vertical faces of this rock is cut, in bold
and deep outline, the figure of an eagle, with wings extended as if
just soaring upwards. [p296] This is extremely spirited in design,
and exhibits no small degree of artistic skill,—much more than is
displayed in the engraving. A plume feather rises from the head of
the bird. Immediately by its side is a rude outline of some bird with
long neck and drooping wings. These figures are about two feet in
length.
[Illustration: Fig. 203.]
Fig. 203. Upon another rock, close by the side of the one last
mentioned, from which it appears to have been split off, is a
sculptured group, manifestly representing a hunting scene. A deer or
elk and several human figures, in attitudes of motion, are especially
prominent. There is also a maze of lines which a fanciful mind might
easily convert into an inscription in an ancient alphabet. Many
of these lines are indistinct from exposure; those shown in the
engraving are well marked. The rock measures four feet by ten.
[Illustration: Fig. 204.]
Fig. 204. A third rock near by, almost entirely hidden by the ruins
brought down by the rock avalanche from above, bears upon its face
a figure of angular outline, resembling the outspread skin of some
animal. The eyes and mouth are distinctly marked. By its side is
the figure of a human head, and several wolf and deer tracks. There
may be other sculptures on the rock; the portion exhibited in the
engraving was exposed only by the expenditure of much severe labor,
in the absence of tools for excavation. [p297]
Fig. 205. At the distance of a few rods from these is a small rock,
four feet high by six in length. Upon its vertical face are cut the
head and shoulders of an elk. The figure is faithfully executed,
of full size, and in point of spirit can hardly be excelled by
any outline representation. The savage artist who worked this
head, with his rude instruments, into the living rock, must have
been a close observer of nature. He undoubtedly stood at the head
of his profession—an Indian Landseer! Below this head is a rude
representation of some object, probably a bow, an arrow from which is
entering the neck of the elk.
[Illustration: Fig. 205.]
There are unquestionably other rocks, in this immediate vicinity,
covered over with earth and rubbish from the avalanche. The labors of
the excavator would doubtless be rewarded with other discoveries; the
employment however of some less primitive means than sharpened sticks
and the naked hands can be feelingly recommended.
After leaving the vicinity of these rocks, it was ascertained that
three miles higher up the stream, at a point known as the “Falls of
the Guyandotte,” there are others of a similar character. The figure
of a man, with an upraised tomahawk, and that of a fox or other
animal, are cut in the vertical face of the cliff, over which the
river lately flowed, but which is now left exposed by some change in
the channel of the stream.
The rocks above described occur in a sunny nook a short distance from
the river, at a point where there is a small but beautiful interval
of land. There is here a small earth circle and mound, showing that
the race of the mounds penetrated thus far up the stream.
The rocks are weather-worn fragments of the coarse sandstone of
the coal series, which breaks with a tolerably smooth and regular
fracture, presenting surfaces well calculated for the kind of rude
sculpture here exhibited. The lines upon the horizontal faces of
the rocks are much less distinct than those upon their sides. They
seem nevertheless to have been cut deeper, and are more elaborate.
Those upon the vertical faces of the rocks seem to be little defaced,
and probably are much in the same condition in which they were left
by the sculptors. They are, for the most [p298] part, about three
fourths of an inch wide by half an inch deep, sometimes a little
wider and deeper: the outline of the principal figure on the large
rock is not less than an inch wide and three fourths of an inch deep.
Some of the round holes, which are very regular, will contain a gill
of water each. The lines, as observed respecting the rock first
noticed, do not appear to have been chiselled, but «pecked» into the
stone. Where hard iron seams occur in the rock, a narrow ridge is
left,—the rude instruments employed having evidently been inadequate
to cut or break through them. That some of the tracks of animals,
particularly those of the bear, were rubbed and smoothed with stones
after having been chipped into shape, seems extremely probable, from
the fact that they are not rough like the other lines, and exhibit
the muscular developments of the foot with much accuracy. It is
barely possible that they have been thus worn by the action of the
elements.
[Illustration: Fig. 206.]
Fig. 206. A rock of similar character with those above described,
occurs upon the Virginia shore of the Ohio river, four miles above
the town of Steubenville in the State of Ohio, and about fifty
miles below the city of Pittsburgh.[188] It is a detached block of
sandstone, measuring seven feet by nine. The figures are cut in the
same style with those before noticed, and are quite numerous. They
comprise outlines of men and animals, including the tortoise and
several serpents. There are also human footprints, and the tracks of
animals, together with other emblematic figures, including the Indian
symbol of the sun. The striking resemblance of the lower right-hand
figures to those occupying a corresponding position on the Dighton
rock, will not be overlooked.
[Illustration: Fig. 207.—SITE OF THE SCULPTURED ROCKS OF THE
GUYANDOTTE.]
A very interesting rock of this description lately existed at
Catlettsburgh, on the Kentucky shore, at the confluence of the Big
Sandy and Ohio rivers. It was [p299] entirely broken up about two
years since, by a Vandal, to furnish the materials for building a
chimney and walling a cellar! By a strange fatality this rock was
selected for the purpose, although there were an abundance of others
in the vicinity. It is represented to have been charged with numerous
outline figures and emblematic devices. Efforts were made to recover
some of the inscribed fragments, but without success. Nearly opposite
this place, on the Ohio side, three miles below the village of
Burlington, at a point where the Ohio sweeps along the base of the
sandstone cliffs, and where numerous fallen blocks line the shore, a
similar inscribed rock once existed. It however has lately shared the
fate of its neighbor on the other side of the stream. It was situated
below the high-water mark; and its proximity to the water proved, in
the end, the cause of its destruction, as the fragments quarried off
could be easily placed on floats for transportation to the points
required. Still another is said to have existed near the edge of
the water, at a place known as the Hanging Rock, now the site of a
furnace village, twenty-four miles above the mouth of the Scioto.
It has probably been destroyed in like manner. There is however a
very singular one still in existence a few miles above the town of
Portsmouth, the southern terminus of the Ohio and Erie Canal, at the
mouth of the Scioto. It consists of a colossal human [p300] head cut
in outline, upon the vertical face of a large rock extending into the
river. It is always under water, except when the river is at its very
lowest stages, and is not exposed oftener than once in four or five
years. It is familiarly known as the “Indian’s Head,” and is regarded
as a sort of river gauge or meter. When the water-line is at the top
of the head, the river is considered very low.
Numerous other rocks of similar character are scattered over the
West, occurring chiefly upon or near the banks of streams. They
are not however confined to the westward of the Alleghanies, but
are found in several of the Atlantic States. Those at Dighton and
Tiverton in Massachusetts, and at Portsmouth in Rhode Island, are
well known examples. They do not seem to differ materially in
character from those already described.
From an inspection and comparison of these rocks, it must be very
apparent that they are all the work of the same race: there is a
family likeness in their style and workmanship, and a coincidence
in position, which admits of no dispute, and seems to be conclusive
upon this point. The further well known fact that the Indians
possessed a system of representation, not inappropriately termed
«picture-writing», by which they conveyed intelligence and recorded
events, serves still more clearly to indicate their probable
origin,—especially as it is equally well known that they carved their
rude pictures upon rocks as well as upon the bark of trees.
FOOTNOTES:
[188] These rocks are noticed by Dr. BARTON, «Transactions of
American Philosophical Society», vol. iv. p. 195. He regards them as
“the work of a people acquainted with the use of iron instruments, or
with hardened metallic instruments of some kind.” The engraving in
the text is from a sketch made for Mr. McBride, by J. W. Erwin, Esq.
[p301]