different parts of this State, but unfortunately the descriptions are
based largely on memory and second-hand statements and hence do not have
that stamp of accuracy and authenticity that is desirable. For example,
a large stone mound, which formerly stood a short distance from Newark,
is described[27] as conical in form, 182 feet in diameter, and from 40
to 50 feet high, composed of stones in their natural shape. This, upon
removal, was found to cover some fifteen or sixteen small earth mounds.
In one of these were found human bones and river shells. In another was
encountered a layer of hard white fire-clay. Two or three feet below
this was a wooden trough. This was overlaid by small logs of wood to
serve as a cover, and in it was found a skeleton, around which appeared
the impression of a coarse cloth. With it were fifteen copper rings and
a "breastplate" of the same metal. The wood of the trough and covering
was in a good state of preservation. The clay which covered it was
impervious both to air and water. The logs which overlaid the wooden
sarcophagus "were so well preserved that the ends showed the axe marks,
and the steepness of the kerf seemed to indicate that some instrument
sharper than the stone axe found throughout the West had been employed
to cut them."
"In another of these mounds a large number of human bones, but no other
relics worthy of note, were found."[28]
In a mound situated in Clear Creek Township, Ashland County, a stone
coffin or cist was discovered, constructed of flat stones set up
edgewise. It contained six or eight skeletons, "neatly cleaned and
packed, in a good state of preservation."[29]
A statement worthy of notice in this connection is made by Mr. H. B.
Case in the Smithsonian Report for 1881.[30] The Delaware Indians
formerly had a village in the northern part of Green Township, Ashland
County, which was still occupied by them when the white settlers reached
there in 1809. An examination of their graves in 1876 brought to light
the fact that in some cases the dead were buried in stone cists; in
others small, round, drift bowlders were placed around the skeletons.
One of the most satisfactory and most important accounts of Ohio burial
mounds will be found in a "Report of Explorations of Mounds in Southern
Ohio," by Prof. E. B. Andrews, published in the Tenth Annual Report of
the Peabody Museum. Speaking of the George Connet mound, in Athens
County, he says:
This is a low mound about 6 feet high with a broad base perhaps
40 feet in diameter. It has for years been plowed over and its
original height has been considerably reduced. My attention was
drawn to this mound by the burnt clay on its top. A trench 5
feet wide was dug through the center. On the east side much
burnt yellow clay was found, while on the west end of the
trench considerable black earth appeared, which I took to be
kitchen refuse.
About 5 feet below the top we came upon large quantities of
charcoal, especially on the western side. Underneath the
charcoal was found a skeleton with the head to the east. The
body had evidently been enclosed in some wooden structure.
First there was a platform of wood placed upon the ground, on
the original level of the plain. On this wooden floor timbers
or logs were placed longitudinally, and over these timbers
there were laid other pieces of wood, forming an enclosed box
or coffin. A part of this wood was only charred, the rest was
burnt to ashes. The middle part of the body was in the hottest
fire and many of the vertebræ, ribs, and other bones were burnt
to a black cinder, and at this point the enclosing timbers were
burnt to ashes. The timbers enclosing the lower extremities
were only charred.
I am led to think that before any fire was kindled a layer of
dirt was thrown over the wooden structure, making a sort of
burial. On this dirt a fire was built, but by some misplacement
of the dirt the fire reached the timbers below, and at such
points as the air could penetrate there was an active
combustion, but at others, where the dirt still remained, there
was only a smothered fire, like that in a charcoal pit. It is
difficult to explain the existence of the charred timbers in
any other way. There must have been other fires than that
immediately around and above the body, and many of them,
because on one side of the mound the clay is burned even to the
top of the mound. In one place, 3 feet above the body, the clay
is vitrified.
It is possible that fires were built at different levels, open
fires, and that most of the ashes were blown away by the winds
which often sweep over the plain. I have stated that there was
first laid down a sort of floor of wood, on which the body was
placed. On the same floor were placed about 500 copper beads,
forming a line almost around the body.
In addition to these copper beads a number of shell beads, and also a
hollow copper implement in the shape of a caulker's chisel, were found.
The copper implement and beads were made of thin sheet-copper which,
Professor Andrews says, had been "hammered out into so smooth and even a
sheet that no traces of the hammer were visible. It would be taken
indeed for rolled sheet copper." Some of the bones were pretty well
preserved.
The professor closes his description with the remark: "The skeleton
undoubtedly belonged to a veritable mound-builder." In this he is
certainly correct, as the mode of burial in this case agrees so exactly
with that observed by Squier and Davis in the larger mounds opened by
them as to leave no doubt that both are to be attributed to one people,
although the mound described by Professor Andrews is probably of much
more recent date than those mentioned by Squier and Davis.
What explanation shall we give of the presence in this work of thin
sheet-copper "hammered out into so smooth and even a sheet that no
traces of the hammer were visible," and that "would be taken for rolled
copper"?
The simple and most natural explanation would be that it was derived
from European traders and early adventurers; and such, I am disposed to
believe, is the correct one. The distinction between the sheets and
ornaments hammered from native copper with the rude implements of the
aborigines, and many specimens made of this smooth sheet-copper found in
mounds, is too apparent to be overlooked. But of this more hereafter, as
I shall have occasion again to refer to the subject.
In another mound, 8 or 9 feet high, in the same county, he found near
the top a considerable bed of kitchen refuse; at the bottom, on the
original surface, ashes and burnt human bones. "These bones," he
remarks, "had evidently been burned before burial, and had been gathered
in miscellaneous confusion and placed in a narrow space 5 or 6 inches
wide and from 2 to 3 feet long. The ashes were doubtless brought with
them, at least there appeared to be no evidences of a local fire in the
reddening or hardening of the clay or in remnants of charcoal."
As bearing upon a suggestion made by Colonel Norris, and previously
referred to,[31] in regard to the probable use of copper beads found
across the limbs of a skeleton, I call attention to another statement of
Professor Andrews. Speaking of the School-house mound he says:
At a point near the northwestern corner of the school-house and
perhaps 15 feet from the center of the mound, there was plowed
up, in extremely hard and dry dirt, a large piece of what I
suppose to have been an ornamented dress. It was covered with
copper beads, which were strung on a buckskin string and placed
on four layers of the same skin. It was found 8 feet below the
original surface of the mound and in extremely hard, dry dirt
which had never been disturbed.
From the figure and the description we can have but little doubt that
this was a buckskin hunting-shirt, which gives support to Colonel
Norris's suggestion.
Recently some interesting burial mounds near Madisonville have been
carefully explored by Dr. C. L. Metz in the interest of the Peabody
Museum. Only partial notices of these explorations, which are not yet
completed, have been published, but we deem these of sufficient
importance in this connection to quote freely from them,[32] so far as
they serve to illustrate the modes of burial and construction of burial
mounds of this region.
Speaking of one of the mounds of a group situated in Anderson Township,
Professor Putnam remarks:
Mound 21 of Group C was about 4 feet high and 50 in diameter.
It proved to be made entirely of the sandy loam of the
immediate vicinity. The remains of five skeletons were
discovered at different points in the lower portion of the
mound. The bones were nearly all reduced to dust, and only a
fragment here and there could be saved. There was not a single
relic found with the skeletons, and a few flint chips and a
broken arrow-head were the only artificial objects found in the
earth composing the mound. The condition of the bones showed
considerable antiquity, but their advanced decay and friability
were probably largely due to the character of the soil in which
they were enclosed. The position of the skeletons rather goes
to show that the several bodies were buried at different times,
and that the mound was gradually constructed as the burials
took place. For the present we are inclined to consider this
mound, with some others in the valley, as a place of sepulcher
by tribes of a more recent time than the builders of the
earthworks of the Turner group.
Mound No. 22 proved to be of a more interesting character than
the last. This mound was 14 feet high and about 100 in
diameter. It was composed of pure clay, except in the central
portion. Five feet from the top there was found a hard mass of
burnt earth and ashes, 7 feet deep and a little over 9 feet in
width and length. Resting on top of this, about in the center,
and covered in part by the overlying clay, lay a large stone
celt. A foot below this, in the burnt material, was a stone
implement perforated at its upper end. Below this, at points
several feet apart, in the burnt mass, were three holes or
pockets, each of which contained the remains of portions of
human skeletons, surrounded by a thin layer of clay. Near the
bones in the lowest pocket were three spear-heads or chipped
points. A few potsherds and several flint chips were found
throughout the burnt mass. Under it was a circular bed of black
soil and ashes, 13 inches thick in the center and 14 feet in
diameter, beneath which was a layer of fine sand and gravel, 3
inches thick, which covered another circular bed of black soil
and ashes, 14 inches thick in the center and 15 feet in
diameter. Directly under the center of this lower layer was a
pit 4 feet deep and 10 feet 4 inches long, 4 feet wide at the
ends and 3 feet 5 inches wide at the center. This pit probably
had contained a wooden structure, as its sides showed rough
striations, as if large logs had once rested against them. The
pit had been dug in the drift gravel upon which the mound was
built, and was nearly filled with soft, spongy ashes mixed with
a reddish substance. Extended at full length at the bottom of
the pit was a human skeleton, with the head to the west. Among
the bones of the neck a single shell bead was found; at the
feet were ten stones or small bowlders, such as are common in
the drift gravel. It is evident that this interesting tumulus
was erected over the grave which was dug in the underlying
gravel, and that the human bones placed in the burnt mass above
the grave, with the few stone implements found in or on the
mass, had some connection with the funeral ceremonies which
took place in connection with the burial of the body in the pit
below. The regularity of the deposits over the pit, which was
under the center of the mound, seems to be sufficient proof of
this.
Another mound, nearer the river, situated on an elevated portion of
bottom land, was found to differ in construction from any of the others
explored in this vicinity. This is described as follows:[33]
According to Mr. William Edwards, sixty years ago it was about 9
feet high, and covered by a heavy forest growth, which also
extended over the region about. Over fifty years ago the land was
cleared and the mound scraped down by Mr. Edwards, who, after
removing about 4 feet of earth from its summit, came to a large
quantity of stones, with which were many human bones. Since that
time the mound has been plowed over and stones have been taken from
it until it has been so nearly leveled as hardly to be noticed.
Thus only the base of the mound could be explored; but that has
proved of great interest in connection with the other works of the
valley. On removing the earth around the base it was found that
stones, many of considerable size, had been so arranged as to form
a mound about 5 feet high in the center and 90 feet in diameter,
over which the earth had been placed to the height of about 4 feet,
as stated by Mr. Edwards. In height about one-half of the stone
portion of the mound was undisturbed. On removing the outer
covering of stones it was found that many burials, probably at
least one hundred, had been made in the mound. The remains of
seventy-one skeletons were obtained. These skeletons were all more
or less crushed by the stones which surrounded them, as, in
addition to the outer stones of the mound, each body had been
surrounded with stones at the time of its burial. In many instances
large slabs of limestone had been used, and in a few cases they
were set on edge around the body. In other cases small stones had
been piled around and over the bodies, which had been placed in
various positions, some extended and others flexed in various ways.
With many of the skeletons were stone implements and ornaments,
among which were several of the flat stones with two or more
perforations, generally known as gorgets. There were also many bone
implements, shell and bone ornaments, and cut teeth of bears.
Several small copper awls in bone handles, and the shells of
box-turtles, were also found with the skeletons. Many fragments of
pottery and broken bones of animals were scattered through the mass
of stones and human bones. At the feet of the skeleton, in the
center of the mound, there was an upright slab of limestone 2 feet
long by 20 inches wide, and with this skeleton were the following
objects: Resting on the chest was a large ornament made from the
apex of a conch shell, with a hole at one edge for suspension;
below this, on the ribs, was a spear-shaped gorget, with one hole,
and by its side were several shell ornaments, also perforated.
Lying near the right femur and parallel with it was a carved bone,
grooved on the under side and having two holes; between this and
the leg bone were four small pieces of carved bone about an inch in
length. In the bones of the right hand was a small awl made of
native copper and inserted in a little round handle made of bone,
similar to others found with other skeletons in the mound. At the
south side of the mound, on the original surface, was a burnt
space, on which was a large quantity, several bushels, of broken
bones of animals, clam shells, and fragments of pottery mixed with
ashes. This mass seems to have existed before the mound was made,
or at all events completed, as five of the burials had taken place
above it. On the plain about the mound are evidences of the site of
a former village, and the annual plowing brings to light many
animal remains, fragments of pottery, and stone implements of the
same character as those from, the mound. From this fact, and from
the character of the burials in the mound, as well as that of the
objects found with the skeletons, and from the absence of the
characteristic ornaments found with so many of the human remains in
the Turner group and other ancient mounds of the Ohio Valley, we
are led to look upon this stone mound as the burial place of a
tribe of Indians living in the region subsequent to the builders of
the Turner mounds. The remains found in this stone mound, as a
whole, indicate that the people here buried were closely connected
with those who made the singular ash-pits in the ancient cemetery
near Madisonville.[34]
Passing into West Virginia we notice first the celebrated Grave Greek
mound. This has been described and figured so often that it is
unnecessary for me to do more than call attention to certain particulars
in regard to it to which I may desire hereafter to refer by way of
comparison. It is in the form of a regular cone, about 70 feet high and
nearly 300 feet in diameter at the base. A shaft sunk from the apex to
the base disclosed two wooden vaults, the first about half way down and
the other at the bottom. In the first or upper one was a single
skeleton, decorated with a profusion of shell beads, copper bracelets,
and plates of mica. The lower vault, which was partly in an excavation
made in the natural ground, was found to be rectangular, 12 by 8 feet
and 7 feet high. Along each side and across the ends upright timbers had
been placed, which supported other timbers thrown across the vault as a
covering. These were covered with a layer of rough stones. In this vault
were two human skeletons, one of which had no ornaments, while the other
was surrounded with hundreds of shell beads. In attempting to enlarge
this vault the workmen discovered around it ten other skeletons. While
carrying the horizontal tunnel, several masses of charcoal and burnt
bones were encountered after a distance of 12 or 15 feet had been
reached.
Before making any comments on the construction of this noted work and
the mode of burial in it, I will present some facts recently brought to
light in regard to the burial mounds of the Kanawha Valley by the
assistants of the Bureau.
A large mound situated on the farm of Col. B. H. Smith, near Charleston,
is conical in form, about 175 feet in diameter at the base and 35 feet
high. It appears to be double; that is to say, it consists of two
mounds, one built on the other, the lower or original one 20 feet and
the upper 15 feet high.
The exploration was made by sinking a shaft, 12 feet square at the top
and narrowing gradually to 6 feet square at the bottom, down through the
center of the structure to the original surface of the ground and a
short distance below it. After removing a slight covering of earth, an
irregular mass of large, rough, flat sandstones, evidently brought from
the bluffs half a mile distant, was encountered. Some of these
sandstones were a good load for two ordinary men.
The removal of a wagon load or so of these stones brought to light a
stone vault 7 feet long and 4 feet deep, in the bottom of which was
found a large and much decayed human skeleton, but wanting the head,
which the most careful examination failed to discover. A single rough
spearhead was the only accompanying article found in this vault. At the
depth of 6 feet, in earth similar to that around the base of the mound,
was found a second skeleton, also much decayed, of an adult of ordinary
size. At 9 feet a third skeleton was encountered, in a mass of loose,
dry earth, surrounded by the remains of a bark coffin. This was in a
much, better state of preservation than the other two. The skull, which
was preserved, is of the compressed or "flat-head" type.
For some 3 or 4 feet below this the earth was found to be mixed with
ashes. At this depth in his downward progress Colonel Norris began to
encounter the remains of what further excavation showed to have been a
timber vault, about 12 feet square and 7 or 8 feet high. From the
condition in which the remains of the cover were found, he concludes
that this must have been roof-shaped, and, having become decayed, was
crushed in by the weight of the addition made to the mound. Some of the
walnut timbers of this vault were as much as 12 inches in diameter.
In this vault were found five skeletons, one lying prostrate on the
floor at the depth of 19 feet from the top of the mound, and four
others, which, from the positions in which they were found, were
supposed to have been placed standing in the four corners. The first of
these was discovered at the depth of 14 feet, amid a commingled mass of
earth and decaying bark and timbers, nearly erect, leaning against the
wall, and surrounded by the remains of a bark coffin. All the bones
except those of the left forearm were too far decayed to be saved; these
were preserved by two heavy copper bracelets which yet surrounded them.
[Illustration: FIG. 21.--Copper gorget from mound, Kanawha County, West
Virginia.]
The skeleton found lying in the middle of the floor of the vault was of
unusually large size, "measuring 7 feet 6 inches in length and 19 inches
between the shoulder sockets." It had also been inclosed in a wrapping
or coffin of bark, remains of which were still distinctly visible. It
lay upon the back, head east, legs together, and arms by the sides.
There were six heavy bracelets on each wrist; four others were found
under the head, which, together with a spear-point of black flint, were
incased in a mass of mortar-like substance, which had evidently been
wrapped in some textile fabric. On the breast was a copper gorget (Fig.
21). In each hand were three spear-heads of black flint, and others
were about the head, knees, and feet. Near the right hand were two
hematite celts, and on the shoulder were three large and thick plates of
mica. About the shoulders, waist, and thighs were numerous minute
perforated shells and shell beads.
[Illustration: FIG. 22.--Pipe from mound, Kanawha County, West
Virginia.]
[Illustration: FIG. 23.--Pipe from mound, Butler County, Ohio.]
While filling in the excavation, the pipe represented in Fig. 22 was
found in the dirt which had been removed from it. This pipe has been
carved out of gray steatite and highly polished. It is worthy of note
that it is precisely of the form described by Adair as made by the
Cherokees, and also that it approaches very near to an Ohio type (Fig.
23).
Another mound of rather large size, in the same locality, was opened by
the Bureau assistant.
In order that all the facts bearing on its uses may be understood it is
necessary to notice its immediate surroundings.
Plate V is a map showing the ancient works in the valley of the Kanawha,
from 3 to 5 miles below Charleston, and Plate VI is an enlarged plat of
the area embracing those numbered I, II and 1, 3, and 4 on the map. As
will be seen by an inspection of the latter plate, the works included
are two circular enclosures, 1 and 2; one excavation; one included
mound, 2; three mounds, 3, 1, and 4, outside of the enclosures; and a
graded way. As our attention at present is directed only to the large
mound, 1, it is unnecessary to notice the other works further than to
add that each enclosure is about 220 feet in diameter, and consists of a
circular wall and an inside ditch. The excavation is nearly circular and
about 140 feet in diameter. The large mound is conical in form, 173 feet
in diameter, and 33 feet high. It is slightly truncated, the top having
been leveled off some forty years ago for the purpose of building a
judge's stand in connection with a race-course that was laid out around
the mound.