Burial Mounds of the Northern Sections of the United States Part 5

It is possible that fires were built at different levels, open fires, and that most of the ashes were blown away by the winds which often sweep over the plain. I have stated that there was first laid down a sort of floor of wood, on which the body was placed. On the same floor were placed about 500 copper beads, forming a line almost around the body.

In addition to these copper beads a number of sh.e.l.l beads, and also a hollow copper implement in the shape of a caulker's chisel, were found.

The copper implement and beads were made of thin sheet-copper which, Professor Andrews says, had been "hammered out into so smooth and even a sheet that no traces of the hammer were visible. It would be taken indeed for rolled sheet copper." Some of the bones were pretty well preserved.

The professor closes his description with the remark: "The skeleton undoubtedly belonged to a veritable mound-builder." In this he is certainly correct, as the mode of burial in this case agrees so exactly with that observed by Squier and Davis in the larger mounds opened by them as to leave no doubt that both are to be attributed to one people, although the mound described by Professor Andrews is probably of much more recent date than those mentioned by Squier and Davis.

What explanation shall we give of the presence in this work of thin sheet-copper "hammered out into so smooth and even a sheet that no traces of the hammer were visible," and that "would be taken for rolled copper"?

The simple and most natural explanation would be that it was derived from European traders and early adventurers; and such, I am disposed to believe, is the correct one. The distinction between the sheets and ornaments hammered from native copper with the rude implements of the aborigines, and many specimens made of this smooth sheet-copper found in mounds, is too apparent to be overlooked. But of this more hereafter, as I shall have occasion again to refer to the subject.

In another mound, 8 or 9 feet high, in the same county, he found near the top a considerable bed of kitchen refuse; at the bottom, on the original surface, ashes and burnt human bones. "These bones," he remarks, "had evidently been burned before burial, and had been gathered in miscellaneous confusion and placed in a narrow s.p.a.ce 5 or 6 inches wide and from 2 to 3 feet long. The ashes were doubtless brought with them, at least there appeared to be no evidences of a local fire in the reddening or hardening of the clay or in remnants of charcoal."

As bearing upon a suggestion made by Colonel Norris, and previously referred to,[31] in regard to the probable use of copper beads found across the limbs of a skeleton, I call attention to another statement of Professor Andrews. Speaking of the School-house mound he says:

At a point near the northwestern corner of the school-house and perhaps 15 feet from the center of the mound, there was plowed up, in extremely hard and dry dirt, a large piece of what I suppose to have been an ornamented dress. It was covered with copper beads, which were strung on a buckskin string and placed on four layers of the same skin. It was found 8 feet below the original surface of the mound and in extremely hard, dry dirt which had never been disturbed.

From the figure and the description we can have but little doubt that this was a buckskin hunting-shirt, which gives support to Colonel Norris's suggestion.

Recently some interesting burial mounds near Madisonville have been carefully explored by Dr. C. L. Metz in the interest of the Peabody Museum. Only partial notices of these explorations, which are not yet completed, have been published, but we deem these of sufficient importance in this connection to quote freely from them,[32] so far as they serve to ill.u.s.trate the modes of burial and construction of burial mounds of this region.

Speaking of one of the mounds of a group situated in Anderson Township, Professor Putnam remarks:

Mound 21 of Group C was about 4 feet high and 50 in diameter.

It proved to be made entirely of the sandy loam of the immediate vicinity. The remains of five skeletons were discovered at different points in the lower portion of the mound. The bones were nearly all reduced to dust, and only a fragment here and there could be saved. There was not a single relic found with the skeletons, and a few flint chips and a broken arrow-head were the only artificial objects found in the earth composing the mound. The condition of the bones showed considerable antiquity, but their advanced decay and friability were probably largely due to the character of the soil in which they were enclosed. The position of the skeletons rather goes to show that the several bodies were buried at different times, and that the mound was gradually constructed as the burials took place. For the present we are inclined to consider this mound, with some others in the valley, as a place of sepulcher by tribes of a more recent time than the builders of the earthworks of the Turner group.

Mound No. 22 proved to be of a more interesting character than the last. This mound was 14 feet high and about 100 in diameter. It was composed of pure clay, except in the central portion. Five feet from the top there was found a hard ma.s.s of burnt earth and ashes, 7 feet deep and a little over 9 feet in width and length. Resting on top of this, about in the center, and covered in part by the overlying clay, lay a large stone celt. A foot below this, in the burnt material, was a stone implement perforated at its upper end. Below this, at points several feet apart, in the burnt ma.s.s, were three holes or pockets, each of which contained the remains of portions of human skeletons, surrounded by a thin layer of clay. Near the bones in the lowest pocket were three spear-heads or chipped points. A few potsherds and several flint chips were found throughout the burnt ma.s.s. Under it was a circular bed of black soil and ashes, 13 inches thick in the center and 14 feet in diameter, beneath which was a layer of fine sand and gravel, 3 inches thick, which covered another circular bed of black soil and ashes, 14 inches thick in the center and 15 feet in diameter. Directly under the center of this lower layer was a pit 4 feet deep and 10 feet 4 inches long, 4 feet wide at the ends and 3 feet 5 inches wide at the center. This pit probably had contained a wooden structure, as its sides showed rough striations, as if large logs had once rested against them. The pit had been dug in the drift gravel upon which the mound was built, and was nearly filled with soft, spongy ashes mixed with a reddish substance. Extended at full length at the bottom of the pit was a human skeleton, with the head to the west. Among the bones of the neck a single sh.e.l.l bead was found; at the feet were ten stones or small bowlders, such as are common in the drift gravel. It is evident that this interesting tumulus was erected over the grave which was dug in the underlying gravel, and that the human bones placed in the burnt ma.s.s above the grave, with the few stone implements found in or on the ma.s.s, had some connection with the funeral ceremonies which took place in connection with the burial of the body in the pit below. The regularity of the deposits over the pit, which was under the center of the mound, seems to be sufficient proof of this.

Another mound, nearer the river, situated on an elevated portion of bottom land, was found to differ in construction from any of the others explored in this vicinity. This is described as follows:[33]

According to Mr. William Edwards, sixty years ago it was about 9 feet high, and covered by a heavy forest growth, which also extended over the region about. Over fifty years ago the land was cleared and the mound sc.r.a.ped down by Mr. Edwards, who, after removing about 4 feet of earth from its summit, came to a large quant.i.ty of stones, with which were many human bones. Since that time the mound has been plowed over and stones have been taken from it until it has been so nearly leveled as hardly to be noticed.

Thus only the base of the mound could be explored; but that has proved of great interest in connection with the other works of the valley. On removing the earth around the base it was found that stones, many of considerable size, had been so arranged as to form a mound about 5 feet high in the center and 90 feet in diameter, over which the earth had been placed to the height of about 4 feet, as stated by Mr. Edwards. In height about one-half of the stone portion of the mound was undisturbed. On removing the outer covering of stones it was found that many burials, probably at least one hundred, had been made in the mound. The remains of seventy-one skeletons were obtained. These skeletons were all more or less crushed by the stones which surrounded them, as, in addition to the outer stones of the mound, each body had been surrounded with stones at the time of its burial. In many instances large slabs of limestone had been used, and in a few cases they were set on edge around the body. In other cases small stones had been piled around and over the bodies, which had been placed in various positions, some extended and others flexed in various ways.

With many of the skeletons were stone implements and ornaments, among which were several of the flat stones with two or more perforations, generally known as gorgets. There were also many bone implements, sh.e.l.l and bone ornaments, and cut teeth of bears.

Several small copper awls in bone handles, and the sh.e.l.ls of box-turtles, were also found with the skeletons. Many fragments of pottery and broken bones of animals were scattered through the ma.s.s of stones and human bones. At the feet of the skeleton, in the center of the mound, there was an upright slab of limestone 2 feet long by 20 inches wide, and with this skeleton were the following objects: Resting on the chest was a large ornament made from the apex of a conch sh.e.l.l, with a hole at one edge for suspension; below this, on the ribs, was a spear-shaped gorget, with one hole, and by its side were several sh.e.l.l ornaments, also perforated.

Lying near the right femur and parallel with it was a carved bone, grooved on the under side and having two holes; between this and the leg bone were four small pieces of carved bone about an inch in length. In the bones of the right hand was a small awl made of native copper and inserted in a little round handle made of bone, similar to others found with other skeletons in the mound. At the south side of the mound, on the original surface, was a burnt s.p.a.ce, on which was a large quant.i.ty, several bushels, of broken bones of animals, clam sh.e.l.ls, and fragments of pottery mixed with ashes. This ma.s.s seems to have existed before the mound was made, or at all events completed, as five of the burials had taken place above it. On the plain about the mound are evidences of the site of a former village, and the annual plowing brings to light many animal remains, fragments of pottery, and stone implements of the same character as those from, the mound. From this fact, and from the character of the burials in the mound, as well as that of the objects found with the skeletons, and from the absence of the characteristic ornaments found with so many of the human remains in the Turner group and other ancient mounds of the Ohio Valley, we are led to look upon this stone mound as the burial place of a tribe of Indians living in the region subsequent to the builders of the Turner mounds. The remains found in this stone mound, as a whole, indicate that the people here buried were closely connected with those who made the singular ash-pits in the ancient cemetery near Madisonville.[34]

Pa.s.sing into West Virginia we notice first the celebrated Grave Greek mound. This has been described and figured so often that it is unnecessary for me to do more than call attention to certain particulars in regard to it to which I may desire hereafter to refer by way of comparison. It is in the form of a regular cone, about 70 feet high and nearly 300 feet in diameter at the base. A shaft sunk from the apex to the base disclosed two wooden vaults, the first about half way down and the other at the bottom. In the first or upper one was a single skeleton, decorated with a profusion of sh.e.l.l beads, copper bracelets, and plates of mica. The lower vault, which was partly in an excavation made in the natural ground, was found to be rectangular, 12 by 8 feet and 7 feet high. Along each side and across the ends upright timbers had been placed, which supported other timbers thrown across the vault as a covering. These were covered with a layer of rough stones. In this vault were two human skeletons, one of which had no ornaments, while the other was surrounded with hundreds of sh.e.l.l beads. In attempting to enlarge this vault the workmen discovered around it ten other skeletons. While carrying the horizontal tunnel, several ma.s.ses of charcoal and burnt bones were encountered after a distance of 12 or 15 feet had been reached.

Before making any comments on the construction of this noted work and the mode of burial in it, I will present some facts recently brought to light in regard to the burial mounds of the Kanawha Valley by the a.s.sistants of the Bureau.

A large mound situated on the farm of Col. B. H. Smith, near Charleston, is conical in form, about 175 feet in diameter at the base and 35 feet high. It appears to be double; that is to say, it consists of two mounds, one built on the other, the lower or original one 20 feet and the upper 15 feet high.

The exploration was made by sinking a shaft, 12 feet square at the top and narrowing gradually to 6 feet square at the bottom, down through the center of the structure to the original surface of the ground and a short distance below it. After removing a slight covering of earth, an irregular ma.s.s of large, rough, flat sandstones, evidently brought from the bluffs half a mile distant, was encountered. Some of these sandstones were a good load for two ordinary men.

The removal of a wagon load or so of these stones brought to light a stone vault 7 feet long and 4 feet deep, in the bottom of which was found a large and much decayed human skeleton, but wanting the head, which the most careful examination failed to discover. A single rough spearhead was the only accompanying article found in this vault. At the depth of 6 feet, in earth similar to that around the base of the mound, was found a second skeleton, also much decayed, of an adult of ordinary size. At 9 feet a third skeleton was encountered, in a ma.s.s of loose, dry earth, surrounded by the remains of a bark coffin. This was in a much, better state of preservation than the other two. The skull, which was preserved, is of the compressed or "flat-head" type.

For some 3 or 4 feet below this the earth was found to be mixed with ashes. At this depth in his downward progress Colonel Norris began to encounter the remains of what further excavation showed to have been a timber vault, about 12 feet square and 7 or 8 feet high. From the condition in which the remains of the cover were found, he concludes that this must have been roof-shaped, and, having become decayed, was crushed in by the weight of the addition made to the mound. Some of the walnut timbers of this vault were as much as 12 inches in diameter.

In this vault were found five skeletons, one lying prostrate on the floor at the depth of 19 feet from the top of the mound, and four others, which, from the positions in which they were found, were supposed to have been placed standing in the four corners. The first of these was discovered at the depth of 14 feet, amid a commingled ma.s.s of earth and decaying bark and timbers, nearly erect, leaning against the wall, and surrounded by the remains of a bark coffin. All the bones except those of the left forearm were too far decayed to be saved; these were preserved by two heavy copper bracelets which yet surrounded them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 21.--Copper gorget from mound, Kanawha County, West Virginia.]

The skeleton found lying in the middle of the floor of the vault was of unusually large size, "measuring 7 feet 6 inches in length and 19 inches between the shoulder sockets." It had also been inclosed in a wrapping or coffin of bark, remains of which were still distinctly visible. It lay upon the back, head east, legs together, and arms by the sides.

There were six heavy bracelets on each wrist; four others were found under the head, which, together with a spear-point of black flint, were incased in a ma.s.s of mortar-like substance, which had evidently been wrapped in some textile fabric. On the breast was a copper gorget (Fig.

21). In each hand were three spear-heads of black flint, and others were about the head, knees, and feet. Near the right hand were two hemat.i.te celts, and on the shoulder were three large and thick plates of mica. About the shoulders, waist, and thighs were numerous minute perforated sh.e.l.ls and sh.e.l.l beads.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 22.--Pipe from mound, Kanawha County, West Virginia.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 23.--Pipe from mound, Butler County, Ohio.]

While filling in the excavation, the pipe represented in Fig. 22 was found in the dirt which had been removed from it. This pipe has been carved out of gray steat.i.te and highly polished. It is worthy of note that it is precisely of the form described by Adair as made by the Cherokees, and also that it approaches very near to an Ohio type (Fig.

23).

Another mound of rather large size, in the same locality, was opened by the Bureau a.s.sistant.

In order that all the facts bearing on its uses may be understood it is necessary to notice its immediate surroundings.

Plate V is a map showing the ancient works in the valley of the Kanawha, from 3 to 5 miles below Charleston, and Plate VI is an enlarged plat of the area embracing those numbered I, II and 1, 3, and 4 on the map. As will be seen by an inspection of the latter plate, the works included are two circular enclosures, 1 and 2; one excavation; one included mound, 2; three mounds, 3, 1, and 4, outside of the enclosures; and a graded way. As our attention at present is directed only to the large mound, 1, it is unnecessary to notice the other works further than to add that each enclosure is about 220 feet in diameter, and consists of a circular wall and an inside ditch. The excavation is nearly circular and about 140 feet in diameter. The large mound is conical in form, 173 feet in diameter, and 33 feet high. It is slightly truncated, the top having been leveled off some forty years ago for the purpose of building a judge's stand in connection with a race-course that was laid out around the mound.

A shaft 12 feet square at the top and narrowing downward was sunk to the base. At the depth of 4 feet, in a very hard bed of earth and ashes mixed, were found two much decayed human skeletons, both stretched horizontally on their backs, heads south, and near their heads several stone implements. From this point until a depth of 24 feet was reached the shaft pa.s.sed through very hard earth of a light-gray color, apparently clay and ashes mixed, in which nothing of consequence was found. When a depth of 24 feet was reached the material suddenly changed to a much softer and darker earth, disclosing the casts and some decayed fragments of timbers from 6 to 12 inches in diameter. Here were found fragments of bark, ashes, and also numerous fragments of animal bones, some of which had been split lengthwise. At the depth of 31 feet was a human skeleton, lying prostrate, head north, which had evidently been enclosed in a coffin or wrapping of elm bark. In contact with the head was a thin sheet of hammered native copper. By enlarging the base of the shaft until a s.p.a.ce some 16 feet in diameter was opened, the character and the contents of the base of the mound were more fully ascertained.

This brought to light the fact that the builders, after having first smoothed, leveled, and packed the natural surface, carefully spread upon the floor a layer of bark (chiefly elm), the inner side up, and upon this a layer of fine white ashes, clear of charcoal, to the depth, probably, of 5 or 6 inches, though pressed now to little more than 1 inch. On this the bodies were laid and presumably covered with bark.

The enlargement of the shaft also brought to view ten other skeletons, all apparently adults, five on one side and five on the other side of the central skeleton, and, like it, extended horizontally, with their feet pointing toward the central one but not quite touching it. Like the first, they had all been buried in bark coffins or wrappings. With each skeleton on the east side was a fine, apparently unused lance-head about 3 inches long, and by the right side of the northern one a fish-dart, three arrow-heads, and some fragments of _Unio_ sh.e.l.ls and pottery. No implements or ornaments were found with either of the five skeletons on the west side, although careful search was made therefor. In addition to the copper plate, a few sh.e.l.l beads and a large lance-head were found with the central skeleton. As there were a number of holes resembling post-holes, about the base, which were filled with rotten bark and decayed vegetable matter, I am inclined to believe there was a vault here similar to the lower vault in the Grave Creek mound, in which the walls were of timbers set up endwise in the ground. But it is proper to state that the a.s.sistant who opened the mound is rather disposed to doubt the correctness of this explanation.

In order to show the character of the smaller burial mounds of this region, I give descriptions of a few opened by Colonel Norris.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PL. V. PLAT OF ANCIENT WORKS, KANAWHA COUNTY, W. VA.]

One 20 feet in diameter and 7 feet high, with a beech tree 30 inches in diameter growing on it, was opened by running a broad trench through it.

The material of which it was composed was yellow clay, evidently from an excavation in the hillside near it. Stretched horizontally on the natural surface of the ground, faces up and heads south, were seven skeletons, six adults and one child, all charred. They were covered several inches thick with ashes, charcoal, and fire-brands, evidently the remains of a very heavy fire which must have been smothered before it was fully burned out. Three coa.r.s.e lance-heads were found among the bones of the adults, and around the neck of the child three copper beads, apparently of hammered native copper.

Another mound, 50 feet in diameter and 5 feet high, standing guard, as it were, at the entrance of an inclosure, was opened, revealing the following particulars: The top was strewn with fragments of flat rocks, most of which were marked with one or more small, artificial, cup-shaped depressions. Below these, to the depth, of 2 or 3 feet, the hard yellow clay was mixed throughout with similar stones, charcoal, ashes, stone chips, and fragments of rude pottery. Near the center and 3 feet from the top of the mound were the much decayed remains of a human skeleton, lying on its back, in a very rude stone-slab coffin. Beneath this were other flat stones, and under them charcoal, ashes, and baked earth, covering the decayed bones of some three or four skeletons which lay upon the original surface of the ground. So far as could be ascertained, the skeletons in this mound lay with their heads toward the east. No relics of any kind worthy of notice were found with them.

Another mound of similar size, upon a dry terrace, was found to consist chiefly of very hard clay, scattered through which were stone chips and fragments of rude pottery. Near the natural surface of the ground a layer of ashes and charcoal was encountered, in which were found the remains of at least two skeletons.

A mound some 200 yards south of the inclosure, situated on a slope and measuring 50 feet in diameter and 6 feet in height, gave a somewhat different result. It consisted wholly of very hard clay down to the natural surface of the hill-slope. But further excavation revealed a vault or pit in the original earth 8 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 3 feet deep at the upper end. In this was found a decayed skeleton, with the head up hill or toward the north. Upon the breast was a sandstone gorget, and upon it a leaf-shaped knife of black flint and a neatly polished hemat.i.te celt. The bones of the right arm were found stretched out at right angles to the body, along a line of ashes. Upon the bones of the open hand were three piles (five in each) of small leaf-shaped flint knives.

As the four small mounds just mentioned pertain to the Clifton groups, in the Elk River Valley, we will call attention to one or two of the Charleston group, for the purpose of affording the reader the means of comparison.

Below the center of No. 7 (see Plate), sunk into the original earth, was a vault about 8 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 3 feet deep. Lying extended on the back in the bottom of this, amid the rotten fragments of a bark coffin, was a decayed human skeleton, fully 7 feet long, with head west.

No evidence of fire was to be seen, nor were any stone implements discovered, but lying in a circle just above the hips were fifty circular pieces of white perforated sh.e.l.l, each about 1 inch in diameter and an eighth of an inch thick. The bones of the left arm lay by the side of the body, but those of the right arm, as in one of the mounds heretofore mentioned, were stretched at right angles to the body, reaching out to a small oven-shaped vault, the mortar or cement roof of which was still unbroken. The capacity of this small circular vault was probably two bushels, and the peculiar appearance of the dark-colored deposit therein, and other indications, led to the belief that it had been filled with corn (maize) in the ear. The absence of weapons would indicate that the individual buried here was not a warrior, though a person of some importance.

Mound No. 23 of this group presents some peculiarities worthy of notice.

It is 312 feet in circ.u.mference at the base and 25 feet high, covered with a second growth of timber, some of the stumps of the former growth yet remaining. It is unusually sharp and symmetrical. From the top down the material was found to be a light-gray and apparently mixed earth, so hard as to require the vigorous use of the pick to penetrate it. At the depth of 15 feet the explorers began to find the casts and fragments of poles or round timbers less than a foot in diameter. These casts and rotten remains of wood and bark increased in abundance from this point until the original surface of the ground was reached. By enlarging the lower end of the shaft to 14 feet in diameter it was ascertained that this rotten wood and bark were the remains of what had once been a circular or polygonal, timber-sided, and conical-roofed vault. Many of the timbers of the sides and roof, being considerably longer than necessary, had been allowed to extend beyond the points of support often 8 or 10 feet, those on the sides beyond the crossing and those of the roof downward beyond the wall. Upon the floor and amid the remains of the timber were numerous human bones and also two whole skeletons, the latter but slightly decayed, though badly crushed by the weight pressing on them, but unaccompanied by an ornament or an implement of any kind. A further excavation of about 4 feet below the floor, or what was supposed to be the floor, of this vault, and below the original surface of the ground, brought to light six circular, oven-shaped vaults, each about 3 feet in diameter and the same in depth. As these six were so placed as to form a semicircle, it is presumed there are others under that portion of the mound not reached by the excavation. All were filled with dry, dark dust or decayed substances, supposed to be the remains of Indian corn in the ear, as it was similar to that heretofore mentioned. In the center of the circle indicated by the positions of these minor vaults, and the supposed center of the base of the mound (the shaft not being exactly central), and but 2 feet below the floor of the main vault, and in a fine mortar or cement, were found two cavities resembling in form the bottle or gourd shaped vessel so frequently met with in the mounds of southeastern Missouri and northeastern Arkansas. Unfortunately the further investigation of this work was stopped at this stage of progress by cold weather.

In another mound of this group the burial was in a box-shaped stone vault, not of slabs in the usual method, but built up of rough, angular stones.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 24.--Mound with so-called "altar," Kanawha County, West Virginia.]

Mound 31 of this group seems to furnish a connecting link between the West Virginia and the Ohio mounds. It is sharp in outline, has a steep slope, and is flattened on the top; is 318 feet in circ.u.mference at the base and about 25 feet high. It was opened by digging a shaft 10 feet in diameter from the center of the top to the base. After pa.s.sing through the top layer of surface soil, some 2 feet thick, a layer of clay and ashes 1 foot thick was encountered. Here, near the center of the shaft, were two skeletons, lying horizontally, one immediately over the other, the upper and larger one with the face down and the lower with the face up. There were no indications of fire about them. Immediately over the heads were one celt and three lance-heads. At the depth of 13 feet and a little north of the center of the mound were two very large skeletons, in a sitting posture, with their extended legs interlocked to the knees.