TRACES OF MAN IN AMERICA.
America furnishes a better field for the antiquary than the old world.
Her ancient remains are not so much injured by the decay of empires and
the rude hand of war. Succeeding ages have not so much effaced these
marks, and many of the remains still stand as left by the original
occupants, save only the change and decay which time itself produces.
America will yet be discovered. It is true the landmarks are known; but
these have not been investigated so diligently as the remains of man in
Europe. The Boucher de Perthes and the Dr. Schmerling are yet to come.
Until they do, the history of primitive man in America must be
surrounded with great uncertainty. Much labor has been given to the
investigation of this subject, and many works written, all looking
toward an early development which must sooner or later come.
In this chapter the aim will only be to point out some of these traces.
_Enumeration._--The implements from the gravel beds of Colorado and the
skull from Calaveras county, California, have already been referred to
(pp. 61, 62).
Near Osage Mission, Kansas, there was found a human skull imbedded in a
solid rock, which was broken open by blasting. It was examined by Dr.
Weirley, who compared it with a modern skull, and found it resembled the
latter in general shape, yet it was an inch and a quarter longer. Of
this relic he says: "It belonged to a man of a large size, and was
imbedded in conglomerate rock of the tertiary class, and found several
feet beneath the surface. Parts of the frontal, parietal, and occipital
bones were carried away by the explosion. The piece of rock holding the
remains weighs some forty or fifty pounds, with many impressions of
marine shells, and through it runs a vein of quartz, or within the
cranium crystallized organic matter, and by the aid of a microscope
presents a beautiful appearance." In shape the Neanderthal man comes
nearest to it.[80]
In the Comstock lode (Nevada), at a depth of five hundred feet, Judge A.
W. Baldwin found a human skull of unusual and peculiar shape. It is very
short from base to summit, and exceedingly broad between the ears. The
skull is entire, with the exception of the facial bones. This skull has
never been examined by a competent person.[81]
In the drift-clay, in the city of Toronto, at a depth of two feet from
the surface, were discovered the bones and horn of a deer, amidst an
accumulation of charcoal and ashes, and with them a rude stone chisel or
hatchet.[82]
In the gravel of the gold-bearing quartz of the Grinell leads (Kansas),
was found an imperfect flint knife at a depth of fourteen feet. Above
the implement the gravel, composed of quartz and reddish clay, was ten
feet thick, and above this was four feet of rich black soil. This
implement was given to Dr. Daniel Wilson by Mr. P. A. Scott.[83]
Dr. Dickeson found, in the yellow loam of the Mississippi at Natchez, a
human pelvic bone along with the bones of the mastodon and megalonyx.
They were found at a depth of thirty feet from the surface, and the
human bone had the same black color which characterized the others. Sir
Charles Lyell calculated that it required sixty-seven thousand years to
form the delta of the Mississippi, but admits, if the conclusions
arrived at by the United States engineers be correct, in respect to the
annual amount of sediment discharged at the delta, the growth would be
reduced to thirty-three thousand five hundred years. Taking either of
these estimates, the same would give the number of years which have
elapsed since these bones were deposited.[84]
In an excavation made near New Orleans, at a depth of sixteen feet from
the surface, beneath four cypress forests superimposed one upon the
other, the workmen found a complete human skeleton, and some charcoal.
The cranium is similar to the aboriginal type of the Indian race. This
discovery furnished the data from which Dr. Bennet Dowler assigned to
the human race an antiquity, in the delta of the Mississippi, of
fifty-seven thousand years.[85]
Count Pourtalis found some fossil human remains, consisting of jaws,
teeth, and some bones of the foot, in a calcareous conglomerate forming
a part of the series of reefs of Florida. The whole series of reefs is
of post-tertiary origin, and, according to Professor Agassiz, has been
one hundred and thirty-five thousand years in forming. If this
calculation be correct, then these bones must have an antiquity of ten
thousand years.[86]
Dr. Lund, a Danish naturalist, explored eight hundred caverns in Brazil,
belonging to different epochs, and exhumed in them a great number of
unknown animal species. In a calcareous cave, near the lake of
Semidouro, he found the bones of not less than thirty persons of
different ages, and showing a similar state of decomposition to that of
the bones of animals with which they were associated. From the
discoveries there made, Lund was forced to the conclusion that man was
cotemporaneous with the megatherium and the mylodon--animals belonging
to the post-tertiary.[87]
The shell-heaps of America are coeval with those of Denmark. Those at
Damariscotta, Maine, have been examined by Professor W. D. Gunning. He
estimates that within, an area of one hundred rods in length, eighty in
width there are piled one hundred million bushels of oyster shells. One
dome-shaped hillock is nearly one hundred feet in height. The only human
relics found among the shells are stone gouges, arrow-heads, bone
needles, pottery, and copper knives. These shells were probably
deposited by but a few individuals at a time. When formed, the oyster
was a native of that coast, but within the memory of man the oyster has
not lived there.
_The Mound-Builders._--An ancient and unknown people of a certain degree
of civilization have left remains of their greatness in the
fortifications and mounds in the valleys of the Mississippi and its
tributaries. These works extend over a great extent of territory. They
are found in Western New York, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee,
Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri,
Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Texas, and
along the Kansas, Platte, and other western rivers.
The people appear to have originated in Ohio. On the southern extremity
the works gradually lose their distinctive character, and pass into the
higher developed architecture of Mexico; and at the north, north-east,
and north-west, the population seem to have been more limited and their
works less perfectly developed. The people were preeminently given to
agriculture; were not warlike, and only navigated the rivers along their
settlements. The fertile valleys of the Scioto, two Miamis, Kanawaha,
White, Wabash, Kentucky, Cumberland, and Tennessee rivers were densely
populated, as indicated by the numerous works which diversify their
surfaces.
The stone and bone implements from the mounds, in their shape differ but
little from those of Europe. The hatchets and knives are not only made
of flint but also of obsidian, and other hard stones. Copper was the
chief metallic substance. Out of this they made various implements, and
swords. It was obtained from the shores of Lake Superior, where they
carried on extensive mining. In these mines have been found their
implements, some of which are very large diorite hatchets, used as
sledges for breaking off lumps of copper, and so heavy that it would
require more than one man to wield them. The copper was not subjected to
heat, but it was hammered cold into such a shape as was desired.
Some idea of the number of the mounds and fortresses may be given from
the statement that in the State of Ohio alone there are from eleven
thousand to twelve thousand of these works. The fortresses were used for
the protection of the people against the predatory warfare of the
hostile tribes, or even, it may be, against the incursions made by other
Mound-Builders. In regard to the mounds, there has been much
speculation, and some archaeologists divide them into sacrificial,
sepulchral, temple, and symbolical.
_Sacrificial._--The sacrificial mounds are characterized by "their
almost invariable occurrence within enclosures; their regular
construction in uniform layers of gravel, earth, and sand, disposed
alternately in strata conformable to the shape of the mound; and their
covering a symmetrical altar of burned clay or stone, on which are
deposited numerous relics, in all instances exhibiting traces, more or
less abundant, of their having been exposed to the action of fire."[88]
Among the most remarkable are those found on the Scioto, at the place
called Mound City situated on the western bank. The mounds are enclosed
by a simple embankment, between three and four feet high. The area
occupied is about thirteen acres, and includes twenty-four mounds. One
of these is one hundred and forty feet in length, and the greatest
breadth is sixty feet. In this mound occurred four successive altars, a
bushel of fragments of spear-heads, over fifty quartz arrow-heads, and
copper and other relics. The sacrificial deposits do not disclose a
miscellaneous assemblage of relics, for on one altar hundreds of
sculptured pipes chiefly occur; on another, pottery, copper ornaments,
stone implements; on others, calcined shells, burned bones; and on
others, no deposit has been noticed. The sacrificial mounds are found at
Marietta and other localities.
All the investigations which have been made prove that the altars were
not only used for a long period, but also had been repeatedly renewed.
_Sepulchral._--The sepulchral mounds are numbered by the thousands. They
are simple earth-pyramids, sometimes elliptical or pear-shaped, and vary
in height from six to eighty feet. Usually they contain but one
skeleton, reduced almost to ashes, but occasionally in its ordinary
condition and in a crouching position. By the side of them occur
trinkets, and, in a few cases, weapons. These mounds were probably only
raised over the body of a chief or some distinguished person.
_Temple._--The temple mounds are truncated pyramids, with paths or steps
leading to the summit, and sometimes with terraces at different heights.
Among the most noted of these is that of Cahokia in Illinois. It is
seven hundred feet long at its base, five hundred feet wide, and ninety
feet high. Its level summit is several acres in extent.
_Symbolical._--The symbolical mounds consist of gigantic bas-reliefs
formed on the surface of the ground, representing men, animals, and
inanimate objects. In Wisconsin they exist in thousands, and among the
devices are man, the lizard, turtle, elk, buffalo, bear, fox, otter,
raccoon, frog, bird, fish, cross, crescent, angle, straight-line,
war-club, tobacco-pipe, and other familiar implements or weapons.
In Dane county there is a remarkable group, consisting of six
quadrupeds, six parallelograms, one circular tumulus, one human figure,
and a small circle. The quadrupeds are from one hundred to one hundred
and twenty feet long, and the figure of the man measured one hundred and
twenty-five feet in length and nearly one hundred and forty feet from
the end of one arm to the other. Near the village of Pewaukee, when
first discovered there were two lizards and seven tortoises. One of the
latter measured four hundred and seventy feet.
In Adams county, Ohio, is the figure of a vast serpent; its head
occupies the summit of a hill and in its distended jaws is a part of an
oval-shaped mass of earth one hundred and sixty feet long, eighty wide,
and four feet high. The body of the serpent extends round the hill for
about eight hundred feet, forming graceful coils and undulations. Near
Granville, Licking county, Ohio, on the summit of a hill two hundred
feet high, is the representation of an alligator. Its extreme length is
two hundred and fifty feet, average height four feet; the head,
shoulders, and rump are elevated in parts to a height of six feet; the
paws are forty feet long, the ends being broader than the links, as if
the spread of the toes were originally indicated. Upon the inner side of
the effigy is a raised space covered with stones which have been exposed
to the action of fire; and from this leading to the top is a graded way
ten feet in breadth. On examination it was discovered that the outline
of the figure was composed of stones of considerable size, upon which
the superstructure had been modelled in fine clay.
_Antiquity._--There are methods of determining the antiquity of these
mounds. Mr. E. G. Squier has pointed out three facts which go to prove
that they belong to a distant period. 1. None of these ancient works
occur on the lowest formed of the river terraces, which mark the
subsidence of the streams. As these works are raised on all the others,
it follows that the lowest terrace has been formed since the works were
erected. The streams generally form four terraces, and the period marked
by the lowest must be the longest because the excavating power of such
streams grows less as the channels grow deeper. 2. The skeletons of the
Mound-Builders are found in a condition of extreme decay. Only one or
two skeletons have been recovered in a condition suitable for
intelligent examination. The circumstances attending their burial were
unusually favorable for preserving them. The earth around them has
invariably been found wonderfully compact and dry; and yet, when
exhumed, they have been in a decomposed and crumbling condition. 3.
Their great age is shown by their relation to the primeval forests. As
the Mound-Builders were a settled agricultural people, their enclosures
and fields were cleared of trees, and remained so until deserted. When
discovered by the Europeans these enclosures were covered by gigantic
trees, some of them eight hundred years old. The trees which first made
their appearance were not the regular forest trees. When the first trees
that got possession of the soil had died away, they were supplanted, in
many cases, by other kinds, till at last, after a great number of
centuries, that remarkable diversity of species characteristic of North
America would be established.[89]
Dr. Buchner assigns to them an antiquity of from seven thousand to ten
thousand years.[90]
Fort Shelby, in Orleans county, New York, was carefully examined by
Frank H. Cushing, the archaeologist. The fort was found to be composed of
two parallel circular walls, with a gateway in each. The gateway in the
outer wall fronted a peat-bog, the shore of which was some ten feet
distant. Within the enclosure he found small, flat, notched stones, used
for sinking fishing-nets. Into the bog he sank a shaft to the depth of
seven feet, not far from the shore. At the bottom of the shaft he found
the shells of living species of shell-fish. The natural surroundings
show that this fort was built when the peat-bog was a lake. This is
further confirmed by the fact that all ancient works are erected near a
permanent supply of water. The nearest permanent supply of water is Oak
Orchard Creek, one and one-half mile distant. The formation of this
peat would require not less than four thousand years, and more probably
twice that number.
The Mound-Builders must have remained a very long time. These works were
formed gradually, and the population extended slowly toward the North.
Their corn-fields, by their raised condition, show many successive years
of usage.
NOTE A.--In reference to the fossil human bones from Florida Count
L. F. Pourtales says: "The human jaw and other bones, found in
Florida by myself in 1848, were not in a coral formation, but in
a fresh-water sandstone on the shore of Lake Monroe, associated
with fresh-water shells of species still living in the lake,
(_Paludina, Ampullaria, etc._) No date can be assigned to
the formation of that deposit, at least from present
observation."--_American Naturalist_, vol. II., p. 443.
NOTE B.--Besides the evidences already enumerated, Col. Charles
Whittlesey gives the following: 1. Three skeletons of Indians in
a shelter cave near Elyria, O., were found four feet below the
surface, resting upon the original floor of the cave, upon which
were also charcoal, ashes, and the remains of existing animals;
estimated age, two thousand years. 2. Several human skeletons were
found in a cave near Louisville, Ky., cemented into a breccia.
They were discovered in constructing the reservoir in 1853. 3. A
log, worn by the feet of man, was found in the muck bed at High
Rock Spring, Saratoga, N. Y., at a depth of nine feet beneath the
cave, and estimated by Dr. Henry McGuire to be 5,470 years old. It
was discovered in 1866. 4. Mr. Koch claims to have found an arrow
head fifteen feet below the skeleton of the _Mastodon Ohioensis_
from the recent alluvium of the Pomme de Terre River, Mo., and now
in the British Museum. His statement was, however, contradicted by
one of the men who assisted him in exhuming the skeleton. 5. Dr.
Holmes, of Charleston, S. C., found pottery at the base of a peat
bog, on the banks of the Ashley River, in close connection with
the remains of the Mastodon and Megatherium. 6. Col. Whittlesey,
in 1838, found fire-hearths in the ancient alluvium of the Ohio,
at Portsmouth, O., at a depth of twenty feet, and beneath the
works of the Mound-Builders.--_Col. Whittlesey before the American
Association, in 1868._