UC-NRLF SB 5T 271 $/; Cau -2- shdf £f HARVARD UNIVERSITY. LIBRARY OF THE Sl^^gSS^fiE^^S^^ ^iv^^^^^^S^^^^^^^^w ^^^^^^^^B^H " c==rzif^nJHlypT^r.-ii.-^feffll 1f\_ _A^£ *W / ■ ' IfPt.Mn t^ '^^^C n ^Wj>ij.y^^sJT^f -j^f ^^\''fj|W'7 ll ^^5i^CTt^^P SffT^S^jK,'~"~' a ^lF^'vtJ— 3 ^^^^^^j^^^Bj^^^^^^^S ^yi[^t^^W^^^^^pf^ii^^^*^WB^F * ■^jnA'i^^^ PEABODY MUSEUM OF AMEKIOAtf AKOHJE- OLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY. HEMENWAY COLLECTION. GIFT OF MARY HEMENWAY. Received June 2Q, 1S96. V V i^jp* =£ ^k$ ijji ' '■■%_ fc?£l ISI iilr^L~7' ;a !ff~* w- rf jS Wr^'**tfMF HlHl ^^r ^ P^|jj% j%jfp^pjj£ ■Pll p^g5^fefc -K^a l^plpl% ■ ' '• "^? tFV~7^^ ^g^|%=jji £*% PSiS ~^Slf wft^^L^.^' IptS!! (^^OP ■ - rf* \ W p^ ^H^fe—^ ^a ygAJ^jlp^i 7 .''■ is*-^" i^Jifli^f^ ^>gfe=^ ilii ljj||lfej !lg^f ^filll ll|j SpB ,, 8^'i^^fe: ARCHjEOLOG OF OHIO V By M. C. READ, LATE OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF OHIO; TRUSTEE OF OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY IN CHARGE AT PHILADELPHIA, 1876; AND ASSISTANT COM- MISSIONER AT THE EXPOSITION AT NEW ORLEANS IN 1884-5. PUBMBHKD BY 6oik Approved for publication: Lee McBride, H. G. Cleveland, Sam Briggs, Committee on Printing. ff,KVKI,AXD I.KAPKR PRINT. TABLE OF CONTENTS, The Archaeological Exhibit. ------ 7 Flint or Chert Implements, ..... 8 Arrow Points, ... .... 10 Knives, - - - - - - - - U Scrapers, Drills and Perforators. - - - - - 22 Chert Spades and Hoes, ------ 22 Stone Implements, ------- 25 Axes and Battle Axes. ------ 25 Hammer Stones, ....... 33 Celts, Skinners, Etc., ...... :; i Plumb Balls, Sinkers and Pendants, - - - - - 35 Mortars and Pestles, ...... 36 Cup Stones, -------- 39 Discoidal Stones. - - - - - - 39 Stone Ornaments, - - - - - • - 40 Bird-Shaped Ornaments, - ..... 42 Beads and Tubes, - - - - - - - 42 Banner Stones, Badges, or Wands. 4o Pipes, ----..-.- 46 Hematite, -------- 52 Bone and Horn Implements, ------ ,V2 Copper Implements, ...... 53 Pottery, --------- 54 Shells, -------- 56 Kock Shelters, -------- 50 Human Effigies. - - ' - - - . - fii Fire Hearths, -------- 64 Picture Writing and Inscribed Rocks, .... 60 Earthworks, -------- 79, Mining by the Mound Builders, ..... 100 Alphabetic Writing and Engraved Tablets, - - - - 101 Social and Civil Condition of the Mound Builders. - - 109 Were the Mound Builders the First Occupants ? - • - 113 Addendum — What is It ? - - - - - . us £960l is five inches, and the width two and one-eighth inches; and of g, five inches by two inches. Length of next smaller size, e, three and a half inches, and width one and three-fourths inches, and three and three-fourths inches by one and a half inches. The length of the naked foot, s, is nine inches, and greatest width, four and three-fourths inches. , The great toe is one inch long, the second toe one and one-fourth inches long, the third toe one and a half inches long, the fourth toe one and a fourth inches long, and the little toe one inch long. " 'In the large hand, t, the palm is five and a half inches long and three and a half inches wide. The length of the thumb is one and a half inches, the index finger one and three-fourths inches, the middle finger two inches, the —78- ring finger one and three-fourths inches, and the little finger one and a half inches. In the other hand, u, the palm is three and a half inches long and two and a half inches wide. The length of the thumb is two and one-fourth inches, the index finger two and a half inches, the middle finger two and three- fourths inches, the ring finger two and a fourth inches, and the little finger two inches. " 'The diameter of the circular markings, invariably found in front of the clothed feet, are as follows: b, one and one-eighth inches; d, one and three- fourths inches; /, three-fourths inch; h, one inch; k, half inch; n, one and a half inches; p, one and one-fourth inches; q, one inch. " 'The diameter of the serpent's head is two and three-fourths inches; length of body, ninety-four inches, making the entire length of the figure about eight feet. u 'In the sculptured figure, w, the measurements are omitted. " 'It is evident this slab does not contain the entire description. The tracks, I, are only partially present, while it is very probable that more tracks occurred in the direction a, b, arranged in a line as those are from c to I, where there are ten tracks and eight round characters, and which are probably not all that were originally in this line previous to the stones being quarried. The round markings in front of the clothed tracks may have been intended to represent the track of dogs or wolves, but at present they are so smoothed by time that it is impossible to make out anything but simple irregular circular depressions. " 'The rock on which the inscription occurs is the grindstone grits of the Ohio Reports, an extensive stratum in Northern Ohio, about one hundred and fifty feet below the conglomerate. It is almost pure silex, and possesses the property of resisting atmospheric changes to a remarkable degree. Boulders and projecting portions of the formation, from which this block was obtained* that have been exposed to the weather for ages, preserve perfectly their sharp, angular projections. As a building stone it is superior on account of its extreme durability. This durability of the rock, and the fact that these markings were covered with earth, explains why they have been so finely preserved. " 'The markings a, c, e, g, /, m, o, and q, have been supposed by some to represent the tracks of the buffalo. After carefully measuring them, however, I have come to the conclusion that they were designed to represent tracks of the clothed human foot, and as such have described them. '' 'The so-called bird tracks, which are few and faint on this slab, are num- erous and bold on most of the rock inscriptions of Ohio.' " It is difficult to determine whether any of these sculptures can be properly called picture writings. There is no regular order of arrangement ; no systematic grouping of characters pointing to a serial connection between them. In a specimen —79— of modern Indian picture-writing, purporting to be the life of a Chippeway, and deposited in the Museum of the Natural Science Association, of Detroit, the characters are arranged in regular order, there being two series on each side of a wooden tablet, the feet of the figures of men and animals directed toward the edge of the tablet, clearly indicating a methodical arrangement, and that the record is to be read from one end to the other, along one series of characters, when the other edge of the tablet was to be turned upward and the reading continued to the place of beginning. It is not apparent whether the reading should be from right to left or the reverse, nor where the reading should begin. It is certainly a much more perfect specimen of picture-writing than any of the rock inscriptions in Ohio, and all of the latter are probably the work of modern Indians. EARTH WORKS. The ancient earth works of Ohio, in their variety, magni- tude and extent, excel those of all the other States. Single mounds of greater size are found elsewhere, but no other State has such a variety of these works, or such numbers of them as Ohio. When it is remembered that the builders of these works had no beasts of burden, or draught, no metal tools of a size or character to be of any use in their con- struction ; that all the material must have been laboriously carried to its place in baskets, it will be obvious that the real labor expended upon some of them was not much, if any, less than that expended upon the largest pyramid of Egypt. Such works could be constructed only by a people who had a compact, civil organization, with a central authority which could control the labor of the masses, and with dominant civil or religious ideas which would induce the masses to submit to long-continued labor. The more extensive works peculiar to the State, indicate large, fixed commuities, which involves the practice of agriculture and habits of life very different from that of the hunting tribes, roaming over the State, upon its first occupancy by the whites. —80— The most of these works are confined to the valleys of the streams where there is land specially adapted to the cultivation of maize or Indian corn, which was the basis of pre-Columbian American agriculture. They are much more abundant in the northern and southern than in the central parts of the State, a fact which might be easily explained from the small extent of the alluvial valley, on the table and. Still there is a marked difference in the character of those in the northern and southern regions. The former have more the appearance of defense works, both in their location and mode of construction. They ordinarily occupy •elevated spurs, projecting from the table land into the valleys, overlooking extensive alluvial plains — often where erosion has left these spurs with a narrow connection with the table land, and a wider expanse of surface on the part projecting into the valley. In such cases the works consist of one, two, or three ditches and embankments across the neck, plainly intended to protect the spur against aggression from the table land. The enclosed surface often shows evi- dence of having been leveled off, the material removed so deposited as to increase the angle of the slope rising from the valley ; and in some cases the location of an old foot- path leading from the summit into the valley can be clearly traced. The enclosed surface is generally filled with pit- holes and shows evidence of long occupancy. The valley of the Cuyahoga is lined with such works, which have been figured and described by Col. Whittlesey. Typical forms of these works are to be seen at the junction of Furnace Run with the Cuyahoga, in Summit County, and at the junction of Payne's Creek with Grand River, in Lake County. These protecting walls and ditches take different shapes, determined by the form of the surface to be protected. Two in Northampton township form complete enclosures with the exception of a single gateway in each opening toward the alluvial bottom land to which doubtless a foot-path originally led. Were these purely military works, or such defences as pertained to the ordinary life of their builders? —81 — These old agriculturists had three enemies against whom they were compelled to contend : the extension of the forests, the intrusions of wild beasts, and the aggressions of more war-like hunting tribes. The extension of the forests is mentioned because it may have been one of the most efficient causes in the final expulsion of these people. Many attempts have been made to find causes for the exist- ence of the treeless prairies of the West. A more natural inquiry would be, how came the other sections to be covered with forests ? An herbacious vegetation doubtless preceded the forests and has been slowly restricted by the growth of the latter. In the Southern States extensive regions which sustained only an herbacious vegetation when first explored by the whites, are now covered with trees. Early agriculture attained its highest perfection in regions too arid for forest growth, where facilities were afforded for the artificial irrigation of the cultivated land, and was practically restricted to treeless regions until better cutting tools than our mound builders possessed enabled the argriculturists to successfully contend with forest growth. These alluvial plains, not long ago covered with water would be the last to be encroached upon by the forest, and were very probably treeless when first subjected to tillage. Land could not be cleared of forests, and its intrusion could with difficulty be resisted with such tools as have been desmbed above. Crowded out by any causes from these regions, they could not transfer their agricultural operations to the treeless plains of the West, where the rank growth of grass would present so formidable obstacles and where countless herds of buffalo roamed. Certainly they sought these alluvial valleys, poorly adapted to the growth of grass, admirably adapted to the growth of Indian corn ; the fortified adjacent bluffs, so selected as to command a view of their cultivated fields below, from whence they could observe the intrusion of man or beast and make provision against the attacks of enemies from the table lands. The sizejof these enclosures seems to be related to the size of the arable land —82- in the adjacent valley, and hence to the size of the village communities that could be supported from them. It seems a reasonable inference that these enclosures were strong- holds, for protection and observation, and designed to meet the normal wants of small communities of argriculturists, and that they were not erected to meet the exigencies of a campaign. The great number of them, and the small size of each, scattered along the bluffs of a single stream, like the Cuyahoga, would tend to confirm this conclusion. FORT HILL, NEAEBEREA, CUYAHOGA CO. The wood-cut here intro- duced indicates the general character of these fortified spurs. In the valley, and at a distance from these pro- tected enclosures, are some- times single mounds, which seem not to have been burial mounds raised to such an elevation merely as would give an extended view above the top of the f A— Enclosed space; a. a, a.— Embank- growing COril. ments and ditches. Scale,200 f t.to the inch. Such an outlying mound may be seen in the Pymatuning Valley, in Wayne, Ashtabula County. In this whole north- ern region true burial mounds are rare, and those that have been observed are of small size. In Copley, Summit County, is a fortified enclosure pre- cisely similar to those known to be made by the more modern Indians, and which may probably be referred to them. A large circular elevation rises like an island in the center of a swamp, which, before the adjacent land was cleared, would be almost impassable. This was enclosed by a ditch and and wall, carried entirely around the elevation, making a secret and pretty secure retreat. It is known —83— that the New England Indians secreted in such places their wives and children when at war with the whites, and when discomfited in battle, often retreated to them, sometimes eluding pursuit, sometimes defending themselves there to the last extremity. It is not certain that they enclosed them with embankments of earth. Island Fort-Lot 14, Copley, Summit Qa gome of the hi ~ hest County, O., Surveyed August 17, 1877. , .-,, X . T ~ > . , , , , S r hills of liichland and Knox Counties, are look-out or signal mounds, similar to those which may be traced from these places south to trie Ohio River. In some of these places small mounds have been built, with much labor, of stones brought from the valleys below, and nearly all show the results of surface fires. Many of these, and per- haps all of them, may be the work of modern In- dians, as it is well Known that they were in the habit of telegraphing to scattered members of their tribes or allies by the smoke of fires kindled at such places. Licking County seems to be the center of population of the old mound builders of the State, and in it are some of the most remarkable earth-works to be found in the United States. Mounds, some of them of large size, some of earth and some of stone, are scattered over the county, but so remarkable are the works near Newark, now in part occupied by the county agricultural society, that comparatively little attention has been given to the others. This collection of mounds, embankments, enclosures, etc., covers over one thousand acres, and by its extent and character indicates Long diameter, 244 feet; short diame- ter, 196 feet. Scale, 200 feet to the inch ; d, d. — Eemains of a beaver dam. —84— that here was the metropolis of the mound builders. The general character of the most important of these works will be better understood by the cut given on another page. Mr. Smucker has known the works for more than fifty-fi ve years, and hunted over them when covered with the primeval forests. He reports that they were covered with a mixed growth of walnut, sugar-maple, beech, oak, and wild cherry trees, some ot which, when cut down, showed that they were over five hundred years old, which would indicate not less than from one thousand to fifteen hundred years since the commencement of the intrusion of the forests. It is believed that General Harrison first called attention to the fact, in regard to similar works, that a mixed forest indicated a forest growth of at least two or three generations of trees. A new natural forest is almost if not quite uniformly com- posed of one variety only, and the change to a variety of species is made very slowly. But was this ground ever occupied by forests until the abandonment of these works? Their erection with mound builders' tools, if it involved the clearing of a forest as a preliminary work, is so nearly impossible that we can not imagine it would be ever under- taken. It involved not only the clearing of these lands of the forest, but also the neighboring lands which were to be subjected to tillage. It is with the utmost difficulty, in moist and tropical climates, that men armed with the best of steel tools make a successful battle with the forests. It is much more reasonable to suppose that these works were originally located in a treeless region, and the works evidently of the same age scattered over the county indicate that this treeless region was of large extent, covering prob- ably most of the alluvial valley. The inference would follow that the abandonment of the region marked the time when the slow intrusion of the forests reduced the amount of tillable land below the necessities of the community ; the time since their abandonment marks the whole period of forest growth on the alluvial bottoms. If the question is asked, how long is this period ? the only answer that can be -85— —86— given is that in the term as applied to human history, the time was long ; how long, no one can tell. The most prominent features of these works consist of an octagonal enclosure embracing 50 acres ; a square enclosure of 20 acres ; a circle of 30 acres, and a smaller circle of 20 acres. A number of covert ways extended from these enclosures, and various mounds, circles and crescentic em- bankments are connected with them. These walls still rise in places to the height of 30 feet. At the center of the largest circular enclosure is a low mound wiiich Mr. Smucker regards as intended to represent an eagle, with extended wings, measuring from tip to tip ot the wings 240 feet, and from head to tail 210 feet. The largest circular enclosure is reported by Mr. Smucker to have an opening about 100 feet wide, and the door- ways in all are much too wide to admit of the idea that any of them are intended for forts. But for what were they designed ? A cut of the w r orks at Marietta and of those at Circleville are given for comparison, and to bring out the typical character of this class of earthworks. The typical characteristics are circular and square, or rectilinear enclosures, the circle with one broad gateway ; the .square with many gateways, the two either closely con- nected, as in the Circleville works, or by long covert ways, as in the Newark works. The absence of the circular enclosure, as at Marietta,indicates that it is an adjunct to the other form of enclosure, and may be dispensed with. The presence of something like an altar or symbolic mound in the centre of the circle is also significant. The large number of passage ways into the rectilinear enclosures show that the dominant idea in making these embankments was not to secure a protected enclosure. Yet the protecting of most of these gateways, or breaks in the wall, by mounds, seems to indicate a use of the whole for protecting the interior. The difference in the numbers of the segments of the rectilinear walls should also be noted. In the Circleville enclosure, 8 ; in the Newark,in one case, 8 ; in another, 6 ; in that at Marietta, in ■87— OHIO R'VER j- CIRCLEVILLE —88— one case,16 ; in the other,10. Both at Newark and at Marietta there are isolated segments of jnst such embankments form- ing no part of an enclosure, but which could be easily imagined to be the beginning of an enclosure. When Vol. IV. of " Contributions to North American Ethnology," by Lewis H. Morgan, was published, his con- clusions, which he advanced, however, as a hypothesis, as simply a possible explanation of the use of these embank- ments, was not very generally accepted. It must be conceded, however, that he undertook the only line of investigation which could lead to correct conclusions. If we can learn the peculiarities of the social life of the mound builders, we may hope to learn the significance of their remains. The communal life of so many of the American races; the asso- ciation of so many families in the same dwelling,or connected series of dwellings, which Mr. Morgan shows was character- istic of tribes most nearly allied in other characteristics with the mound builders, makes it a reasonable conclusion that this was a characteristic of their social life, and the theory may well be accepted, as a provisional one, that these segments of embankments of the rectilinear enclosures were the foundations of residences for closely related families of large tribal villages. The enclosures they formed may have contained the store houses of their common supplies, opening also into the circular enclosure which, the central altar-like mound contained in it, suggests was appropriated to religious or ceremonial rites. The single wide opening into these circular enclosures was evidently adapted to the easy ingress and egress of large masses of men. It would follow that they practiced that form of socialism, or communism, which many modern reformers are advocating, which is characteristic of many savage tribes and is always abandoned before any great advance is made in civilization. A clearly defined distinction, universally admitted, between the tuum and the meum is essential to that personal effort which results in civilization. —89— The apparent use of the circle for the sacred enclosure confirms the above conclusions, as the circle is the primitive form of building. Our children build circular snow forts, and the birds and beavers build in a circle, because this is the natural form, and most easily made — a form always retained by savages until they learn to build with timber, cut into regular lengths, or with stone. The circle, long used as a sacred enclosure and consecrated by custom, will be retained by a natural conservatism for religious uses long after rectilinear buildings are constructed for common uses. The engineering skill required for the construction of these works is generally over-estimated. To the eye many of them appear to be perfectly symmetrical. But do we know that they are? They have suffered much from erosion, and it is in every case now impossible to define what was originally the central lines of the embankments or the exact corners of rectilinear enclosures. After all the careful measurements? we do not know the exact dimensions of the base of the great pyramid of Egypt, or whether it is an exact square ; the preponderance of evidence being that it is not. No such care has been given to the measurements of any ot these enclosures, and it is not proved that any of them are exact geometrical figures. A measuring rod and an instrument for laying down a right angle would suffice for the planing of all of them without a knowledge of any of the principles of geometry. Associated with these enclosures are many forms of mounds which are also found isolated in various parts of the State, and very abundantly in Licking County. Those that are truncated at the top are usually regarded as temple mounds, and are comparatively rare in Ohio. Explorations in other States show that some of them are true burial mounds. The most noted mound of this character in the United States is located on the rich alluvial land bordering the lower Mississippi, and near the mouth of Cahokia Creek from which it takes its name. It is ninety feet high, with a —90— base seven hundred feet long, and five hundred feet wide, the level surface at the top measuring four hundred and fifty by two hundred feet, and its solid contents estimated at twenty millions of cubic feet. Burial mounds are very abundant in this State, of a conical form, generally with a circular, but sometimes with an oval base, usually built of earth, but sometimes of stone. No better idea of the general character of these mounds can be given than is afforded by the following extracts from a paper read before the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, February 21, 1866, by that careful observer, O. C. Marsh, F. G. S. He says : " The mound selected for examination was about two and a half miles south of Newark, on the farm of Mr. Thomas Taylor, and was known in the neighborhood as the < Taylor Mound.' It was conical in form, about ten feet in height, and eighty in diameter at the base, these being about the average dimensions of the burial mounds in that vicinity. It was situated on the summit of a ridge, in the midst of a stately forest. * * * The mound stood quite alone, nearly half a mile from its nearest neighbor, and about three miles from the large earthworks already mentioned. * * * " An excavation about eight feet in diameter was first made from the apex of the mound, and after the surface soil was removed, the earth was found to be remarkably com- pact, probably owing to its having been firmly trodden down when deposited. This earth was a light loam, quite different from the soil of the ridge itself, and its peculiar mottled appearance indicated that it had been brought to the spot, in small quantities. In excavating the first five feet, which was a slow and very laborious undertaking, nothing worthy of notice was observed except some traces of ashes, and pieces of charcoal and flint, scattered about at various depths. At five and a half feet below the surface, where the earth became less difficult to remove, a broken stone pipe was found which had evidently been long in use. It was —91— made of a very soft limestone, containing fragments of small fossil shells, apparently cretaceous species. No rock of precisely this kind is known to exist in Ohio. Pieces of a tube of the same material, and about an inch in diameter, were found near the pipe. The cavity was about two-thirds of an inch in diameter, and had been bored with great regularity. Similar tubes have occasionally been found in mounds, but their use is not definitely known. "About seven feet from the top of the mound a thin white layer was observed, which extended over a horizontal surface of several square yards. Near the centre of this space, and directly under the apex of the mound, a string of more than one hundred beads of native copper was found, and with it a few small bones of a child about three years of age. The beads were strung on a twisted cord of coarse vegetable fibre, apparently the inner bark ot a tree, and this had been preserved by the salts of the copper, the antiseptic properties of which are well known. The position of the beads showed clearly that they had been wound two or three times around the neck of the child ; and the bones them- selves (the neural arches of the cervical vertebra? , a clavicle and a first rib) were precisely those which the beads would naturally come in contact with when decomposition of the body ensued. The remains evidently owe their preservation to this fact, as they are all colored with carbonate of copper, and the other parts of the skeleton have entirely decayed. The position the body had occupied, however, was still clearly indicated by the darker color of the earth. The beads were about one-fourth of an inch long and one-third in diameter, and no little skill had been displayed in their construction. They were evidently made without the aid of fire, by hammering the metal in its original state; but the joints were so neatly fitted that in most cases it was very difficult to detect them. On th^ same cord, and arranged at regular intervals, were five shell beads of the same diameter, but about twice as long as those of copper. All —92— had apparently been well polished, and the necklace when worn must have formed a tasteful and striking ornament. "About a foot below the remains just described, and a little east of the centre of the mound, were two adult human skeletons, lying one above the other, and remarkably well preserved. The interment had evidently been performed with great care. The heads were toward the east, slightly higher than the feet, and the arms were carefully composed at the sides. A white stratum, similar in every respect to the one already mentioned,was here very distinct,and extended horizontally over a space of five or six yards, in the centre of which the remains had been laid. The earth separated readily through this stratum, and an examination of the exposed surfaces showed that they were formed from two decayed layers of bark, on one of which the body had been placed, and the other covered over them. The smooth sides of the bark had thus come together and the decomposition of the inner layers had produced the peculiar white sub- stance, as a subsequent microscopic examination clearly indicated. (This white layer, which was thought by Squire and Davis to be the remains of matting, is a characteristic feature in burial mounds. It has only been found where the interments were unquestionably of mound builders.) Directly above these skeletons was a layer of reddish earth, apparently a mixture of ashes and burned clay, which covered a surface of about a square yard. Near the middle of this space was a small pile of charred human bones, the remains of a skeleton, which had been burned immediately over those just described. The fire had evidently been continued for some time, and then allowed to go out ; when the fragments of bone and cinders that remained were scraped together, and covered with earth. All the bones were in small pieces, and most of them distorted by heat ; but among them were found the lower extremity of a humerus and some fragments of a fibula, which showed them to be human, and indicated an adult rather below the medium size. The two skeletons found beneath these remains were well formed and of —93— opposite sex. The ossification of the bones indicated that the female was about thirty years of age, and the male somewhat older. " It is not impossible that these were husband and wife, the latter put to death and buried above the remains of her consort ; and the charred bones may have been those of a human sacrifice slain at the funeral ceremonies. Near these skeletons was a small quantity of reddish brown powder, which proved on examination to be hematite. It was probably used as a paint. u On continuing our excavations about a foot lower, and somewhat more to the eastward, a second pile of charred human bones was found, resting on a layer of ashes, charcoal and burned clay. But one or two fragments of these remains could be identified as human, and these also indi- cated a small-sized adult. The incremation had apparently been performed in the same manner as in the previous instance. Immediately beneath the clay deposit, a third white layer was observed, quite similar to that just described. In this layer was a male skeleton, not in as good preservation as those already mentioned, although belonging to an individual considerably older. In this case, also, the head was toward the east, and the burial had been carefully performed. Near this skeleton about a pint of white chaff was found which appeared to belong to some of the native grasses. The form was still quite distinct, although nearly all the organic substance had disappeared. A few inches deeper, near the surface of the natural earth,several skeletons, of various ages, were met with, which had evidently been buried in a hurried manner. All were nearly or quite horizontal, but no layer of bark had been spread for their reception, and no care taken in regard to the arrangement of limbs. These skeletons were in a tolerable state of preservation, some parts being quite perfect. A tibia and fibula, with most of the corresponding bones of a foot, were found quite by themselves, and well preserved. —9-4— " Our excavations had now reached the original surface of the ridge, on which the mound was erected, and we were about to discontinue further researches, when the dark color ot the earth at one point attracted attention, and an exam- ination soon showed that a cist or grave had first been excavated in the soil before the mound itself was commenced. This grave was under the eastern part of the elevation, about four feet from the center. It consisted of a simple excavation in an east and west direction, about six feet long, three wide, and nearly two deep. In this grave were found parts of at least eight skeletons, which had evidently been thrown in carelessly — most of them soon after death, but one or two not until the bones had become detached and weathered. Some of the bones were very well preserved, and indicated individuals of various ages: Two infants, about a year and eighteen months old respectively, were each represented by a single os illium, and bones of several other small children were found. One skull, apparently that of a boy, about twelve years of age, was recovered in fragments, and this was the best preserved of any obtained in the mound. The skeleton of an aged woman of small stature was found resting on its side. It was bent together and lay across the grave, with its head toward the north. Some of the loose human bones, exhumed from the bottom of the grave, were evidently imperfect when thrown in. Among these was part of a large femur, which had been gnawed by some carniverous animal. The marks of the teeth were sharply defined, and corresponded to those made by a dog or wolf. " Quite a number of implements of various kinds were found with the human remains in this grave. Near its eastern end, where the detached bones had been buried, were nine lance and arrow-heads, nearly all of the same form, and somewhat rudely made of flint and chert. * * * These weapons are of peculiar interest, as it appears they are the first that have been discovered in a sepulchral mound, although many such have been carefully examined. They —95— show that the custom — so common among the Indians of this country — of burying with the dead their implements of war or the chase, obtained occasionally, at least, among the mound builders. Not far from these weapons six small hand-axes were found, one of which was made of hematite, and the rest of compact greenstone or diorite, the material often used by the Indians for similar articles. Two of these corresponded closely in form with the stone hand-axe figured by Squire and Davis, as the only one then known from the mounds. With these axes were found a small hatchet of hematite, a flint chisel, and a peculiar flint instrument, apparently used for scraping wood. " In the central part of the grave, near the aged female skeleton already alluded to, were a large number of bone implements, all exceedingly well preserved. Among these were five needles or bodkins, from three to six inches in length, neatly made from the metatarsal bones of the com- mon deer, and also a spatula cut from an ulna and probably used for moulding pottery. With these were found about a dozen peculiar implements formed from the antlers of a deer and elk. They are cylindrical in form, from three to eight inches in length, and an inch to an inch and a half in diameter. Most of these had both ends somewhat rounded, and perfectly smooth, as if they had either been long in use, or carefully polished. It is possible these instruments were used for smoothing down the seams of skins or leather ; they would at least be well adapted to such a purpose. A whistle made from a tooth of a young black bear, and several 'spoons,' cut out of the shells of river mussels, were also obtained from near the same spot. "A vessel of coarse pottery was found near the western end of the grave, but unfortunately was broken in removing it. It was about five inches in its greatest diameter, six in height, and one-third of an inch in thickness. It was with- out ornament, and rudely made of clay containing some sand and powdered quartz. It was filled with soft, black earth, —96— the color being probably due to some animal or vegetable substance, which it contained when deposited in the grave. Fragments of a vase of similar material, but having the top ornamented, were found in another part of the mound- Neither of these vessels were superior in any respect to the pottery manufactured by the Indians. "Near the bottom of the mound, and especially in the grave, were various animal bones, most of them in an excellent state of preservation. Many of them belonged to the common deer, and nearly all the hollow bones had been skillfully split open lengthwise— probably for the purpose of extracting the marrow — a common custom among rude nations. * * * " The skeletons found in this mound were of medium size, somewhat smaller than the average of the Indians still living in this country. The bones were certainly not stouter than those of Indians of the same size, although this has been regarded as a characteristic of the remains of the mound builders. All the skulls in the mound were broken — in one instance, apparently before burial — and most of them so much decayed that no attempt was made to preserve them. Two, however, were recovered with the more important parts but little injured. Both were of small size, and showed the vertical occiput, prominent vertex and large interparietal diameter so characteristic of crania belonging to the Amer- ican race. In other respects there was nothing of special interest in their conformation. With a single exception all the human teeth observed were perfectly sound. The teeth of all the adult specimens were much worn, those of aged individuals usually to a remarkable degree. The manner in which these were worn away is peculiarly interesting, as it indicates that the mound builders, like the ancient Egyptians, and the Danes ot the stone age, did not, in eating, use their incisive teeth for cutting as modern nations do. This is evident from the fact that the worn incisors are all truncated in the same plane with the coronal surfaces of the molars? —97— showing that the upper front teeth infringe directly on the summits of those below, instead of lapping over them. This peculiarity may be seen in the teeth of Egyptian mummies, as was first pointed out by Cuvier. * * * " One of the most remarkable features in the mound was the large number of skeletons it contained. With one or two exceptions none of the burial mounds, hitherto exam, amined, have contained more than a single skeleton which unquestionably belonged to the mound builders, while in this instance parts of at least seventeen were exhumed. The number of small children represented among these remains is also worthy of notice, as it indicates, for this particular case, a rate ot infant mortality (about thirty-three per cent.) which is much higher than some have supposed ever existed among such nations. Another point of special interest in this mound is the evidence it affords that the regular method of burial among the mound builders was sometimes omitted, and the remains interred in a hurried and careless manner. This was the case with eleven of the skeletons exhumed in the course of our explorations, a remarkable fact, which appears to be without a precedent in the experience of previous investigators. It should be mentioned in this con- nection that nearly all these remains were those of women and children. Their hurried and careless burial might seem to indicate a want of respect on the part of their surviving friends, were there not ample evidence to prove that rever- ence for the dead was a prominent characteristic of the mound builders. It is not unlikely that in this instance some unusual cause, such as pestilence, or war, may have made a hasty interment necessary. The various implements and remains of animals found with these skeletons also deserve notice, as they far exceed in number and variety any hitherto discovered in a single mound. They prove, more- over, that if in this instance the rites of regular burial were denied the deposited, their supposed future wants were amply provided for. The contents of one part of the cist, (which is itself a very unusual accompaniment of a mound) —98— appears to indicate that the remains of those who died at a distance from home, were collected for burial, sometimes long after death. The interesting discovery of weapons, which were found with these detached bones, would seem to imply, that in this case the remains and weapons of a hunter or warrior of distinction, recovered after long exposure, had been buried together. " The last three interments in this mound were performed with great care, as already stated, and in strict accordance with the usual custom of the mound builders. The only point of particular interest in regard to them is the con- nection which appears to exist between some of the skeletons and the charred human bones found above them. Similar deposits of partially burned bones, supposed to be human, have in one or two instances been observed on the altars of sacrificial mounds, and occasionally in mounds devoted to sepulture, but their connection with the human remains buried in the latter, if indeed any existed, appears to have been overlooked. Our explorations, which were very care- fully and systematically conducted, clearly demonstrated that in these instances the incremation had taken place directly over the tomb, and evidently before the regular interment was completed ; taking these facts in connection with what the researches of other investigators have made known concerning the superstitious rites of this mysterious people, it seems natural to conclude that in each of these cases a human victim was sacrificed as a part of the funeral ceremonies, doubtless as a special tribute of respect to a person of distinction." These copious extracts from the report of Mr. Marsh, of his explorations of a mound, doubtless erected by the con- structors of the Newark works, is given, for the important information it affords as to the character of these people, and because the minute and pains-taking care exhibited by him in the exploration may well be taken as a model to guide others in similar explorations. —99— If all the mounds in Ohio, not less than ten thousand in number, were as carefully explored, it would throw a flood of light upon the character and social condition of their builders. Mounds of observation are usually smaller than the last, generally occupying elevated places constituting a series of signal stations, and sometimes located on alluuial plains in positions commanding an extensive view up and down the valley. ISTatural elevations often show, by the accumulation of charcoal and burned stones, that they were used as signal stations; but whether these were used by the mound builders or by the more modern Indians, can not be determined, but it is probable they were used by both for this purpose, as were also the burial mounds when properly located. A large number of still smaller mounds are called, and probably correctly, altar mounds. They are usually connected with other works and include altar-like constructions of stone or clay on which are found ashes, charcoal, calcined bones,, some of which have been identified as human, and specimens of nearly all the domestic and military utensils and orna- ments of the mound builders. The circular enclosures, as in the instances above given, often have such mounds at the center. Of effigy mounds there are comparatively few in the State, but among these the Serpent Mound, of Adams County, and the so-called Alligator Mound, of Licking County, are con- spicuous examples. They are so well known, and have been so often described, that a repetition of the descriptions here is unnecessary. The so-called Alligator Mound is a very poor imitation of an alligator, having a long tail curved in a manner that no American animal could imitate, except the opossum. The walls of Fort Ancient, in Warren County, have been described as two huge serpents, but the early plats of it show nothing to justify this description. -100- MINING- BY THE MOUtfD BUILDERS. The extensive pre-historic copper mines of Lake Superior, first accurately described by Col. Whittlesey, are without doubt the work of the mound builders, and the source from which they obtained the greater part of the material for their copper implements and ornaments. Some of it they doubt- less obtained from the drift. These mines were opened by means of their rude tools, with great labor, wooden shovels being used in removing waste material. The rock enclosing the copper was subjected to the action of fire, and broken up by stone hammers and mauls. Pieces from the masses too large to handle were laboriously cut or pounded off with their stone axes, and pieces too large to be handled in any other manner were slowly raised to the surface by prying up the alternate sides, placing small timbers beneath and building them up under the load in the form of a log house- The copper thus obtained was sometimes worked into im- plements in the neighborhood of the mines, as important finds in that region show. Several copper spears and knives have been found together, showing that they were not accidently lost but buried for safe keeping. The great abundance of mica found in the mounds is evidence that the builders made long journeys to engage in mica mining, or maintained a system of exchanges with those who worked the mines. This mineral was held in high esteem, and was obtained in large quantities. Skeletons have been exhumed entirely covered with it. Masses of galena have been found in Ohio mounds too large to have been obtained in the State, and which were doubtless the product of galena mining. Lead is so easily obtained from galena that it would be strange if the mound builders did not stumble upon the mode of reducing this ore, but the metal would not be of great value to them. In the State Collection is a lead ornament found in the ditch within the great Circleville enclosure ; but the form is so much like that of the lead tomahawks the school-boys made, when they — 101 — used lead to rule their writing paper, that it is reasonably inferred that it is of modern manufacture. Salt was evidently manufactured from natural brine springs by some of the native races in other localities, but the evidence is wanting of its manufacture within the present limits of this State. In the " oil territory " of Trumbull County, are pre- historic wells which were apparently sunk to obtain petroleum, but whether the work of mound builders or of the more recent tribes, is not apparent. It is known that the Indians highly prized the petroleum from springs, and used it as a medicine. : : , t . . . . , , ALPHABETIC WRITING AND] "£K.GRAJV , J31> :,, ■; :■, : TABLETS. On the present site of Cincinnati, at its first discovery by the whites, was a series of mounds, earth-works and embankments, which, according to the account given by General Harrison, were among the most extensive in the State. In one of these mounds, explored in 1841, was found, as it is alleged, the " Cincinnati tablet," which has given rise to much discussion, and has been classed among the " frauds " by expert and conscientious archaeologists ; but the vindi- cation of its authenticity, published by Mr. Robert Clark, of Cincinnati, in 1876, may be regarded as fully satisfactory and as entitling it to a place among the authentic relics of the mound builders. It is made of a dark, fine-grained sand- stone, and as no verbal description could be made to convey an intelligible idea of it, a cut of both sides of it, of full size, is here given, which was kindly loaned for this use by Mr. Clark. An inspection of the cuts will lead to the ready inference that it is not a writing of any kind. There are slight differences between the engraving and a cast of the relic. In the cast the two bars at one end of the tablet are each connected at the middle with the central work, so that all that is included within the outer margins constitutes one —102— on CINCINNATI TABLET. ■103- CINCINNATI TABLET, REVERSE. —104— figure with bilateral symmetry. It is a work showing much skill in stone-engraving, both in the execution and in the almost exact duplication of the separate parts, but its signi- fication, if it has any, is not apparent. The supposition that the conspicuous markings at the two ends are copies of standard measures of length is scarcely tenable, when it is noted that in the cast neither of the series of divisions are of equal length and that the smaller are not subdivisions of the larger. Mr. Clark sends me a photograph of a somewhat similar engraving said to have been found in a mound. It is smaller, very much less skillfully executed, and lacks the bilateral symmetry of the " Cincinnati tablet." A cut of the reverse side of the latter is given, but it probably has no significance. The sand-stone tablet, alleged to have been found at Wilmington, is in some respects like the "Cincinnati tablet.'' According to the engravings published it is far inferior in execution. There is only a partial attempt at bilateral symmetry, and the duplication of parts is inaccurately done. This, and the unintelligible carving on the slate ornament, might pass as genuine relics were it not for the character of the animal and human carvings on the other part of it. The free-hand attempt at shading the animal figures, the graceful outlines of the human figures, the delineation of their clothing, particularly the close-fitting garments of the male, and the character of the weapons he carries, which have been previously described, all indicate that they do not represent barbaric art. A doubt of their genuineness is no imputation upon the integrity of those who have given descriptions of them to the public. The best collections of relics contain forgeries, some of which have been purchased for a large price, and almost every community can furnish those who will take great delight in imposing upon explorers of mounds. If the genuineness of all these relics were conceded, they do not afford, as is claimed, any evidence of the use of writing. What are claimed to be written char- acters in all of the squares, are laboriously unlike in all their —105— details. A writing of that length, either alphabetical, pictorial or symbolical, would certainly exhibit repetitions. The controversy over the Hebrew inscriptions, claimed to have been found by David Wyrick, near Newark, is now generally regarded as closed. They were found when evi- dence was eagerly sought to connect the aboriginal races with the house of Israel. Now that the idea of such a connection is abandoned by all, the discovery of Hebrew inscribed stones would be an anachronism, for such forgerie 8 will always in some way represent the ideas of the time of the forgery. As an example, the greatest forgery of this century is the book of Mormon. A careful reading of it will disclose to any competent critic very nearly the date of the forgery. It was written during, or very soon after, the controversy between Masonry and Anti-Masonry, and is decidedly Anti-Masonic. It was written during the theolog- ical controversy over popery pedo-baptism ; the salvation of infants ; a paid priesthood, election and free-will, all of which questions it attempts to settle; when the " falling power/' as it was called, was regarded as the work of the Spirit, which it describes and approves ; while the act of divination by looking into a crystal was believed in by some ; while it was believed that the native races here were Israel- ites ; and before contact with Europeans, worshipers of the Great Spirit, and while it was popularly believed that the linguistic peculiarities of our bible were wholly character- istic of the languages in which it was originally written, and not of the state of the English language at the time of its translation. These internal evidences &x the date of its composition as about fifty years ago. Mr. Wyrick's first find was the inscribed key-stone in the form of a Masonic emblem on which was carved in Hebrew of the twelfth century, " The King of the Earth." " The Word of the Lord." " The Laws of Jehovah." " The Holy of Holies." In the year following he "found," enclosed in a neat stone box with a closelv fitting cover, a stone tablet having on it an effigy of Mose3 in priestly robes and an — 106 — epitome ot the ten commandments in Hebrew. Surely no* better evidence could be secured of a Hebrew migration to this country. It is significant that Mr. Wy rick's published account of the "finds" was largely devoted to an attempt to prove that they could not be forged, and that upon his death there was found in his working-room a Hebrew Bible which doubtless aided him much in finding Hebrew inscriptions. These Holy relics were sold to David M. Johnson, of Coshocton, Ohio, who in 1867 employed laborers for several days in exploring a mound from which one of the inscribed stones, he obtained from Wyrick, was taken. His search was rewarded by finding inside of a human skull a conical stone about three (3) inches long on which was also a Hebrew inscription. No one seems to have been surprised by the peculiarity of the place in which it was found, or to have doubted its genuineness. It is probable that no archaeologist of fair standing can now be found to advocate its genuine- ness or that of the Wyrick finds. Perhaps no relic has been the cause of more discussion in Ohio, and among archaeologists everywhere, than a small piece of sand-stone covered on one face with inscribed characters and which it is alleged was taken from a vault in the Grave Creek Mound, in 1838. Some years ago, as one of a committee appointed for that purpose by the Ohio State Archaeological Society, I undertook to gather up all the evidence that could be secured in regard to the finding of this relic. Numerous letters were received from those engaged in the exploration, or who were present when it was found. All answered every inquiry fully and frankly. These letters were turned over to the Northern Ohio His- torical Society, of Cleveland, for preservation. From all these letters it may be regarded as well established — First. That this relic was first seen in the loose dirt r wheeled out through a tunnel leading to the centre of the mound, and dumped in a pile, from which it was picked up ■107- and exhibited to those standing by, all at once assuming that it came from the mound. Second. That no one questioned its genuineness or gave it any scrutiny to see whether it showed evidence of recent manufacture. Hence the character of the inscription can now be determined only by an examination of it, or of engravings of it. It is very easy to manufacture a series of arbitrary char- acters which would constitute a good alphabet. It is not so easy to forge an inscription with it. In an inscription the letters will be duplicated, or doubled, and will be repeated with a frequency in an inverse ratio to the number of the characters in the alphabet used. The forger of an inscrip- tion will proceed very much as if forging an alphabet, and it will rarely occur to him to double or repeat his characters. In a forged alphabet, also, a genetic relation will frequently be observed between letters and those immediately preced- ing, the one being a modification of the other. In using the same letters in an intelligible inscription this connection will be broken. To illustrate these facts, four different persons were asked to write each an inscription in arbitrary characters, unlike the letters of any alphabet they knew, and without being informed as to the object of the request. These inscriptions are here copied, and all of the characters except the last two of the Grave Creek Mound inscription : 1. Q lib HI US I7J XX DCNL £ 1-3 A A/\ 2. l/\~ vT/\^JAM±nn-x\/vc n 3. rjcrs rrtf Hi TV a vc j i- U 4. h t> h 1 t x / a > //# V < r x ■/ 1 fl A \ 5. i/ty /a^A(I)/(X ) v/0v/^i —108— No. 1. By a teacher'and law student. " 2. By a school girl. " 3. By a druggist. " 4. By a college professor. " 5. The Graw Creek inscription. The latter may be compared with an engraving copied from the stone, which is here inserted : The genetic relations be- tween different successive characters can be clearly seen in all these inscrip- tions, that from the Grave Creek Mound, included- The writer of each often had one character in mind when making the next one, and gave a modified form of it. There is no doubling of letters in any of them, and there is no certain repetition of letters. In the Grave Creek inscription, the 4th from the left, is somewhat like the 8th, and the 6th somewhat like the 20th. In a cast of the stone these characters are more unlike than in the engraving. If it is conceded that there are two repetitions, it will be found that taking a sentence of equal length from any known alpha- betical writing, the repetitions will be much more numerous. The inference is that the inscription is not alphabetical, an inference greatly strengthened by the smallness of the char- acters, the fineness and distinctness of the lines forming them. The character of the tools for writing on stone, which the mound builders must have used, if they wrote at all, is apparent from the preceding pages. This inscription requires for its production as good an instrument as a sharp-pointed steel knife. With that it could easily be produced in 'dvery few minutes. —109— As the case now stands, it can well be said that there is no evidence that the mound builders knew or practiced the art of writing. Further, that their social and artistic condition, as disclosed by the study of their remains, was not such as to make the discovery of the art of writing probable. SOCIAL AND CIVIL CONDITION OF THE MOUND BUILDERS. The social condition of the American hunting Indians has been pretty thoroughly known through the direct contact of the civilized nations ; but that of the "mound builders" is not so easily learned. A special definition of this term is a necessary preliminary to the investigation, for many of the hunting races, inhabiting the country after the advent of the whites, were mound builders, and the erection of mounds, especially in the southern part of the territory now including the United States, was continued to quite modern times. Articles of copper, silver and steel, of unquestioned modern manufacture, are found in southern mounds as deeply and securely buried as the implements found in Ohio mounds. The term, unless the context otherwise shows, will be used to designate the builders of the elaborate structures found in Ohio annd the other works attributed to the same age. The facts above recorded, as well as the concurrent testi- mony of all the well established facts, show the want of three very important aids to civilization : domestic animals, iron or steel tools, and the art of writing. The want of the first is almost an inseparable obstacle to emergence from barbarism. The pastoral condition which was here impos- sible, is normally the first advance from the hunting condition- Flocks and herds are the first important accumulations of capital for distant future use, and their possession leads man out of the savage habit of content if his immediate wants are supplied, and induces labor and forethought for the future. The flesh, skin, milk and wool of these animals provides more abundantly for his wants, developes arts for —110- preparing and utilizing them, secures a more compact social organization, and less vagrant habits. These lead upward to the practice of the art of agriculture and a special appro- priation of land interfering with its pastoral use, followed by controversies like that between Cain and Abel, in which the agriculturist is generally victorious, because his is the superior condition, leading to further advancement. It is not without significance that the descendants of Cain were represented as the discoverers of the arts of metallurgy. The single domestic animal of the Peruvians, valuable for food, as a beast of burden, and for its wool, gave them a great advantage over all other American tribes. Its wool devel- oped the art of spinning and weaving, gave them better clothing, and with many other important advantages, gave them the use of sails and the art of navigation. North America, with its deeply indented coast line, was more favorable to navigation, but a sailboat was nowhere found by its first European explorers. The mound builders reached the agricultural without passing through the pastoral condition, but the want of efficient metal tools must have made that agriculture com- paratively unproductive. Their agriculture consolidated them into village communities, gave them a compact, social organization which made the construction of the remarkable works they have left us, possible. If they had stumbled apon the art of producing iron and steel, they would doubt- less have attained to a true .civilization. Without it we should naturally deem this impossible ; and [we in fact find that all the relics of the arts they have left us are barbaric. Their sculptures and carvings often show much skill and very patient, long-continued work, but to the modern eye are not artistic. Their clothing must have been of a prim- itive character. The fragments of textile fabrics preserved are coarse, and the use of strings of bark fibre for their most costly necklaces, as disclosed by remains found in a mound by Mr. Marsh, sufficiently attest the want or scarcity of better spinning fiber. They were doubtless largely clothed —111- iii the skins of wild beasts, and they perhaps utilized the wooly hair of the buffalo by spinning and weaving it. They found leisure for the attendance of large concourses at religious or civic festivals, as the elaborate and costly enclos- ures evidently designed for some such use, abundantly testify. They manufactured pottery, but it was all rude. They made long journeys in search of copper and mined it in the most primitive manner, but they did not learn the art of making castings of it, or of consolidating the small fragments by melting them. They probably sunk wells for petroleum where it could be obtained from seepings through the earth, but no vessel which is suspected to be a lamp for burning it, or animal fats, for light has been discovered. They wrought chert and stone and shells into about as many useful forms as modern workmen could, with their more perfect tools, but these were all very poor substitutes for modern steel tools. They believed in a future life, and provided the dead with the weapons of war and of the chase and the domestic utensils they had used in life and dispatched with them on their long journey their wives and attendants as companions. Their later history was probably that of a long-continued struggle against the aggressions of hostile hunting tribes and the encroachments of forests, before the combined influence of which they were forced to retreat. Standing beside some of their remarkable earthworks, a glamour of admiration leads us to picture, in imagination, a departed race, learned in all the highest arts of civilization. But under the careful study of their remains the picture vanishes, and leaves in its place that of a patient, plodding people, with poor appliances, struggling towards civilization while still on the confines of barbarism. If we compare the artistic remains found in the mounds with those exhumed on the sites of the most ancient Asiatic cities, the contrast, both in the variety of articles and skill displayed in their production, is very great, and precisely such a contrast as we ought to expect between peoples having good metal cutting tools and those without them. —112— If it is asked of what race were these mound builders, it now can only be said they were one of the native American races, closely allied to the hunting Indians, and probably a branch of the same race. There are certain peculiarities of the skulls and jaws of the skeletons, found in the mounds, which are supposed by many to separate them from the other native races. The description of the skulls found by Mr. Marsh, in a mound at Newark, as given in the quotation from his report, indicates the character of these peculiarities, which also characterize a skull obtained from a mound at Marietta, and two obtained from a mound near Chattanooga, Tenn. The lower jaw is larger and more prognathous than that of the modern Indian, and so articulated that the incisors of each jaw meet squarely when the mouth is shut, not passing each other so as to give a scissor-like cutting action, as do the incisors of modern civilized people. Hence the action of the incisors is a grinding and not a cutting action, and these teeth are worn off on the same plane as the molars, and of necessity, just as fast. In none of the jaws of these skulls were there any unsound teeth, but all were remarkably worn away, all of the incisors equally with the molars. This rapid wearing away of the teeth, which is frequently observed in savage races, and is seen in the early British skulls, is the result of eating hard, unground grain,or of a want of neatness in preparing food, leaving it filled with dirt and sand. Ordinarily the latter is the cause. Either is incompatible with much advance in civilization. This form of the jaw and mode of its articulation, which brings the incisors of the two jaws into direct contact, is not, as supposed, peculiar to the mound builders, but is often seen in skulls which plainly belonged to modern Indians, and occasionally in the white race, when the one having that peculiarity is said to have double teeth all round. This peculiarity is seen in a skull taken from an Indian burial ground near Fairport, Lake County. Comparing this skull with that from the Marietta Mound, the following differences are observed : The lower —113— jaw of that from the mound is more massive and more prognathous. The front teeth are larger and all the teeth are more worn ; all are sound, while two in the Indian skull were partly decayed. The forehead is narrower and more retreating, and there is a marked occipital protuber- ance greatly exceeding that on the Indian skull, above which is a suture, below the lamboid suture, which is wanting in the Indian, and in most modern skulls. The supereilliary ridge is more prominent, the molar bones larger, but more retreating ; the chin less prominent, the cavities for the eyes less circular, and a little more oblique ; and the nasal cavities smaller in the skull from the mound. All the cranial char- acteristics of the Indian skull, although it is smaller, are of a higher type than are exhibited by the skull from the Marietta mound. Note. — The Indian skull was pierced, while living, through the occipital bone with some sharp cutting instrument, about an inch and a half wide,, which pierced the brain, and was evidently the cause of death. WERE THE MOUND BUILDERS THE FIRST OCCUPANTS OF THIS REGION? The fire hearths along the banks of the Ohio River,, described by Col. Whittlesey and Mr. Thomas W. Kinney, are doubtless of an earlier date than the mounds, but unless the builders of these were an intrusive people, bringing with them their practice of mound-building,they may have occupied the country for centuries before the building of these structures.. On the banks of the Tennessee River, between Mussel Shoals and a point a little above Chattanooga, a rude chronology is preserved that is of especial interest. Along the banks of the river are many little shell heaps containing various relics of a rude art which clearly indicate the artificial character of these mounds. Scattered through them are many minute bivalve shells, clearly indicating that the water formerly covered the mounds, and that they were probably the accumulated refuse from residences built on piles over the water. The extent of these mounds indicate long-continued —114— occupancy, and if, as appears, by the occupants of pile- dwellings, this fact can probably be demonstrated by the careful excavation of the earth under and around the shell mounds. The first terrace above the river is covered with the bleached fragments of river shells, o± such a character as to clearly show that the water of the river covered the terrace when these shells, which are of the same species as those now in the river, were deposited. A little above Chattanooga the soil of the terrace is tilled with these shells, and here on this terrace is a large sepulchral mound which was partially explored in 1864. It was built up from the alluvial soil of this terrace, and contained large numbers of shells like those scattered upon the surface, so well preserved as to show that the mound was built shortly after the recession of the water, and before the shells were bleached by atmospheric influence. On the same terrace, and close to the mound, is the site of a manufactory of pottery and of chert implements, the material for the latter being very abundant in the immediate neighborhood. The soil is filled with flakes of the chert, with broken and perfect chert implements, as well as with fragments of pottery and amorphous masses of partially burned clay. It is difficult to take up a shovel full of earth without taking with it some of these relics, but not a trace of them was found in the mound, making it certain that its erection preceded the rude manufactory. The shell heaps pertain to a human occupancy when the water of the river covered the first terrace, the building ot the mound to an occupancy immediately after the water had fallen to its present channel, and the manufacturing of pottery and chert implements to a time subsequent to the erection of the mound. If the withdrawal of the water from this terrace is to be attributed, as seems probable, to the wearing away of a narrow rock channel of the river directly below Chattanooga, it will carry back the date of the mound and of the preced- ing shell heaps to a very remote period. The mound is in all respects a typical mound builder's sepulchral mound. —115— In explanation of a possible find which may astonish some future explorer, it should be stated that the examination of the mound was made during the war, when the land around it was cultivated by the United States Sanitary Commission as a hospital garden. A tunnel was carried in from the east side to the centre of the mound where a chamber of con- siderable size was excavated. As the walls stood firm, this chamber was utilized by the gardener as a store-house. When all the guns of the forts about Chattanooga were simultaneously discharged in celebration of Lee's surrender, the concussion caused the top of this chamber to fall in, hurrying at the center of the mound a large number of modern gardening tools. The top of the mound was restored to shape, the entrance to the tunnel closed, and the tools left to await a resurrection at the hands of an antiquarian. The last occupancy of the banks of the Tennessee disclosed above was doubtless by modern Indians; the next by the " mound builders," as distinguished from modern mound building Indians. Whether the earliest was that of an earlier stage in the life of the mound builders can not as satisfactorily be determined. The probability is that of different tribes. The question as to the origin of the mound builders would be answered if the question of the origin of the other native races was solved. Whether the new world, as it is called, which is in tact the old world, was peopled from the old, or the reverse, can not be determined. Linguistic and other evidences indicate a point in Southern Asia,or in a submerged land south of it, from whence an emigration started which gradually spread over all that continent. This, if true, would make it probable that emigration from the same point extended to this continent. This would lead to the infer- ence that it was peopled by some early branch of the Mongolian race, to which the American races are most nearly allied, by the way of Behrings Strait, and the Auletian Islands, perhaps reinforced in South America, Jas Haeckel suggests, by way of the Pacific Islands, from Southern Asiatic — 11G — tribes. If this was the case, this emigration was at a very early date, as nearly all the customs, habits, arts, and even languages of the American races seem to be indigenous. The practice of scalping, common to the American Indians and the ancient Scythians, is the most apparent evidence of race affinities between the people of the two continents. It is evident also that the more civilized American races practiced some forms of the sabian and plallic worship which characterized the earliest known religious culture of Asia, and that the use of the cross was intimately associated with this worship in both continents. The ceremony of baptism r called a new birth, pertained to both, and there are indica- tions of the practice of other rites and ceremonies substan- tially the same on both continents. But these points of agreement are few, and if not accidental, point to a time anterior to all written history and to a social condition essentially barbaric. To the finds, as claimed, of a stone carving buried beneath ten feet of glacial drift, in Stark County, and of the antique chert knife in the drift in Summit County, may be added the claim of a find of a beautifully polished stone axe, at the depth of twenty feet, in Ashland County. If these finds are accepted as authentic, we must assume that these articles were manufactured before the close of the glacial epoch. But the Summit County specimen was found where there was only two or three feet of drift clay over the rock surface below, and various causes may have carried it from the surface to that depth. It is also not claimed that any one saw either of the other specimens in the clay matrix at the bottom of the well. They both appeared in the material dumped from the buckets used in hoisting material from the wells. The evidence of the finding of pre-glacial implements must be so certain as to exclude any other reasonable hypothesis. Such evidence is not afforded in these cases. In Europe, rude carvings demonstrate the co-existence of man with some of the extinct animals. Such carvings are — 117 — generally wanting here. But the bones of the elephant and the mastodon are found near the surface, sometimes in marshes that are alternately wet and dry, in a much better state of preservation than some of the human bones at the bottom of burial mounds where the conditions for their preservation are much more favorable. Placing such bones side by side and bearing in mind the places from which they were exhumed, one can not resist the conclusion that the human remains are quite as old as those of these extinct animals. With these facts apparent, there is no intrinsic improbability of the antiquity of the " elephant pipes " in the Davenport collection. The manner in which they were found does not indicate that they were " planted to deceive." They are ot the recognized form of the mound builders' pipe, a form not imitated by modern Indians. The prepon- derance of evidence is in favor of their genuineness, which, if granted, proves the co-existence of the mound builders with the extinct American pachyderms. Evidence of a very remote human occupancy, approaching the close of the drift period, is not wanting. Mr. Abbott's many finds of " drift implements" are all found in the modified river drift, and while he makes a pretty strong case that this modification occurred at the close of the drift period, the most conservative archaeologists are awaiting the discovery of undoubted human remains in the unmodified drift. Until such a discovery is made, the existence of man at the time of the glacial epoch on this continent will be regarded as an open question. Addendum. After this report was completed, Mr. Rufus Chapman, of Garrettsville, Ohio, brought to me an unique specimen, obtained by him from a neighbor who plowed it up in a field at a place where several " Indian relics " had previously been found. It is made of blue porcelain ot the form shown in the figure : \1? inches long, and in diameter, 1^ inches and 1 inch. It is hollow, as is shown by its weight, and by a small fire-crack in one of the grooves through which the cavity can be explored by a stiff hair. It is smooth, very symmet- rical, and could be formed only in a carefully prepared mold in two pieces, and the parts attached to each other while the material was plastic. The adhesion of the two parts is perfect, leaving a slight ridge, but no other indica- tion of the place of junction. On one of the ridges, near the end of the piece, is an imperfection, showing that after it was taken from the mold, this place was repaired by the addition of the plastic material, which did not make the ridge at that place perfect. Mr. Holmes, of the Bureau ot Ethnology of the Smith- sonian Institute, after an examination of it, says : " No one here has seen anything like it. It is made of porcelain, a material unknown to the American aborigines. It is there- fore not aboriginal, and is probably not ancient. It looks as if it might be an implement intended for use in some of the arts — in the manipulation of fiber, skins, leather, or the like. Some one will probably be found who can tell you all about it." If designed for such use, the reason is not apparent of the greatly increased labor of making it hollow. A wood cut of the specimen is here given, and information solicited from any who have seen similar articles or have any knowl- edge of the uses to which they were applied. The cut is a little less than one-half natural size. ■110— m^m ■psij ^^^y m^M Iplilil 'MfM to5^^ Tf—zJjJJE? "Ifeypy- . Mr" '--J /-l. - 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. 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