BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
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 7 
 
 IRON FROM THE OHIO MOUNDS; A REVIEW OF THE 
 
 STATEMENTS AND MISCONCEPTIONS OF TWO 
 Library WRITERS OF OVER SIXTY YEARS AGO. 
 
 BY F. W. PUTNAM. 
 
 THE interesting discovery of masses of meteoric iron, and several 
 ornaments made of it, among the objects obtained from two altar 
 mounds in the Little Miami valley during the past year, caused me to 
 review the statements which have been made in relation to the dis 
 covery of iron in the Ohio mounds. It has been generally accepted as 
 facts that an iron or steel sword was found by Dr. Hildreth in a mound 
 at Marietta, and that an iron blade and a plate of cast iron were found 
 by Mr. Atvvater in a mound at Circleville, and these supposed facts have 
 been used in four different ways : 
 
 Fir At, as showing that the people who built the mounds had acquired 
 the knowledge of manufacturing implements from iron, and hence were 
 far in advance of the Indian tribes who afterwards occupied the coun 
 try; or 
 
 Secondly, that the ancient mound-builders had occasional intercourse 
 with nations farther advanced in the arts than themselves. 
 
 Thirdly, as proving beyond question the recent origin of the mounds : 
 since the iron or steel weapons must have been obtained from the 
 whites, and therefore the mounds were erected after contact of the 
 Indians with the Europeans ; or 
 
 Fourthly, that, while the mounds themselves were very ancient, the 
 iron was introduced in recent times in connection with intrusive burials. 
 
 If we examine the original statements from which these deductions 
 have been drawn, we shall find the premises do not warrant any of these 
 conclusions, from the fact that the evidence does not show that either 
 steel, or wrought or cast iron were found. 
 
 While the belief in the great antiquity of the Ohio mounds is not dis 
 turbed by these former misconceptions, it is not necessary for us to 
 assume that they were made by a people differing in blood from some of 
 the more recent tribes of the Short-headed American Mongoloids, some 
 of whom may still exist in more or less purity among the present 
 Indians; nor are we at all brought in conflict with the unquestionable 
 
 X 
 
fact that some of the Indian tribes down to very recent times erected 
 mounds over their dead. 1 
 
 The reference to iron in the mound at Circleville, by Mr. Atwater, 2 
 would not be worthy of consideration, were it not for the widespread 
 belief that he found a steel sword and a piece of cast iron. He simply 
 found a piece of antler, in one end of which a hole had been bored and 
 around this part was a baud of silver. This he called " the handle of 
 either a small sword or a large knife," and he distinctly states that "no 
 iron was found, but an oxyde remained of similar shape and size." 
 This is evidently purely a case of imagination and misconception. 
 Similar pieces cut from antler have since proved to be common and 
 are generally believed to be handles 3 for small drills and knives made 
 of stone or copper. "The oxyde of similar shape and size" to the 
 blade of a sword or a knife, could be readily accounted for by one 
 familiar with the traces of oxidized copper, iron-colored clay, and 
 traces of oxide of iron, which are often met with in mound explora 
 tions. 
 
 The other reference, on the same page, is as follows : "A plate of 
 iron, which had 'become an oxyde; but before it was disturbed by the 
 spade, resembled a plate of cast iron." In these days when only the 
 most careful and critical work is of any value, something more definite 
 than this statement is required before it can be claimed that cast iron 
 has been found in the Ohio mounds. 4 
 
 Fortunately, most of the interesting objects found in June, 1819, in 
 a mound at Marietta, Ohio, by Dr. S. P. Hildreth, were presented to 
 the Antiquarian Society by Dr. Hildreth, and, through the kindness of 
 the officers of the Society, I have had recently the opportunity of 
 studying them. As these specimens have become of the first import 
 ance in American Archaeology, and as they were not correctly figured 
 in the original account, 5 I have thought it of sufficient importance to 
 refer to them in detail and to figure them in this connection. 
 
 The account of these interesting specimens was written by Dr. S. P. 
 Hildreth, and published in a Marietta paper of July, 1819. This was 
 
 1 See 16th Report of Peabody Museum for an account of the burial 
 of Big Elk, an Omaha chief, as one instance. 
 
 2 Archaeologia Americana, Vol. I., p. 178. 1820. 
 
 3 One has been found with a small stone knife still in the perforated 
 end, and others with small awl-like points of copper inserted. 
 
 4 Mr. Atwater states that the mound in which these objects were 
 found was removed several years before his account was written, and 
 we do not know how much of the published statement was given from 
 memory. 
 
 5 The three figures given by Squier in his account of the articles, in 
 the appendix to his "Aboriginal Monuments of New York," p. 187 
 (1849), Smith. Contrib., Vol. II., are also very inaccurate representa 
 tions of the silver objects. 
 
3 
 
 Outer silver-covered surface of Ear-ornament 
 from the Marietta Mound. 
 
 reprinted in Mr. Atwater's " Description of the Antiquities discovered 
 
 in the State of Ohio and other Western States." ] 
 
 FIG. 1. The mound in which 
 
 these objects were found 
 was in one of the "streets 
 of Marietta, on the mar 
 gin of the plain, near the 
 fortification. * * * * 
 They appear to have been 
 buried with the body of 
 the person to whose 
 memory this mound was 
 erected. * * * * The 
 body of the person here 
 buried, was laid on the^ 
 surface of the earth, 
 with his face upwards. 
 ***** F r om the 
 appearance of several 
 pieces of charcoal, and 
 bits of partially burnt 
 fossil coal, and the black 
 
 color of the earth, it would seem that the funeral obsequies had been 
 
 celebrated by fire; FIG. 2. 
 
 and while the ashes 
 
 were yet hot and 
 
 smoking, a circle of 
 
 thin flat stones had 
 
 been laid .around and 
 
 over the body. The 
 
 circular covering is 
 
 about eight feet in 
 
 diameter. * * * * 
 
 This circle of stones 
 
 seems to have been 
 
 the nucleus on which 
 
 the mound was form 
 ed, as immediately 
 
 over them is heaped 
 
 the common earth of 
 
 the adjacent plain, 
 
 composed of a clayey Inner surface of fig. 1. , edge of silver turned over 
 
 sflnd ami rnarsp PTIV from outer surface. 6, circular plate of copper 
 upon which silver is laid, c, inner plate of 
 copper, d, fibre around central axis. 
 
 d-' 
 
 el. This mound must 
 
 1 Archaeologia Americana, Vol. I., p. 168. 1820. 
 
originally have been about ten feet high, and thirty feet in diameter at 
 its base. ******** It h;ls ev( . ry appearance of being as 
 old as any in the neighborhood, and was, at the lirst settlement of 
 Marietta covered with large trees *****' 
 
 " Lying immediately over, or on the forehead of the body, were found 
 three large circular bosses, or ornaments for a sword belt, or a buckler : 
 they are composed of copper, overlaid with a thick plate of silver. [See 
 fig. 1.] * I wo of these are yet entire: the third one is so 
 
 much wasted that it dropped in pieces on removing it from the earth. 
 Around the rivet of one of them [See fig 2.] is a small quantity of llax 
 or hemp, in a tolerable state of preservation." 
 
 Fl 
 
 Inner >nrfare of portion of c< 
 part of an Kar-onianient, fro 
 
 Mound. 
 
 been found in other mounds and have 
 been described by several authors, 
 but their character has heretofore 
 not been determined. 
 
 In the chapter on antiquities, p. 
 205, of Drake's Picture of Cincinnati, 
 published in lsir>, there is an account 
 of the contents of a mound which 
 formerly stood at the intersection 
 of Third and Main streets in Cincin 
 nati. A portion of the manv inter 
 esting objects taken from this mound 
 were described and figured in the 
 fourth volume of the Transactions 
 of the American Philosophical So 
 ciety (170D), by Col. Winthrop 
 
 One of these silver plated 
 " bosses," figs. 1, 2, and also- 
 port ions of another, with 
 out the silver plating, pro 
 bably of the one described 
 as "so much wasted that it 
 dropped in pieces," figs. 3 r 
 4, are in the Society's cab 
 inet and are here repre 
 sented of full size. They 
 are of the same character 
 as the copper ornaments 
 from a mound in Tennessee, 
 and described in the Fif 
 teenth Report of the Pea- 
 body Museum, p. 109. The 
 illustrations there given are 
 here reproduced for com 
 parison, figs. 5, 0. 7. natural 
 size. Similar articles have 
 Fn;. 4. 
 
 Frair 
 
FIG. 6. 
 
 FIG. 5. Sargent of Cincinnati, under 
 
 date of September 8, 1794. Mr 
 Drake, after referring to these 
 objects, states that he after 
 wards found a number of other 
 things in the same mound, 
 which he describes, and among 
 them " Several copper articles, 
 each consisting of two sets of 
 circular concavo-convex plates ; 
 the interior one of each set 
 connected with the other by a 
 hollow axis, around which had 
 been wound a quantity of lint" 
 (p. 207). He also states that 
 several other articles resem 
 bling these have been found in 
 Franklin, Tenn. other parts of the town, and 
 
 that " they all appear to consist of pure copper, covered with a green 
 
 carbonate of that metal." So far as I am aware, this is the fir'st account 
 
 of objects of this character, and Dr. Hildreth's, four years afterwards, 
 
 is the second. 
 
 Of late years the name of 
 
 "spool-shaped objects" has 
 
 been given to these copper 
 
 ornaments, and at the time I 
 
 wrote the description of those 
 
 from Tennessee I retained the 
 
 name for them, while stating 
 
 that if they had come from 
 
 Mexico or Peru I should have 
 
 little hesitation in regarding 
 
 them as ear-ornaments. At 
 
 that time I had never seen any 
 
 representation, in pottery or 
 
 stone, of a human figure from 
 
 the mounds or graves in the 
 
 TTnif-prl <^tntP with j-nrl lil-P Innor surface of lower half of a Copper Ear- 
 
 United States, with stud-like orimmeut (fi ^ 5 re])m , (Mlt ,s the other 
 
 ear ornaments, similar to those half), showing the fibre wound 
 
 so commonly represented in ^ J^SSST 
 
 the pottery figures of men from Tenn. 
 
 Mexico and Peru. In the many human figures from the United States, 
 in the Peabody Museum, on the contrary, the ears were represented as 
 pierced by small holes as if for the suspension of earrings. 
 
 The important discoveries made during the last year in mounds in 
 Ohio by Dr. C. L. Metz and myself have bf ought to light a large number 
 of these interesting copper ornaments, some of which are covered, or 
 
6 
 
 FIG. 8. 
 
 plated, with thin layers of silver, like those found by Dr. Hildreth r 
 while at least one is overlaid in the same manner with a thin sheet of 
 meteoric iron. During these explorations there were found a number of 
 terra-cotta figurines of a character unlike anything heretofore known 
 FIG. 7. from the mounds, and one 
 
 of these, representing in 
 miniature a full length 
 figure of a man, leaves 
 little doubt that these 
 " spool-shaped objects " 
 and "bosses" are ear- 
 ornaments. In this in 
 stance the ornament is 
 distinctly shown as two 
 large discs with the lobe 
 A second Copper Far-ornament. *h..wiiiir libre of the ear between them, 
 and strip of buckskin wound and tied about A , - .. 
 
 the central portion. From Mound in About thirty of these cop- 
 Franklin, Tenn. per, and silver and iron- 
 plated ear-ornaments were found on one altar in a mound in the Little 
 Miami Valley, and in another mound of the same group three pairs were 
 discovered with human skeletons, and in each case one was found on 
 the right side and one on the left, near the skull. 
 
 The fact that vegetable fibre and strips 
 of buck-skin (preserved by the action of 
 the copper) have been found in several of 
 these ornaments wound round the central 
 axis, or that part of the ornament which 
 would come in direct contact with the flesh 
 of the ear, is also of importance in the 
 conclusion that they are ear-ornaments, 
 as the ear was thus protected from the 
 copper. 
 
 Dr. Hildreth mentions that "Two small 
 pieces of leather were found lying between ' 
 the plates of one of the bosses ; they re 
 semble the skin of an old mummy, and 
 
 seem to have been preserved by the salts ,<,,,,,,,, to ,. portion* of a 
 of the copper." Fragments of these bits human car. From our of 
 of leather or skin nre still with the speci- ***SXSi3S3?' 
 mens, and are represented in fig. 8; they Marietta .Mound. 
 
 are very much changed in structure and impiegnated with green car 
 bonate of copper. Without a very thorough histological study, it would 
 be impossible to state with certainty that these bits of skin are or are 
 not fragments of the ear-lobe in which the ornament was inserted, but 
 in external appearance and microscopical structure they very closely 
 resemble the skin from the ear of a Peruvian mummy. 
 
 In referring to the silver covering on the ' bosses" found by Dr. Hil- 
 
dreth, Mr. Squier writes " These articles have been critically examined, 
 and it is beyond doubt that the copper ;< bosses " are absolutely plated, 
 not simply overlaid, with silver. Between the copper and the silver 
 exists a connection such as, it seems to me, could only be produced by 
 heat; and if it is admitted that these are genuine remains of the Mound- 
 builders, it must at the same time be admitted that they possessed the 
 difficult art of plating one metal upon another. There is but one 
 alternative, viz : that they had occasional or constant intercourse with a 
 people advanced in the arts, from whom these articles were obtained." 
 
 In all this I must differ from the distinguished writer to whom Ameri 
 can archaeologists are more indebted than to any other one person. A 
 careful study of the Hildreth specimens,' and also of the silver and iron- 
 covered specimens in the Peabody Museum, has shown conclusively 
 that the plating has been done simply by covering the outer surfaces of 
 the objects with thin sheets of the overlaid metal, which were closely 
 united to the copper simply by pounding and rubbing, and by turning 
 the edges over and under the slightly concave edge of the copper foun 
 dation. This method was followed in all the objects from the mounds 
 and stone-graves, where thin layers of native copper, silver, or iron, 
 have been connected with one another, or when copper or silver have 
 been used to cover beads and discs made of wood. 
 
 These ear ornaments exhibit a degree of skill in working the native 
 metals of copper, silver and iron, simply by hammering, which is con 
 clusive evidence of the advance made by early American tribes in orna 
 mental art. The method of their manufacture seems to have been 
 somewhat as follows : A circular piece of native copper l was formed 
 FIG. 9. 
 
 Portions of Copper Ear-ornaments from an 
 altar in a Mound in the Little Miami 
 
 Valley, Ohio. 
 Fig. 9. Inner strengthening pieces of Copper. 
 Fig. 10. Inner parts showing the central hollow rivet at a. 
 
 by hammering, probably over a wooden pattern, into the concavo-con 
 vex form shown in the several figures. Two such circular pieces 
 
 1 Among the important material, already referred to, from an altar in 
 a mound in the Little Miami Valley, explored for the Peabody Museum 
 during the past season, were two halves of these ornaments made of 
 meteoric, or native, iron, instead of copper as in all other specimens of 
 which we have knowledge. 
 
formed the two outer portions of the ornament. To the inner side of 
 these, either roughly shaped circular pieces or cross bars, tig. 9, were 
 closely fitted by hammering, and over these, in some instances, another 
 circular piece was fitted. Through all these pieces a central hole was 
 punched, through this a cylinder of copper was passed, the ends of 
 which were expanded and closely hammered down, firmly uniting the 
 two principal concavo-convex pieces together. In SOUK; specimens this 
 hollow- rivet was clinched so as to unite all the inner pieces together, as 
 shown in fig. 10, and through it was passed another and more delicate 
 cylinder which held the two outer pieces in place. The outer pieces 
 were then most carefully hammered and rubbed until the expanded 
 edgeS of the central rivet were so closely united to them as hardly to be 
 traced, or, as is more often the case in the more than thirty specimens 
 I have examined, the two outer pieces were carefully overlaid by thin 
 sheets of native copper, silver, or iron, forming a plating like the one 
 covered with silver, obtained by Dr. Hildreth, and now in the collection 
 of this Society. Around the central axis vegetable fibre, bits of buck 
 skin, or other material, was probably wound to protect the ear from 
 contact with the copper. As already stated, such wrappings have been 
 preserved on several of the specimens. In the drawing representing 
 the silver-covered specimen from the Marietta mound, the several parts 
 are indicated by letters. 
 
 To insert one of these ornaments, a slit, equal in length to the diame 
 ter of the ornament, would have to be made in the lobe of the ear, but 
 when we recall the immense size of the slits made in the ears by some 
 Indians, those necessary for the insertion of these ornaments become 
 very slight in comparison. t 
 
 Dr. Hildreth, in his account of the objects from the Marietta mound, 
 writes about the next to receive attention as follows : " Near the side 
 of the body was found a plate of silver, which appears to have been the 
 upper part of a sword scabbard : it is six inches in length and t\vo in 
 breadth, and weighs one ounce; it has no ornaments or figures, but has 
 three longitudinal ridges, 1 which probably correspond with edges, or 
 ridges, of the sword. It seems to have been fastened to the scabbard 
 by three or four rivets, the holes of which yet remain in the silver." 
 
 Figures 11, 12, represent, of full size, the two sides of this supposed 
 " ornament of a scabbard." As stated by Dr. Hildreth, it is made of 
 pure silver. It was formed by hammering a mass of native silver into 
 a thin sheet about five and a quarter inches long by four in width, which 
 was then folded over so that the two ragged edges met alon- the centre 
 of the under or flattened side, making a baud which would cover an 
 object about half an inch thick and one and three-quarters in width. 
 Along these ragged edges six small holes have been punched. The 
 
 1 It is strange that the discrepancy between this account and the fig 
 ures given in the Archasologia, ami also by Squier, which represent the 
 band with five ridges, has not been noticed. 
 
FIG. 11. 
 
 FIG. 12. 
 
 Silver Band or Ornament. From the Marietta Mound. Fig. 11, under, flat 
 
 surface ; fig. 12, upper, corrugated portion. 
 
 four near the ends are nearly opposite to each other, while the two near 
 the central portion are placed one slightly above the other. These 
 holes were probably intended for the purpose of fastening the edges 
 together by strings, or else for securely fixing the band to some other 
 
10 
 
 object. On the opposite surface are the three longitudinal elevations, 
 
 FIG. 13. with two deep corresponding de- 
 
 ^x*"* > ^^ X. .-, _ pressions between them, which 
 
 ^ <=^_ _y 
 
 in Franklin. Tnm. This section is 
 taken at a, fig. 15. 
 FIG. 14. 
 
 could have been easily made by 
 usin a round stick (See fig. 13.) 
 The smooth cut made at upper cor 
 ner on the under side, is evidently 
 where a piece of the metal has 
 been cut off for examination since 
 it was found. 
 
 FIG. 15. 
 
 OppnMlr Mirfar.- <>!' OppiT Hand. I'Y<nii Mound iii Franklin. Trim. 
 
11 
 
 In the Fifteenth Report of the Peabocly Museum, p. 106, I have given* 
 a description of an ornament almost identical with this in shape and 
 size, but which was made of native copper. It was found in tho same 
 mound in Tennessee with the two ear-ornaments already referred 
 to. For the purpose of showing the similarity of the silver and 
 copper bands the figures of the Tennessee specimen are here repro 
 duced as figures 14, 15. 
 
 In the account of the specimens obtained from the mound in Cincin 
 nati explored in 1794, to which I have already referred in connection 
 with the ear-ornaments, Col. Sargent describes and figures 1 a similar 
 corrugated band made of copper, which is nearly identical in size with 
 the one of silver obtained by Dr. Hildreth. 
 
 Col. Sargent's description of this copper band is as follows : " Fig. 10. 
 A piece of sheet or plate copper, which seems to have been wrought 
 into an ornament for the hair; this, however, only conjecture: No. 1 
 shows the back and folding parts with four perforations. No. 2 is 
 intended to give an idea of the other side, which is swelled longitu 
 dinally into three pipes or divisions. The remains of some smaller 
 pipes enclosed and now almost mouldered away, seem to destroy the 
 idea of its being originally meant as a mere hair ornament." 
 
 The ''smaller pipes enclosed and almost wasted away" were very 
 likely portions of the inner layers of the copper separated by oxidation 
 of the metal. The figure given in the Philosophical Transactions 
 probably represents the object more as the discoverer supposed it 
 appeared when perfect, as the edges and surface are altogether too 
 even and smooth for a piece of copper containing other pieces which 
 had "almost wasted away." The suggestion that the ornament was 
 one for the hair is worthy of consideration, as in one of the terra-cotta 
 figurines from the altar of a mound in the Little Miami valley, to which, 
 I have already referred, the hair is represented as done up in three 
 parallel plates crossing the back of the head, just as it would appear 
 were the hair passed through such a corrugated band as here described. 
 In the specimen from a mound in Tennessee there were the remains of 
 pieces of wood from which fact I was led to believe that the copper 
 band may have been fastened to wood and attached as an ornament to a 
 belt or some other part of the dress of its owner. 
 
 To these three specimens I have now the opportunity of adding a 
 fourth. This is made of meteoric iron, and was found in the mass of 
 materials from the altar of a mound in the Little Miami Valley to which 
 allusion has several times been made. It is represented of full size in* 
 fig. 16, and was made by hammering a mass of meteoric iron, in the 
 
 transactions of the American Philosophical Societv, Vol. IV., p. 
 180, figs. 10 1 , 10 2 . 1799. 
 
12 
 
 -same way that masses of silver ami copper were hammered in making 
 
 the three already mentioned. 1 
 
 FIG. IK. It is worthy of note that all 
 
 lour of these corrugated hands 
 of identical pattern were found 
 associated with stud-like ear- 
 ornaments. 
 
 The next object from the 
 Marietta mound is mentioned 
 by Dr. Hildreth as follows: 
 " Two or three broken pieces 
 of a copper tube were also 
 found, filled with iron rust. 
 These pieces, from their ap 
 pearance, composed the lower 
 end of the scabbard, near the 
 point of the sword. No sign 
 of the sword itself was dis 
 covered, except the appearance 
 of rust above mentioned." 
 
 These pieces of "a copper 
 tube" are represented of full 
 size in lig. 17, and consist of 
 fragments of a small copper 
 cylinder, or bead, such as have 
 been very often found in the 
 mounds and in graves in vari 
 ous parts of the country. In 
 my article on copper objects 
 in the Peabody Museum.- sev 
 eral lots of similar cylindrical 
 copper beads are described and 
 figured. In every ease they 
 
 Valley, Ohio. thin piece of hammered native 
 
 copper upon itself, and the one from the Marietta mound is no exception 
 to this method of manufacture. In this specimen the copper has 
 changed to a red carbonate, and has become very brittle from oxida 
 tion. In places, particularly in the fragment shown on the right of the 
 figure, the surface is covered by a green carbonate of copper and here 
 and there bits of charcoal and other extraneous materials have been 
 
 *A full account of the interesting irroup of mounds in the Little 
 Miami Valley, with descriptions and illustrations of the many object- 
 found, will be given in the memoir prepared jointly by Dr. C. L. Metz 
 and myself and to be published by the 1'eabody Museum. 
 
 2 Fifteenth Hcport, Cambridge, 18S2. 
 
13 
 
 united to the copper during its change to the carbonate. The central 
 portion of the cylinder has .been crushed together aud the portion on 
 the left of the flgure has been broken lengthwise into two pieces- 
 
 FIG. 17. 
 
 Broken Bead or Cylinder of Copper. From the Marietta Mound. 
 
 Not a particle of iron rust could be found in the folds and cavities of 
 the bead, and it can hardly be doubted that the oxide of copper was 
 mistaken by Dr. Hildreth for oxide of iron. 
 
 In this instance we see how easily it is to let our imagination rim 
 away with our facts. Not a shadow of a sword can be traced in this 
 connection ; the point of the supposed scabbard is a common copper 
 bead ; the supposed upper part of the scabbard is an ornament of a 
 particular pattern,- of which three others almost identical in shape are 
 known from other mounds; and the u bosses " or supposed ornaments- 
 of a sword belt are ear-rings. Yet for over sixty years archaeologists 
 have had the mythical swords from the Marietta and Circleville mounds 
 held over them as proofs that all the mounds were of recent date, and 
 that these in particular were erected after contact of the Indians with 
 the whites. 
 
 Dr. Hildreth's account continues " Near the feet was found a piece of 
 copper, weighing three ounces. From its shape it appears to have been 
 used as a plumb, or for an ornament, as near one of the ends is a 
 circular crease, or groove, for tying a thread; it is round, two inches 
 and a half in length, one inch in diameter at the centre, and half an inch 
 at each end. It is composed of small pieces of native copper, pounded 
 together; and in the cracks between the pieces, are stuck several pieces 
 of silver; one nearly the size of a fourpenny piece, or half a dime. 
 This copper ornament was covered with a coat of green rust, and is 
 considerably corroded. A piece of red ochre, or paint, and a piece of 
 iron ore which has the appearance of having been partially vitrified, or 
 melted, were also found. The ore is about the specific gravity of pure 
 iron." 
 
 The copper "plumb" mentioned by Dr. Hildreth and here repre 
 sented as fig. 18, is a very interesting specimen, and is the only instance, 
 so far as I know, of copper having been used in making objects of this 
 character. Hundreds of similar form, made of different kinds of stone, 
 and of hematite, have been found in mounds or on the surface all over 
 the western and southern states, occasionally in New England, and 
 have been generally classed as sinkers, although I am personally more 
 inclined to regard many of them as having been used for other pur- 
 
11 
 
 poses. It would hardly seem probable that a matt-rial of tin- value of 
 -copper for ornamental work and for cutting "implements, would have 
 been used for sinkers for nets or fishing lines when stones would answer 
 equally well; and the adaptability of an article for a particular use is 
 not always a safe guide in determining its character. Such object > a^ 
 these were as well if not better fitted for use in stretching the threads 
 over the frame of a hand loom in weaving, and we now know that the 
 builders of the mounds were good weavers. They also could have been 
 enclosed in skins and used as slung-shots, or many of the smaller sizes. 
 like this one of copper, could well be classed as personal ornaments. 
 FIG. 18. Whatever may have 
 
 been the use of this 
 particular specimen it 
 is of interest as having 
 been made by pound 
 ing together an arbor 
 escent mass (not bits 
 as stated by Dr. Hil- 
 dreth) of native copper 
 containing native sil 
 ver, and such a mass 
 was probably derived 
 from the copper region 
 of Lake Superior, in 
 which place the two 
 metals occur thus as 
 sociated in arborescent 
 or foliated masses. 
 The silver therefore 
 Copper Ornament or Implement from the Marietta -_.. ^-^h-ihlv nnt in 
 Sound. The white portions at lower end repre- " as P robabl > ' 
 
 sent the >il\ ei- a> MTU from <>ppiie sides. serted in the cracks of 
 
 the copper, as supposed by Dr. Hildreth, but is in its natural position 
 in the mass, and has simply been pounded and shaped with the copper. 
 
 Red ochre, mentioned in the last quotation, is often found in mounds 
 and in graves, not only in America but in other parts of the world as 
 well, and is the universal red paint of man in past times. 
 
 The statement that a piece of "iron ore" was found in the mound 
 is one of great interest, now that we know from the discoveries of the 
 past year that the peculiar and malleable qualities of meteoric iron 
 were known to the builders of the group of mounds in the Little Miami 
 Valley, and it is unfortunate that, while the other articles mentioned in 
 the account are now in the cabinet of the Society, this iron ore can not 
 now be found. Mr. Squier, in quoting Dr. Hildreth's statement, 
 considers that the ore was a piece of polished hematite, but he does not 
 state that he examined the specimen. He simply puts the word 
 hematite in brackets after the words "iron ore," and the word 
 
15 
 
 polished after the quotation of the word " vitrified." As he states 
 distinctly that he examined the silver plated "boss," he may also have 
 seen the " iron ore," and as he was familiar with implements and 
 ornaments made of hematite he may have examined the specimen and 
 correctly designated its character in this way. He however puts a 
 question mark after his insertion of the word "polished" which leads 
 me to conclude that he had not seen the specimen. In its absence, 
 however, it is useless to attempt to discuss its true character, although 
 the probability is that it was hematite, which is often found in the 
 mounds ; but there is a possibility that it was a small mass of meteoric 
 iron. 
 
 In this paper I have endeavored, in the proper spirit of scientific 
 criticism, to call attention to the misconceptions of these early writers 
 in relation to the interesting and important discoveries and observa 
 tions which they made; not with the view of finding fault with what 
 they wrote, but with a hope that their misconceptions, now that their 
 statements are compared with the facts obtained in later years, and 
 corrected in the light of recent discoveries, will no longer stand in the 
 way of the correct interpretation of the story of the mounds, which we 
 are now able to read with clearer eyes than in the days when nearly 
 every fact observed was thought worthless unless it could be immedi 
 ately accounted for, and the unknown became intelligible by the applica 
 tion of the power of the imagination.