Y8 V2. I * 
 
 Published by 
 The Valentine Museum 
 
 Richmond, Va. 
 
 Report of the Exploration 
 of the Hayes 9 Creek Mound 
 Rockbridge County, Va. 
 
 

 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Ctes 
 
OF THi 
 
 [UNIVERSITY 
 
 The Hayes Creek Mound, "Indian Bottom Farm/ Rockbridge Co., Virginia, 
 
 EXPLORED SEPT., 1901, by EDWARD P. VALENTINE, FOR THE VALENTINE MUSEUM, RICHMOND, VA. 
 
 AT a distance of about three miles from the eastern entrance to the 
 beautiful Goshen Pass stood this prehistoric burial mound, located upon 
 the "Indian Bottom Farm" belonging to the estate of Wm. Horn, in 
 the valley to the east of " Jump Mountain," and about one hundred yards 
 directly south of the junction of Walker s with Hayes Creek, being in a 
 fertile bottom of about twenty-five acres. 
 
 1 he base was a slightly elongated circle, sixty feet in diameter N. W. and 
 S. E., by sixty four feet N. E. and S. W., altitude four and one-half feet, top 
 level and of thirty-eight to forty-two feet diameter, the whole covered with 
 grass and surrounded by a field of corn. The structure was composed of 
 alluvial soil, like that of the surrounding valley, and water worn fragments of 
 limestone of ten to seventy five pounds weight, similar to those seen in the 
 beds of the adjacent streams. 
 
 The centre, at the time of exploration, was assumed to be the true centre, 
 to which the location of the objects found was referred. The first step in 
 excavating was to encircle the mound by a trench eight feet broad, pene 
 trating the subsoil to the depth of two feet and extending on the outer edge 
 four feet beyond the circumference. In this trench human skeletons in an 
 excellent state of preservation were found one and one-half to two feet 
 below the surface of the sandy subsoil, on the outskirts of the structure to 
 the south, and three feet beyond the circumference to the south of west of 
 the centre. 
 
 Tw Ive bodies were found at a depth of one and one-half to two feet 
 below the surface of the subsoil, and a systematic and continuous burial on 
 the surface of the subsoil was exposed. This preliminary work finished, the 
 bodies exposed were left in place while the mound was cautiously attacked 
 from all sides. A burial level approximately one and one-half feet above the 
 subsoil was soon discovered, and in close succession came the exposure of a 
 fourth burial level approximately two and one-half feet above the subsoil. 
 In a few days more than one hundred skeletons were uncovered and care 
 fully cleaned by means of pocket knives and wisps of broom straw, and four 
 burial levels were clearly in view. Accurate memoianda of the location, 
 position, nature and essential details were made and photographs taken of 
 the skeletons in situ. The bones allowed to bleach, and hardened by the 
 rays of the sun, were carefully removed and spread upon cotton cloths to 
 dry, atter which they were packed in boxes cushioned by crumpled news 
 papers. After removing these exposed remains the work continued towards 
 the assumed centre, keeping the excavations well down into the subsoil. 
 
 The skeletons of three hundred and seventy-six men, women and children, 
 in a remarkably well-preserved condition, were found in the three upper 
 burial levels before the stone pile covering the centre was reached. The 
 bodies were lying on their sides, right or left, indiscriminately, with the arms 
 folded upon their breasts, the hands being extended in front of their faces, 
 the legs drawn up in front of the breasts in such close proximity to the 
 bodies as to indicate that the bodies had been bound up in this compat t 
 
 form before burial. Single burials were frequent, but many bodies were 
 found two together, or in groups of three to twenty. Several had from one to 
 three large stones upon their heads and breasts, as if to protect them from 
 disinterment by wild beasts. A small number had shell beads upon their 
 necks, but no other objects, organic or inorganic, were found with them. 
 The earth had entirely displaced all other organic matter and was clinging 
 compactly to the bones. \Vhere the skulls had become tilted so as to admit 
 of entrance, the earth had in many cases completely filled the cavities. 
 
 All of the skeletons showed evidence of having been carefully and 
 systematically buried, and most of them were lying tangent to circles, with 
 a common centre five and one half feet south of west of the assumed centre 
 of the mound. In addition to the human remains, skeletons of eight dogs 
 were found, some almost perfect, all sufficiently intact to show clearly their 
 positions. They had been carefully buried near the human bodies, and were 
 lying on their sides with their feet drawn together in front of their bodies. 
 
 Continuing the work, a layer of fine gravel and ashes was discovered, 
 forming a floor on the surface of the subsoil, one to three inches thick and 
 thirty-four feet in diameter, with its centre five and one-half feet south of 
 west of the assumed centre of the mound. At the centre of this gravel and 
 ash floor burnt human bones were found, and upon it rested a burial level, 
 with the same centre, twenty-four feet in diameter, covered by stones, fol 
 lowed by two successive burials with intervening stones, the whole covered 
 by stones and earth reaching an altitude of four and one-half feet to the top 
 of the mound. The human remains in this stone pile had evidently been 
 buried with the same care as those in the earth-work surrounding it, but had 
 been to some extent dislocated by the settling of the heavy, irregular stones, 
 making it difficult at times to trace clearly their positions. 
 
 Fifty or more skeletons were found in the stone pile, twenty-eight oi which 
 had shell beads and pendants on their necks, the majority of those having 
 necklaces being women and girls. One had upon the neck the tooth of a. 
 shark, perforated at the root for use as a pendant. 
 
 Two pipes, one of soapstone, the other of clay, were found close to the skulls 
 of two men located near the centre of the stone pile. No other objects were 
 found buried with the bodies, and a close search failed to reveal evidence of 
 any considerable amount of debris of a former settlement from which the 
 earth might have been brought in the erection of the mound. The objects 
 of accidental occurrence were limited to a polishing stone of slate, a bone 
 awl. a spear-head, and a few fragments of pottery. 
 
 Eighty perfect skulls, a number of nearly-perfect skeletons, and the bulk 
 of the bones of more than four hundred people, were exhumed and shipped 
 to the Museum for scientific study. 
 
 Jefferson, in his " Notes on Virginia," s-tates that the Massawomees occu 
 pied, to the exclusion of almost every other tribe, the entire region stretch 
 ing from the Blue Ridge to the Ohio River. This burial was therefore in the 
 territory of the Massawomees. 
 
 1 70548 
 
COPYRIGHTED 1903 
 
 BY THE VALENTINE MUSEUM 
 
t 
 
 T 
 
 Gt 
 H 
 
 H 
 
 . 
 
 I 
 
 w, v.r%. 
 
 U HL 
 
 \\mttil 
 
 S H It IV IV V I ix It 
 
 -t~ <** r~ r- r-\% I- 
 
HAVES- CHK.KK MOUND, 
 
 HoCKMHinOK COl-NTV, 
 
 REPRESENTATIVE SKULLS. 
 
 FRONT ANH PROFILE VIEWS. 
 
Sir 
 
1 1 \ \ i - CREEK MOUND, 
 
 ROCK it R i no E COUNTY, 
 
 HODIES NEAR CIRCUMFERENCE OF MOUND. 
 
\ i I-.* fu i i K MOUND, 
 
 KOCKUKIDGK COUNTT, Vi. 
 
 VIKW^SHOWING THREE BURIAL LEVELS. 
 
 FIGURE IN FOREGROUND IN SUBSOIL. 
 
HAYKM- CRKKK MOUNP, 
 
 ROCKHItinOE --.- 
 
 MAX AN" 13 DOG. 
 
^^TS * fT?X. 
 
 Or THt \ 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
HAYES- CHKKK MOI-NO. 
 
 ROCKURIDUK COUNTY, VA 
 
 BODY OF A MAX IX TIL.TED POSITION. 
 
* CREEK MOUND, 
 ROCKBKIDQK COUNTY, VA. 
 
 MAX AN O WOMAX. 
 
 FEET OF MAN EXTENDED TO HIS BEAD. 
 
170548