of Wisconsin, especially those opened by Colonel Norris in Sheboygan
County, to which they bear a strong resemblance.
In the latter part of 1882 Colonel Norris examined a group of works in
Allamakee County, Iowa, which presents some peculiarities worthy of
notice in this connection.
This group, which is represented in Plate I, consisting of enclosures,
lines of small mounds, and excavations, is situated on the farm of Mr.
H. P. Lane, about 7 miles above New Albin. It is on a bluff in one of
the numerous bends of the Little Iowa River, the character of the
locality indicating that it was selected as one easily defended. I shall
at present only notice those particulars which seem to have some bearing
on the character of the burial mounds and mode of interment.
Although there are no effigy mounds in the group, the relative positions
and forms of the tumuli, as shown in the figure, and other particulars
to be noticed, leave no doubt in my mind that the works, in part, are to
be attributed to the people who built the figure mounds of Wisconsin.
But, as will be seen from the particulars mentioned, there is conclusive
evidence that the locality has been occupied at different times by at
least two distinct tribes or peoples, differing widely in habits and
customs.
[Illustration: PL. I. GROUP OF EARTHWORKS, ALLAMAKEE COUNTY, IOWA]
The largest work is an enclosure marked _A_ in Plate I, and shown on an
enlarged scale in Plate II. It is situated on the margin of a bluff
overlooking the Little Iowa and an intervening bog-bayou, probably the
former channel of the river. It is almost exactly circular, the curve
being broken on the east side, where it touches the brink of the bluff,
being here made to conform to the line of the latter, though probably
never thrown up to the same height as the other portion. The ends at the
southeast overlap each other for a short distance, leaving at this point
an entrance way, the only one to the enclosure. A ditch runs round on
the inside from the entrance on the south to where the wall strikes the
bluff on the north, but is wanting along the bluff and overlapping
portion. The north and south diameter, measuring from outside to
outside, is 277 feet; from east to west, 235 feet; the entire outer
circumference is 807 feet, the length of the portion along the bluff 100
feet, and of the overlapping portion at the entrance 45 feet. The wall
is quite uniform in size, about 4 feet high and from 25 to 27 in width,
except along the bluff, where it is scarcely apparent; the entrance is
16 feet wide, and the ditch 5 to 6 feet wide and 3 feet deep. On the
north, adjoining the wall on the outside and extending along it for
about 100 feet, is an excavation (_c_, Plate II) 35 feet wide at the
widest point and 3 feet deep.
As this ground, including the circle, has been under cultivation for
fifteen years, it would be supposed the height of the wall is
considerably less than it originally was, but this is probably a
mistake. On the contrary, it was originally probably but 20 feet wide
and not more than 3 feet high, composed mainly of yellowish brown clay
obtained, in part at least, from the ditch, but during occupancy the
accumulation of countless bones of animals used as food, stone chips,
river shells, broken pottery, and dirt, and, since abandonment, the
accumulation of sand drifted by the winds from the crumbling
sandstone butte (_C_, Plate I) overlooking it, have not only filled the
ditch but elevated the wall and whole interior area 2 feet or more. This
accumulation of sand is so great and so uniform over the plateau that
fifteen years of cultivation have not sufficed to reach the clay of the
original surface nor to unearth or even penetrate to the bones, pottery
fragments, and other refuse matter covering the original surface in the
circle.
Trenches cut across the wall at various points indicate, first, a layer
of sand about 1 foot thick; immediately below this an accumulation of
refuse matter forming a layer from 1 to 2 feet thick; under which was
the original clay embankment 2 feet thick, resting on the natural
surface of the ground. A section of the ditch, embankment, and
excavation is shown in Plate II. The dotted line _a b_ indicates the
natural surface; No. 1 the original clay layer of the wall; No. 2 the
layer of earth and refuse material with which the ditch is filled; and
No. 3 the top layer of sand.
In No. 2 were found charcoal, ashes, fragments of pottery, fractured
bones, etc.
A broad belt of the inner area on the east side was explored, and the
same conditions were found to exist here as were revealed by the
trenches across the wall and ditch, except that here the shells were
more abundant in layer No. 2, and there were many burnt stones.
On the southeastern portion of the plateau (_B_, Plate I) are six nearly
parallel lines of mounds running northeast and southwest, mostly
circular in form, varying from 15 to 40 feet in diameter, and from 2 to
6 feet in height; a few, as indicated in the figure, are oblong, varying
in length from 50 to 100 feet. The number in the group exceeds one
hundred.
While engaged in excavating these mounds Colonel Norris observed a
number of patches of the level area quite destitute of vegetation. The
owner of the land, who was present, could give no explanation of this
phenomenon, simply remarking that they had always been so, never having
produced a good crop of anything, although there was no apparent
difference between the soil of these spots and the surface around them.
As some of these extended across the area occupied by the mound group,
he concluded to explore them, and was surprised to find them to be
burying places, and scattered here and there among the graves, if such
they could be called, were stone chips, shells, charcoal, and ashes. He
was surprised at this, as he supposed the mounds alone were used as
depositories of the dead, and was at first disposed to attribute these
burials to a people who had occupied the ground long subsequent to the
authors of the works. Possibly this may be the correct solution, but if
so, they were certainly the same as those who buried in the mounds of
this group, as no difference in the contents and internal arrangement
could be observed. In both cases there was a compact layer of hard,
light-colored earth, having the appearance of lime-mortar, possibly clay
and ashes mixed together, which had been subject to the action of fire.
As the burials in these sterile spots were seldom more than 18 inches
deep, the only layer above them consisted of sand from the butte, while
the mounds were uniformly covered with a layer of richer soil, although
below this and covering the skeletons was a layer of hard, light-colored
earth. Skeletons and bones were found in great abundance in the mounds
and under the surface of the plateau, though none were discovered in the
circle or nearer than 200 yards of it. They were sometimes mingled
promiscuously with charcoal and ashes, but were usually in whole
skeletons lying horizontally, though some were in a sitting posture;
they were within from 1 to 3 feet of the surface, without any apparent
system, except that they were always covered with a layer of hard earth.
A trench cut through the long mound of this group, No. 1, revealed near
the center an oblong pile of sandstones, beneath which was found a rude
stone coffin, formed by first placing flat sandstone slabs on the
natural surface of the ground, then other slabs at the sides and ends,
and a covering of similar stones, thus forming a cist or coffin about 6
feet long and 18 inches wide. Within this, extended at full length, with
the head west, was the skeleton of an adult, but too much decayed for
preservation. With it were some stone chips, rude stone scrapers, a
_Unio_ shell, and some fragments of pottery similar to those dug up in
the circular enclosure.
The mounds on the sand butte marked _C_, Plate I, which is something
over 100 feet high, were opened and found to be in every respect similar
to those already mentioned, showing them to be the work of the same
people who built the others.
The three mounds in the square enclosures marked _D_, (Plate I), were
also opened, with the following results: The largest, oval in form, 30
feet long, about 20 feet broad and 4 feet high, was found to consist of
a top layer of loose sand 1 foot thick, the remainder of hard yellowish
clay. In the latter were found several flat sandstone fragments, and
beneath them, on the original surface of the ground, a much decayed
skeleton, with which were a few stone chips, _Unio_ shells, and
fragments of pottery.
The second in size, 18 feet in diameter and 3 feet high, although
covered with a layer of sand, was mainly a loose cairn of sandstones,
covering traces of human bones, charcoal, and ashes. The third was found
to be similar to the second, but in this case the pile of stones was
heaped over a mass of charred human bones, mingled with which were
charcoal, ashes, and fragments of pottery.
Fragments of pottery were found in abundance in the circle, in the
mounds, in the washouts, and in fact at almost every point in the area
covered by the group. Judging by the fragments, for not a single entire
vessel was obtained, the prevailing forms were the ordinary earthen pot
with ears, and a flask or gourd-shaped vase with a rather broad and
short neck, often furnished with a lid. The paste with which this
pottery was made had evidently been mixed with pounded shells. The only
ornamentation observed consisted in the varied forms given the handles
or ears and indentations and scratched lines.
Nearly all the implements found were of stone, exceedingly rude, being
little else than stone flakes with one sharp edge; many of them having
been resharpened and used as knives, scrapers, and skinners. Some had
been worked into moderately fair perforators or drills for making holes
in horn, bone, and shell--specimens of all these, with such holes,
having been found here.
The immense quantity of charred and fractured bones, not only of fish,
birds, and the smaller quadrupeds, such as the rabbit and the fox, but
also of the bear, wolf, elk, deer, and buffalo, shows that the occupants
of this place lived chiefly by the chase, and hence must have used the
bow and arrow and spear; yet, strange to say, although careful search
was made for them, less than a dozen arrow and spear heads were found,
and these so rude as scarcely to deserve the name. A single true chipped
celt, three sandstones with mortar-shaped cavities, and a few mullers or
stones used for grinding were obtained; also, some fragments of
deer-horn, evidently cut round by some rude implement and then broken
off, and several horn and bone punches and awls, one barbed and another
with a hole through the larger end.
The object in view in presenting these details is to give the reader an
opportunity of judging for himself in reference to some inferences drawn
from them.
The form of the circular enclosure reminds us at the first glance of the
palisade enclosures figured by De Bry,[16] which, according to
Lafitau,[17] was the form usually adopted by the Indian tribes who were
accustomed to erect such structures. We have here the almost exact
circle, save where interrupted by the margin of the bluff, the
overlapping of the ends, and the narrow entrance-way. We have here also
the clay with which it was the custom, at least in the southern section,
to plaster the palisades or which was cast against their bases as a
means of supporting or bracing them at the bottom, a custom not entirely
unknown among the northern tribes in former times.
The indications are therefore very strong that this enclosing wall was
originally a palisade which had been in part plastered with clay, or
against which clay had been heaped to assist in rendering it firm and
secure, and, if so, then it is probable it was built by Indians.
Be this supposition right or wrong the evidence is conclusive that the
area on which this group is situated has been the abode of at least two
tribes or peoples: first, it was occupied by the authors of the
enclosures, whose stay was probably not very protracted, and after they
had abandoned the locality or been driven from it by a second tribe,
evidently comparatively numerous, that made it for a long time a
dwelling place; a tribe differing in customs from its predecessor, and
one that did not rely upon enclosures for protection. By no other
supposition can we account for the fact that the refuse layer which
covers the interior of the circle also spreads in equal depth over the
ditch and clay remains of the enclosing wall, as those who left this
refuse layer could have made no possible use of the wall as a defensive
work, for which the position chosen and other particulars show it was
designed.
The form of this enclosure, as we have before intimated, seems to
connect it with some one of the Indian tribes; its age is uncertain but
the accumulation of refuse matter and sand since the abandonment by the
first occupants indicates considerable antiquity.
Although we cannot say positively that the second occupants were the
builders of the mounds, as the investigation was not as thorough as it
should have been, still I think we may assume, with almost absolute
certainty, that such was the fact. The mounds in the square work marked
D, in Plate I, present considerable differences from those in the group,
and are probably the work of those who built the enclosures.
The stone grave in the oblong mound indicates the presence of
individuals of a more southern tribe[18] at this place, during its
second occupancy. The position of the cist in the mound would seem to
forbid the idea of an intrusive burial, otherwise I should certainly
suppose such to be the fact. I cannot, in the present paper, enter into
a discussion of the question "to what tribe or people are the box-form
stone graves to be attributed," but will state my conviction to be,
after a somewhat careful study of the question, that they are to be
ascribed to the Shawnees, Delawares, and Kickapoos.
[Illustration: PL. II. ENLARGED FIGURE AND SECTION OF EARTHWORK A, PL.
I.]
Without further discussion of this group, which, as before intimated,
presents, so far as the mounds are concerned, some features which appear
to ally the latter to one class of burial mounds found in Wisconsin, we
will now refer to some other works of this district explored by the
Bureau assistants.
On the land owned by Mr. Fish, in Iowa, near the Mississippi River, a
short distance below where the Little Iowa joins it, is a group of
mounds placed on the crest of a ridge running parallel with the former
stream about one-fourth of a mile therefrom. There are in all about
thirty of these mounds, circular in form, and varying from 20 to 40 feet
in diameter. These are all burial mounds, but one singular feature
observed is that those on the higher sandy ground, although about the
same size and having cores of clay similar to those on the firm clay
portion of the ridge, have a layer of sand, some two feet or more added
to them, yet when opened the contents and mode of construction of the
two classes were found to be the same, to wit, a layer of hard clay
covering decaying human bones, fragments of pottery, and rude stone
implements. There were generally two or more skeletons in a mound, which
were placed horizontally side by side on the natural surface of the
ground.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Section of mound showing stone vault (Iowa).]
Upon the terrace below the group were found the remnants of a row of
comparatively large burial mounds. A railroad line having been carried
along here, the larger portion of these works were destroyed; still,
enough remained to show that the height varied from 6 to 15 feet, that
they were composed chiefly of sandy loam similar to that around them,
and that each had a hard central core of clay mixed with ashes, usually
covering but a single skeleton. The relics found in them when opened
consisted chiefly of stone axes, arrow and spear heads, and a few copper
celts. In one, which was 32 feet in diameter and 8 feet high and less
injured than the others, was a circular vault, walled as represented in
Fig. 8. This was built of flat, unworked stones, laid up without mortar,
gradually lessening as it ascended, and covered at the top by a single
flat stone. In it was a single skeleton in a squatting posture, with
which was a small earthen vase of globular form.
A singular fact was observed in a group near the town of Peru, Dubuque
County. This group is situated on a dry, sandy bench or terrace some 20
feet or more above a bayou which, makes out from the Mississippi. It
consists chiefly of small circular tumuli, but at the north end are four
oblong mounds varying in length from 40 to 110 feet and in height from
1-1/2 to 4 feet; there is also an excavation about 30 feet in diameter
and 6 feet deep, and scattered throughout the group are a number of
circular earthen rings varying in diameter from 12 to 30 feet and from 1
to 2 feet in height.
Quite a number of the circular mounds were opened, but only detached
portions of a skeleton were found in any one, as a skull in one, and a
leg, arm, or other part in another, four or five adjacent ones
apparently together containing the equivalents of an entire skeleton.
Some of these bones were charred, and all were much decayed, indicating
by their appearance great age. The inner portion of the mounds consisted
of hard, compact earth, chiefly clay, resembling in this respect most of
the burial mounds of this region.
Unfortunately the examination of this group was too partial and too
hastily made to enable us to form any theory as to the meaning of this
singular mode of burial, or even to be satisfied that the idea of our
assistant in this regard is correct.
As possibly having some bearing upon the question, the following facts
relating to another similar group at Eagle Point, three miles above
Dubuque, are given.
This group, which is situated on a bluff about 50 feet above high-water
mark, consists of about seventy mounds, all of which, except two oblong
ones, are small and conical in form. Eleven of these circular tumuli
were thoroughly explored, but nothing was found in them except some
charcoal, stone chips, and fragments of pottery. But in an excavation
made in the center of a long mound just west of the group were found two
decayed skeletons. Near the breast of one of them were a blue stone
gorget and five rude stone scrapers; with the other, thirty-one
fresh-water pearls, perforated and used as beads. Excavations were made
in an oblong and circular mound near the extreme point of the bluffs.
Each was found to have a central core of very hard clay mixed with
ashes, so hard in fact that it could only be broken up with the pick,
when it crumbled like dry lime mortar, and was found to be traversed
throughout with flattened horizontal cavities. These cavities were lined
with a peculiar felt-like substance, which Colonel Norris, who opened
the mounds, was satisfied from all the indications pertained to bodies
which had been buried here, but from lapse of time had entirely crumbled
to earth save these little fragments. We are therefore perhaps justified
in concluding that a more thorough and careful examination of the mounds
of the other group would have shown that the skeletons had so far
decayed as to leave but a small part in a mound. Nevertheless it is
proper to state that Colonel Norris does not coincide with this
conclusion, but thinks that the dismembered skeletons were buried as
found. Possibly he is correct.
In this connection, and before referring to the mounds of this district
on the Illinois side of the Mississippi, I desire to call attention to
some modern Indian burials in this region. As the statements here made
are from one claiming to be an eye-witness, I give them as related to
the Bureau assistant.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--Plat of Indian burying-ground, Wapello County,
Iowa.]
The locality is a level plat in a bend of the Des Moines River between
Eldon and Iowaville, Wapello County. The plat of this area and the sites
of the burial places, as shown in Fig. 9, are based upon the statements
of Mr. J. H. Jordan (the person referred to), who has resided here since
the close of the Black Hawk war, and was the agent of the Sacs and Foxes
from their removal hither after the war until Black Hawk's death,
September 15, 1838.[19]
The extreme width of the area represented is about 2 miles. Close to the
point of the bend formerly stood the agency building, near which is the
present residence of Mr. Jordan. The triangle marks the position of
Black Hawk's grave; the parallel lines, the race-tracks; the rings in
the upper corner, the mounds of the Iowas; those in the lower corner,
near Iowaville, the mounds of the Pottawattamies; and the open dots,
near the same point, the place where the scaffolds for their dead stood.
Mr. Jordan says:
"This valley had long been a famous haunt for the warring Indians, but
was, at the time of my first personal acquaintance with it, in
possession of the Iowas, whose main village was around the point where
my present residence now stands. The race-course consisted of three hard
beaten parallel tracks nearly a mile in length, where the greater
portion of the Iowa warriors were engaged in sport when Black Hawk
surprised and slaughtered a great portion of them in 1830. After Black
Hawk and his warriors had departed with their plunder, the remaining
Iowas returned and buried their dead in little mounds of sod and earth,
from 2 to 4 feet high, at the point indicated on the diagram.
"After the Black Hawk war was over, the remnant of the Iowas, by treaty,
formally ceded their rights in this valley to the Sacs and Foxes. At
this place this noted chief was buried, in accordance with his dying
request, in a full military suit given him by President Jackson,
together with the various memorials received by him from the whites and
the trophies won from the Indians. He was placed on his back on a
'puncheon' [split slab of wood], slanting at a low angle to the ground,
where his feet were sustained by another, and then covered with several
inches of sod. Over this was placed a roof-shaped covering of slabs or
'puncheons,' one end being higher than the other; over this was thrown a
covering of earth and sod to the depth of a foot or more, and the whole
surrounded by a line of pickets some 8 or 10 feet high."
Here we have evidence that some at least of the Indians of this region
were accustomed to bury their dead in mounds down to a recent date.
One of the most important burial mounds opened in this district by the
employés of the Bureau is situated on the bluff which overhangs East
Dubuque (formerly Dunleith), Jo Daviess County, Illinois. As I shall
have occasion to refer to others than the one mentioned, I give in Fig.
15, Plate III, a plan of the group, and in Fig. 16, same plate, a
vertical section of the bluff along the line of mounds numbered 13, 14,
15, 16, and 17, in which is seen the general slope of the upper area.
The mounds of this group are conical in form, varying from 12 to 70 feet
in diameter and from 3 to 12 in height. All appear to have been built
for burial purposes.