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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/17969-8.txt b/17969-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bf14819 --- /dev/null +++ b/17969-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1030 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mound-Builders, by William J. Smyth + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Mound-Builders + +Author: William J. Smyth + +Release Date: March 12, 2006 [EBook #17969] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOUND-BUILDERS *** + + + + +Produced by Thierry Alberto, Diane Monico, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net. (This file was produced from images +generously made available by the Canadian Institute for +Historical Microreproductions (www.canadiana.org).) + + + + + + + + + +MOUND-BUILDERS + +BY + +REV. W. J. SMYTH, M.A., B.Sc., Ph.D. + +_Pastor of St. Joseph Street Presbyterian Church, Montreal._ + + +PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, +TORONTO. + + +MONTREAL: +GAZETTE PRINTING COMPANY. +APRIL, 1886. + + + + +MOUND-BUILDERS + +BY REV. WILLIAM J. SMYTH, M.A., B.Sc., Ph.D. + + +When the early settlers began to pioneer the unbroken forests of North +America, they considered the various Indian tribes to be the true +Aborigines of this continent. But long before the red man, even long +before the growth of the present forests, there lived an ancient race, +whose origin and fate are surrounded with impenetrable darkness. The +remains of their habitations, temples and tombs, are the only voices +that tell us of their existence. Over broad areas, in the most fertile +valleys, and along the numerous tributaries of the great rivers of the +central and western portions of the United States, are to be found +these wonderful remains, of the existence and origin of which, even +the oldest red man could give no history. + +Following in the track of these ancient tumuli, which have been raised +with some degree of order and sagacity, we are bound to believe that +they were constructed by a very intelligent and somewhat civilized +race, who during long periods enjoyed the blessings of peace, but like +most nations of the earth, at times were plunged in the horrors of +war. We cannot tell by what name these strange people were known +during their existence. But archæologists, to keep themselves safe, +have given them the name of "Mound-builders," from the nature of the +structures left behind them. + +Of this wonderful, semi-civilized, prehistoric race, we have no +written testimony. Their mysterious enclosures, implements of war, and +comparatively impregnable fortifications, together with a few strange +tablets, are the only evidence of their character, civilization, and +doom. No contemporary race, if such there existed on this continent, +has left any record of them. + +The mounds they have left are found in the western part of the State +of New York, and extend, it is said, as far as Nebraska. And as they +have lately been found in the Northwest, they have thus a much more +northern limit than was at first thought, while the southern limit is +the Gulf of Mexico. + +Having seen only a few mounds in Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky, I +must confine my paper to those found in the State of Ohio, where, +during a residence of seventeen months, I made the closest +investigation my time and duties permitted. In Ohio, the number of +mounds, including enclosures of different kinds, is estimated at about +13,000, though it requires the greatest care to distinguish between +the mounds proper and those subsequently erected by the Indians. In +some parts they are very close together, which is strong evidence that +these regions were densely populated. In others, a solitary mound, +with adjacent burial mounds, gives us the idea of a rural village or +town. + + +ENCLOSURES.--In the State of Ohio, alone, there have been found 1,500 +enclosures. Some of these have walls ranging in height from three to +thirty feet, enclosing areas of from ten to 400 acres. Those areas, +enclosed by strong walls, erected in regions difficult of access, were +undoubtedly intended as military enclosures; while those areas +enclosed by slight walls, with no mounds to cover the openings, were +intended as sacred enclosures. I shall leave the consideration of the +sacred enclosures until I describe the temple, or sacrificial mounds, +giving a brief outline of some of the famous fortifications built by +those strange people. + +Within convenient distance of the city of Xenia, on Little Miami River +in Warren county, Ohio, can be seen at any time that famous enclosure +known as "Fort Ancient." There can be no mistake as to the intention +of this wonderful enclosure. It is situated on the east bank of the +Miami on a most commanding position. On the east, two ravines +originate, running on either side towards the river, leaving the great +fortress on an elevation of 230 feet above the river. The whole is +surrounded by a wall of five miles in length, but owing to the uneven +course of the river, there are only enclosed one hundred acres. The +wall has numerous openings, which, however, are well protected by +inner walls, or mounds. These openings could be occupied by warriors +while the interior would not be exposed to the enemy. Within the +enclosure are disposed twenty-four reservoirs, which could be +dexterously connected with springs, so that in time of siege, they +would be comparatively independent. The strength of this fortress does +not depend on the walls alone, which range in height from five to +twenty feet, but upon its isolated position and steep sides. Near the +fortification are two large mounds from which run two parallel walls +for 1,350 feet, and then unite, enclosing another mound. We cannot +tell what part these outer walls and mounds played in the defence of +this fortification. But we know that all give evidence of an immense +garrison occupied by an ancient and somewhat civilized race, whose +numerous enemies, doubtless, forced such strong defence. In point of +inaccessibility, engineering skill, and strength, this famous +enclosure will compare not unfavorably with Edinburgh Castle, the +stronghold of Quebec, or the impregnable Gibraltar. + +Another stronghold of considerable importance may be seen at Fort +Hill, in Highland county, on an elevation of 500 feet, and enclosing +an area of forty acres. There is another near Piqua, on a hill 160 +feet high; and another near the city of Dayton, on a hill 160 feet +high, where a mound is enclosed, which like the ancient watch-towers +of Scripture, can command a view of the whole surrounding country. +Near Carlisle lies the site of another remarkable military enclosure, +which overlooks the fertile valley, between the Twin and Miami Rivers. +Two deep ravines fortify the north and south sides, while an almost +perpendicular bluff fortifies the east. The wall which is partly of +earth and partly of stone is 3,676 feet in length, and encloses a +beautiful area of fifteen acres. + +The settlers state that in early times there were two stone mounds and +one stone circle, which contained such excellent building stone, that +they removed them for building purposes. They had to cut a way and +grade it, to remove the stones, which those rude architects of early +prehistoric times found no difficulty in taking from a distant quarry +to that high elevation. We must therefore agree that their knowledge +of the mechanical powers was far superior to anything the Indian race +has shown. + +About the largest fortification in Ohio may be seen at Bournville. It +encloses a magnificent area of fertility, on an elevation of 400 feet. +The sides are remarkably steep, and are washed by small creeks, that +empty into Paint Creek hard by. Within the fortification are several +depressions, where water remains most of the year. The area, of +itself, would be a beautiful farm, as it consists of 140 acres. The +wall, which was about 2-1/4 miles in length, is very much in ruins, +being chiefly built of stone. Some years ago the whole place was +covered by the trees, and on the dilapidated stone wall, may still be +seen immense trees, whose growth among the stones helped to displace +them. The decayed wood beneath some of these trees indicates that +successions of forests have flourished since these forts were +abandoned by those who made them. + + +GRADED WAYS.--It is well known that, in most of these valleys; there +are several terraces, from the river bottom or flats, up to the high +lands in the distance. Near a place called Piketown there is a +beautiful graded avenue. The third terrace is seventeen feet above the +second and the second about fourteen feet from the river flat. These +terraces form, when graded, this avenue, which has walls on either +side in height twenty-two feet. These walls run for 1,010 feet to the +third terrace, where they continue to run for 2,580 feet, terminating +in a group of mounds one of which is thirty feet high. Some distance +from these walls another wall runs 212 feet at right angles, and then +turns parallel for 420 feet, when it curves inwardly for 240 feet. + + +MOUNDS.--I stated at the outset that the mounds in Ohio were very +numerous. They are of various sizes, ranging from those which are only +a few feet in height and a few yards at their base, to those which are +about 90 feet in height, and covering some acres at their base. These +mounds are mostly composed of earth, the material often differing +greatly from the surrounding soil. When we consider the multitudes of +these mounds, and the immense transportation of earth and stones +required in their structure, it needs no stretch of imagination to +conclude that the Mound-builders were a mighty race. Most of these +mounds are located near large rivers or streams, and, consequently, in +the valleys, although some few are to be found on high lands, and even +on hills very suitable for military purposes. Sometimes they may be +seen in clusters, indicating a great business centre and large +population, while again only one may be found in a journey of fifty or +one hundred miles. + +During the last fifty years, these tumuli have been carefully +examined, and, from their contents, shape and position, they are now +classified as Temple or Sacrificial Mounds, Burial or Sepulchral +Mounds, Symbolic Mounds, Signal Mounds and Indefinite Mounds. I shall +briefly describe the characteristic of each class and give a few +examples. + +_Temple Mounds_.--These mounds are not so numerous in Ohio as in some +other States, yet they occur in sufficient numbers to deserve a small +share of our attention. The city of Marietta has slowly encroached +upon some interesting remains of a sacrificial character, which +consist of two irregular squares containing 50 and 27 acres +respectively. They are situated on a level plain 100 feet above the +level of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers. The smaller square has ten +gateways, which are covered by mounds, while the larger square, being +strictly a sacred enclosure, has no mounds to cover the 16 openings, +but contains nevertheless four temple mounds of considerable interest. +On the top of these mounds, doubtless there were erected capacious +temples, as there are significant avenues of ascent. There may still +be seen the remains of the ancient altar, where, without doubt, these +people assembled for worship, and where, from the presence of human +bones, we may conclude human beings were offered in sacrifice. In all +the sacred enclosures, evidences of altars have been found, on which, +doubtless, the sacrificial fires blazed for ages. Often are to be +found successions of alternate layers of ashes and blue clay, +indicating a desire for pure sacrifice. + +In the neighborhood of Newark, Ohio, at the forks of Licking River, +may be seen most elaborate enclosures, square, circular, and polygonal +in their form, covering in all an extent of four square miles. Like +the ancient temples of the Druids, most of the enclosures have their +openings to the east, or rising sun, so that the first rays shall +strike the altar where doubtless a priest, from the early hour of +dawn, performed mysterious rites. + +On the west, there is erected a mound, 170 feet long and 14 feet in +height, which overlooks the whole works, and has been styled "the +Observatory". To the east is a true circle 2,880 feet in +circumference, the wall being 6 feet in height. To the north of this +is an avenue leading from the circle to an octagon of fifty acres, in +the wall of which are eight gateways, which, however, are covered by +mounds five feet in height. From this strange eight-sided figure run +three parallel walls. Those to the south are about two miles in +length, and those running towards the east are each about one mile in +length. + +About a mile east, where the middle line of parallel walls terminates, +is a square containing twenty acres, within and around the walls of +which are disposed seven mounds. To the north-east of this is an +elliptical work of large dimensions. On the south-east is a circle, in +the centre of which is the form of a bird with wings expanded. The +body is 155 feet, the length of each wing 110 feet, and the head of +the bird is towards the opening. When this structure was opened, there +was found an altar, proving that, in this circular place, this ancient +people must have assembled for worship. + +There is a place three miles north of Chillicothe, where an extensive +enclosure--now called "Mound City"--contains 26 well formed and +regularly disposed mounds, covering an area of 13 acres. Many of those +mounds contained altars at their base, but have been subsequently +converted into ordinary mounds. One mound, which is 90 feet in +diameter at the base and 7-1/2 feet in height, contained an altar, +within the basin of which was found a layer of solid ashes three +inches thick, in which were numerous pieces of pottery and +shell-beads. On the top of the altar was a layer of sand, then gravel +for two feet, then a thin layer of sand, then one foot of gravel. + +Buried three feet below the apex of the mound, were found two well +developed and highly preserved skeletons, which, however, were not +those of Mound-builders, but rather of the Indians who were buried +there long after the mounds were abandoned. One altar was covered by a +layer of opaque mica, which must have been brought from a great +distance. In the centre of the basin was found, besides numerous other +relics, a large heap of burned human bones, which would indicate it an +altar of human sacrifice. From other evidences, we may safely conclude +that they were Sun or Fire-worshippers. As to the cause of these +altars being afterwards changed into common mounds, it is difficult to +determine. Many such mounds are found, which for a long time were used +for purposes of sacrifice, and then covered over by many feet of +earth. We may not wonder, however, at this, as even now many old +churches are abandoned to the fate of being turned into dwelling +houses or barns. + +It may be, however, that after the decease of the priest who performed +his sacred functions before the altar for many years, the people, to +whom he had so long ministered, laid, or burned his remains on the +altar which they so much revered, and then, like the ancient builders +of the pyramids, erected a monument to departed worth, and during the +strange ritual deposited beside the respected remains whatever +implements or ornaments they could part with, in honor of the dead. + +_Burial Mounds_.--As in modern days, a place of sepulture is usually +selected some distance from the city or town, so the burial mounds may +be expected without the enclosures. In our own time we find some +cemeteries densely populated with graves, and others have but few. So +it was in the days of the Mound-builders; for we find in some places +groups of burial mounds, and in other places only a few may be found +scattered over the plain. + +Burial mounds are of various sizes, I presume, according to the +dignity of the individual entombed. Sometimes one large mound is found +to possess a skeleton, and some interesting relics, which indicate the +position of the departed, while a group of smaller mounds is situated +around it. The large one perhaps contained the skeleton of a leader, +surrounded by a few of his intimate followers. Or perhaps it was that +of a patriarch, surrounded by his numerous progeny, much as, in our +own day, burial plots are set apart for families. + +Grave Creek burial mound, which stands at the junction of Grave Creek, +Virginia, with the Ohio, is one of the largest and most important +burial mounds in America. It is 70 feet in height and at its base it +is 1,000 feet in circumference. When this mound was opened, two vaults +were found, one at the base contained two skeletons, one of them a +female. The logs of which this vault was composed were all decayed, +and the earth and stones lay upon the skeletons. In the upper vault +there was a single skeleton very much decayed. Within these vaults and +beside the illustrous dead, were found more than 3,000 shell-beads, +ornaments of mica, copper bracelets, and other stone carvings. Around +the lower vault were found ten much decayed skeletons, all in a +sitting posture. + +The skeletons in the vaults, doubtless, were the remains of royalty, +or some distinguished chiefs, whose memory these devoted people +desired to perpetuate, while the ten skeletons, which surrounded the +vault, were perhaps some of their loyal subjects who were sacrificed +according to the custom of some of the heathen nations both ancient +and modern. Foster, desiring to draw a comparison or rather identify +this mode of burial with those of the Greeks and other nations, +directs our attention to Herodotus, Book IV, Chaps. 71 and 190. And +for identifying the ceremonial with the funeral of Achilles, our +attention is called to the Odyssey, Book XXIV, with the burial of +Hector in the Iliad, Book XXIV. + +Dr. Wilson identifies the burial of the living with the dead by giving +an account of the burial of Black Bird, the great chief of the Omahas +more than 60 years ago. He caught the smallpox at Washington, and +dying on his way home, he gave instructions to his braves around him +how he was to be buried. "His body was clothed with the gayest Indian +robes, decorated with scalps and war eagle plumes, and he was carried +to one of the loftiest bluffs on the Missouri. He was placed upon his +favorite war horse, a beautiful white steed. His bow was placed in his +hand. His shield, quiver, pipe, medicine-bag and tobacco-pouch hung by +his side, for his comfort on his journey to the happy hunting grounds +of the great Manitou. After a significant ceremonial, the Indians +placed turf and sod about the legs of the horse; gradually the pile +rose, until living horse and dead rider were buried together in this +memorial mound, which may be seen from the banks of the Missouri." + +But to come back to the mound, I now describe a sandstone disk, 1-1/2 +inch in diameter and 3/4 inch thick, taken up from near the skeleton +in the lower part of Grave Creek mound. According to Schoolcraft's +analysis, communicated to the American Ethnological Society, "Of the +22 alphabetic characters, 4 correspond with the ancient Greek, 4 with +the Etruscan, 5 with the old Northern runes, 6 with the ancient +Gaelic, 7 with the old Erse, 10 with the Phoenician, 14 with the old +British," and he also adds that equivalents may be found in the old +Hebrew. It is, as some writers have described it, an exceedingly +accommodating inscription. The following readings have been given:-- + +By M. Levy Bing: "What thou sayest, thou dost impose it, thou shinest +in thy impetuous clan, and rapid chamois." By M. Maurice Schwab +(1857): "The chief of emigration who reached these places, has fixed +these statutes forever." By M. Oppert: "The grave of one who was +assassinated here. May God, to revenge him, strike his murderer, +cutting off the hand of his existence." We can only say of these +readings what a Hebrew Rabbi said to an indolent student, who in +reading a verse in the Psalms in the original, gave the translation of +the next verse, "Gentlemen, that is a very free translation." Besides +this, other readings have been given, all of which have the advantage +that few can contradict them. + +In the Scioto valley, where there are many very interesting remains of +the Mound-builders, there are many burial mounds which have lately +been opened. In many of these, the casts of unhewn logs are still +visible, showing that the dead were placed in a rude vault, which was +afterwards covered by soil. One skeleton was found to have round the +neck several hundred beads, made mostly of marine shells, others made +of the tusks of animals and a few laminæ of mica. In the same mound +from which this skeleton was taken, the vault gave strong evidence of +its having been set on fire during the burial ceremony,--the large +quantity of charcoal proving that it was suddenly quenched by the +fresh soil heaped upon it. + +If these Mound-builders were Sun-worshippers, as may safely be +concluded from tablets and from rock markings, as well as from the +fact of their sacred enclosures mostly looking towards the east, where +the early rays would fall upon the altar, we may easily account for +the fire having a share In the burial ceremony. Some have concluded +that the blazing fire signified "life," and that the sudden quenching +signified "death." + +Let it not be thought, however, that there are no burying places but +these few mounds. I believe the mounds of a burial character were only +for persons of distinction, while in reality there are thousands of +ancient cemeteries of vast extent, where multitudes have received +common burial. The spring freshets yearly uncover many of these, +exposing not only their bones, but many ornaments and implements that +were used by this wonderful people, and which were deposited beside +them when consigned to the silent tomb. + +_Symbolic Mounds_.--There can be no mistake in affirming that the +strange mounds, so prevalent in Wisconsin, and frequently found in +other States, were the result of intention rather than accident. These +are sometimes called "Effigy Mounds." In Wisconsin, even implements, +as well as animals, are symbolized. The beaver, the tortoise, the +elephant, the serpent, the alligator seem to be their favorite +animals, whose images they have endeavored to perpetuate in mounds, of +course on a large scale. In Adams county, Ohio, on a steep bluff, 150 +feet above the level of Brush Creek, may be seen a huge serpent. + +It is called the "Serpent Mound." The head of the serpent lies towards +the point of the spur, and then like the serpent, its body winds +gracefully back for 700 feet, the tail curved into a triple coil. From +this and other evidences lately collected, we may assume that the +serpent was among the sacred animals. Between the jaws of this serpent +there is a stone mound, bearing marks of long use as an altar. The +body, which is a mere winding wall, is, on an average, five feet in +height, and thirty-feet broad at the base near the centre. Doubtless +this wall was much higher when first made, and owing to the rains of +centuries it has become lower and broader. + +Another mound, the shape and proportion of an alligator, may be seen +in Licking county, Ohio, about one mile from Granville. This is also +on a spur of land near the Licking River. Its length is 250 feet and +height about four feet. Its whole outline is strictly conformable to +the alligator with which animal they must have been familiar along the +Mississippi, where they could easily journey by boat. Rather than +transport the animal from the south, they doubtless erected this +representation of what they must have held sacred. + +In the State of Wisconsin there is one symbolic mound more worthy of +notice than any other. It is called "the Elephant Mound," from the +fact that it bears the proportion and conformability of the Mastodon. +This people must have known something of this animal which in early +times roamed over this continent. I think we should not be going too +far if we supposed that the Mound-builders lived contemporaneously +with the last of these monsters of the Prehistoric forests. + +_Signal Mounds_.--It seems quite in keeping with what we have already +seen of the sagacity of this wonderful race, that they should erect +stations of observation in various suitable regions, so that signals +could be given to the multitudes who dwelt in the plain, when they +were threatened by an approaching enemy. If a fire were lit on a much +burnt mound at the ancient fort near Bournville, it could be seen over +a large portion of the valleys, where numerous works are found. No +doubt, this was a signal mound, where the appointed watchman, like the +watchman of Scripture, could give the alarm of the coming foe, +enabling the industrious people to reach the fortress in safety. + +On a hill 600 feet high, near Chillicothe, Ohio, there is a mound, +which in the days of the Mound-builders must have been a signal mound. +A light on this can be seen for twenty miles either up or down the +valley. + +The great mound at Miamisburg, Ohio, which is 68 feet high and 852 +feet in circumference at its base, served, no doubt, this important +department of warfare, as a fire kindled on it could flash light into +Butler county, near Elk Creek, where it would again be taken up by the +watchman there, and light flashed in the direction of Xenia, and from +one signal mound to another until it would reach the great works at +Newark. Thus in the course of an hour the whole southern portion of +the State of Ohio could be warned of danger and prepare for combat or +shelter. + +Such a system has been used by all nations, both civilized and savage. +We need not wonder that the Mound-builders with such sagacity and +forethought, should establish such a system of alarm by which the +inhabitants could be apprised of invasion. + +_Indefinite Mounds_.--Of this class there are many. Thousands of such +indefinite mounds and squares and circles are to be seen scattered +over the various States of the Union. Their structure, composition and +contents, give us no clue by which they may be assigned a place. It is +believed that many of the strange works that abound in Butler county, +Ohio, and which cannot be classified, are among the incomplete works, +that is, works left unfinished by the builders. + + +IMPLEMENTS.--The people of Ohio have appropriated the implements of +the Mound-builders to a large extent. Almost every homestead in Ohio +is ornamented with some of those ancient implements and relics, yet +tons have been taken away to grace private and public museums in all +parts of this country, and even the museums of Europe and Asia. Among +the implements are to be found spear heads, arrow heads; rimmers, +knives, axes, hatchets, hammers, chisels, pestles, mortars, pottery, +pipes, sculpture, gorgets, tubes, and articles of bone and clothing. +Fragments of coarse, but uniformly spun and woven cloth have been +found, of course not in preservation, but charred and in folds. One +piece, near Middletown, Ohio, was found connected with tassels or +ornaments, and may be seen at the Smithsonian Institute at Washington. +In Anderson township, Ohio, native gold has been found for the first +time. Several small ornaments of copper have been found covered with +thin sheets of gold. Earrings also, made of meteoric iron, have been +found, and a serpent cut out of mica. Some terra-cotta figures also, +which give us an idea of the way the hair was dressed in the days of +the Mound-builders. I cannot here name all the implements and +ornaments that have been discovered. Though most of them are of hard +stone, yet many have been found made of copper. + + +MINING, ETC.--That these people were miners, is evident from the +prevalence of various mineral fragments and implements. At Mound City, +near Chillicothe, has been found galena, none of which can be found in +Ohio. Obsidian also is found in the shape of instruments, which they +must have transported from the Rocky Mountains. Ancient mining shafts +are found in Minnesota, where the solid rock had been excavated to the +depth of 60 feet. On Isle Royal there are pits 60 feet deep, worked +through nine feet of solid rock, at the bottom of which is a rich vein +of copper, and in the two miles of excavations in the same straight +line have been found the mining implements in great numbers. Such +advancement in mining, sagacity in warfare, industrial pursuits, and +geometric skill, as their works display, prove their great superiority +of race over the modern Indian. Their implements, some of them most +elaborately made, their brick-making and various other ingenious +works, enable us to place them high as an industrial people, while +their sacred enclosures, and altars, and tablets, together with the +numerous evidences of their being an agricultural nation, enable us to +place them far above the modern Indian in the scale of civilization. + +The people of the United States, though much to be commended because +of their prudence and forethought in laying out their modern towns and +cities along the various water courses, which serve as the different +highways of commerce, have by no means shown a superior sagacity in +that respect to the Mound-builders, whose great centres of population +are now mostly occupied, or are encroached upon by the modern cities. + +We may with safety assert that the population about Newark, and Xenia, +and Mound City, was far above what it is now. The country about +Dayton, Miamisburg, Oxford, Hamilton and Marietta was, undoubtedly, in +the days of the Mound-builders moving with a greater mass of human +beings than it can boast of to-day. + +And if those peaceable and industrious inhabitants were as numerous as +their remains indicate, what must have been the strength of those +invading hordes who caused their downfall and perhaps wiped out +forever every living representative of that ancient race, who could +leave no more lasting memorial of their existence and struggles than +those mysterious mounds which have given them their name. + + +ANTIQUITY OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS.--Upon this point there are many +theories, some regarding them as the earliest of the Indian tribes. +Others give them a very great age and claim them to belong to +preadamite man. By far the greater number of archæologists, however, +place their existence at about 2,000 years ago. + +In favor of the latter view we may call as evidence the present forest +trees, which, though of great age, still flourish on some of the +ancient remains. On one of the mounds at Marietta, Ohio, there stood a +gigantic tree, which, when cut down, displayed 800 rings of annual +growth. In many other places, trees of the age of 750 years have been +cut, and underneath them evidences of previous forests found. One tree +750 years old was found to have underneath it, on the walls of one of +the forts in Ohio, the cast of another tree of equal size, which would +carry us back at least 1,500 years since those trees began to grow on +those deserted walls of that ancient fortification. + +We have some data in the vegetable accumulations in the ancient mining +shafts near Lake Superior, as well as in the vegetable and other +matter deposited in the numerous pits and trenches found among the +works. Though these evidences cannot give the exact time of their +accumulation, yet they give it approximately, by comparison with +similar recent deposits. + +There is another still stronger argument in favor of their antiquity, +viz., the decayed condition of the skeletons. The skeletons of the +oldest Indian tribes are comparatively sound while those of the +Mound-builders are much decayed. If they are sound when brought out, +they at once begin to disintegrate in the atmosphere, which is a sure +sign of their antiquity. We know that some skeletons in Europe have +lately been exhumed, which, though buried more than 1,000 years, are +comparatively firm and well-preserved. We are, I think, bound to +ascribe a greater antiquity to the Mound-builders' skeletons than to +those found in the ancient barrows of Europe. Other considerations, +such as stream encroachment, and river-terrace formation, might also +be brought in as presumptive arguments in favor of their great +antiquity. + + +ORIGIN OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS.--This is a question not easily answered. +It brings me into no discredit before the educated world to +acknowledge ignorance on this mysterious point. The study of +Craniology and Philology, in connection with Ethnology, shall alone +throw light on this subject. Dr. Wilson says, in his "Prehistoric Man" +(p. 123), "The ethnical classification of this strange race is still +an unsettled question," and he declares without fear of contradiction, +"that especially concerning the Scioto Mound skull, the elevation and +breadth of the frontal bone, differs essentially from the Indian, and +that the cerebral development was more in accordance with the +character of that singular people, who without architecture have +perpetuated, in mere structures of earth, the evidences of geometric +skill, a definite means of determining angles, a fixed standard of +measurement, and the capacity as well as the practice of repeating +geometrically constructed works of large and uniform dimensions." + +Undoubtedly they were skilled in agriculture, from the remains of +ancient garden-beds, which were cultivated in a methodical manner. The +modern Indians give no such evidence of labor. For wherever they are +found they love to roam in undisputed possession of the forest, and +lead an indolent life. Of course I do not assign this as a valid +reason for their not being identified with the Mound-builders. An +ancient race may have a degenerate offspring. + +Nor shall I attempt to find in the various inscriptions any clue to +their Hebrew origin, or to identify that ancient people with the lost +tribes, as some have dared to do. Foster inclines to regard them as +emigrating from the tropics, rather than coming from the north. + +This would involve us in investigating the antiquity of the Mexican +and Peruvian ruins, where vast works of high architecture and more +advanced civilization were found than among the Mound-builders. There +is little difficulty in concluding that the Aztecs, who occupied +Mexico during the Spanish invasion under Cortez, were the conquerors +of several races that preceded them. Among these conquered races, no +doubt, were the Toltecs, who were afterwards found in such great +numbers, and in an amazing state of advanced civilization. The crania +of the Mound-builders and the Toltecs correspond. Now, whether they +migrated to the north from the tropics, or journeyed south from the +north, I cannot say. I should incline to the latter theory. Industry +is sure to advance. The rude mounds of the United States are far +surpassed by those immense pyramids in Mexico and Peru, surpassing the +Egyptian in size. And those fine architectural palaces and temples, +whose history we cannot fully know, far eclipse anything in the +northern part of America. + +Whoever they were and wherever they came from, they were doubtless +driven southward by the invading tribes of the north. They nobly +fought their way, contesting every foot, until superior numbers took +them by force. Thus these quiet and inoffensive creatures were finally +expelled from their home which doubtless their fathers had occupied +through centuries. If any escaped they, no doubt, found an asylum +southward, where there were other tribes equally civilized, and, +forming an union with them or conquered by them, they began a higher +and better civilization as seen in Mexico and Peru. + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Page 8: Octogon has been changed to octagon. + +Page 15: Smithsonion has been changed to Smithsonian. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mound-Builders, by William J. Smyth + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOUND-BUILDERS *** + +***** This file should be named 17969-8.txt or 17969-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/9/6/17969/ + +Produced by Thierry Alberto, Diane Monico, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net. 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J. Smyth + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: 70%; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mound-Builders, by William J. Smyth + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Mound-Builders + +Author: William J. Smyth + +Release Date: March 12, 2006 [EBook #17969] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOUND-BUILDERS *** + + + + +Produced by Thierry Alberto, Diane Monico, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net. (This file was produced from images +generously made available by the Canadian Institute for +Historical Microreproductions (www.canadiana.org).) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h1>MOUND-BUILDERS</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2><span class="smcap">REV. W. J. SMYTH, M.A., B.Sc., Ph.D.</span></h2> + +<p class="center"><i>Pastor of St. Joseph Street Presbyterian Church, Montreal.</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Published by Request of Natural History Society,<br /></span> +<span class="smcap">Toronto.</span></p> +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<p class="center">MONTREAL:<br /> +GAZETTE PRINTING COMPANY.<br /> +<span class="smcap">April</span>, 1886.<br /> +</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> + +<h2>MOUND-BUILDERS</h2> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By Rev. William J. Smyth, M.A., B.Sc., Ph.D.</span></p> + + +<p style="margin-top: 2em;">When the early settlers began to pioneer the unbroken +forests of North America, they considered the various Indian +tribes to be the true Aborigines of this continent. But long +before the red man, even long before the growth of the present +forests, there lived an ancient race, whose origin and +fate are surrounded with impenetrable darkness. The +remains of their habitations, temples and tombs, are the only +voices that tell us of their existence. Over broad areas, in +the most fertile valleys, and along the numerous tributaries +of the great rivers of the central and western portions of +the United States, are to be found these wonderful remains, +of the existence and origin of which, even the oldest red +man could give no history.</p> + +<p>Following in the track of these ancient tumuli, which +have been raised with some degree of order and sagacity, +we are bound to believe that they were constructed by a +very intelligent and somewhat civilized race, who during +long periods enjoyed the blessings of peace, but like most +nations of the earth, at times were plunged in the horrors +of war. We cannot tell by what name these strange people +were known during their existence. But archæologists, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +keep themselves safe, have given them the name of "Mound-builders," +from the nature of the structures left behind +them.</p> + +<p>Of this wonderful, semi-civilized, prehistoric race, we +have no written testimony. Their mysterious enclosures, +implements of war, and comparatively impregnable fortifications, +together with a few strange tablets, are the only +evidence of their character, civilization, and doom. No contemporary +race, if such there existed on this continent, has +left any record of them.</p> + +<p>The mounds they have left are found in the western part +of the State of New York, and extend, it is said, as far as +Nebraska. And as they have lately been found in the Northwest, +they have thus a much more northern limit than was +at first thought, while the southern limit is the Gulf of +Mexico.</p> + +<p>Having seen only a few mounds in Illinois, Indiana and +Kentucky, I must confine my paper to those found in the +State of Ohio, where, during a residence of seventeen +months, I made the closest investigation my time and duties +permitted. In Ohio, the number of mounds, including +enclosures of different kinds, is estimated at about 13,000, +though it requires the greatest care to distinguish between +the mounds proper and those subsequently erected by the +Indians. In some parts they are very close together, which +is strong evidence that these regions were densely populated. +In others, a solitary mound, with adjacent burial mounds, +gives us the idea of a rural village or town.</p> + + +<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><span class="smcap">Enclosures</span>.—In the State of Ohio, alone, there have been +found 1,500 enclosures. Some of these have walls ranging +in height from three to thirty feet, enclosing areas of from +ten to 400 acres. Those areas, enclosed by strong walls, +erected in regions difficult of access, were undoubtedly +intended as military enclosures; while those areas enclosed +by slight walls, with no mounds to cover the openings, were +intended as sacred enclosures. I shall leave the consideration +of the sacred enclosures until I describe the temple, or +sacrificial mounds, giving a brief outline of some of the +famous fortifications built by those strange people.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> + +<p>Within convenient distance of the city of Xenia, on Little +Miami River in Warren county, Ohio, can be seen at any +time that famous enclosure known as "Fort Ancient." There +can be no mistake as to the intention of this wonderful +enclosure. It is situated on the east bank of the Miami on +a most commanding position. On the east, two ravines +originate, running on either side towards the river, leaving +the great fortress on an elevation of 230 feet above the +river. The whole is surrounded by a wall of five miles in +length, but owing to the uneven course of the river, there are +only enclosed one hundred acres. The wall has numerous +openings, which, however, are well protected by inner walls, +or mounds. These openings could be occupied by warriors +while the interior would not be exposed to the enemy. +Within the enclosure are disposed twenty-four reservoirs, +which could be dexterously connected with springs, so that +in time of siege, they would be comparatively independent. +The strength of this fortress does not depend on the walls +alone, which range in height from five to twenty feet, but +upon its isolated position and steep sides. Near the fortification +are two large mounds from which run two parallel +walls for 1,350 feet, and then unite, enclosing another +mound. We cannot tell what part these outer walls and +mounds played in the defence of this fortification. But we +know that all give evidence of an immense garrison occupied +by an ancient and somewhat civilized race, whose numerous +enemies, doubtless, forced such strong defence. In +point of inaccessibility, engineering skill, and strength, this +famous enclosure will compare not unfavorably with Edinburgh +Castle, the stronghold of Quebec, or the impregnable +Gibraltar.</p> + +<p>Another stronghold of considerable importance may be +seen at Fort Hill, in Highland county, on an elevation of +500 feet, and enclosing an area of forty acres. There is +another near Piqua, on a hill 160 feet high; and another +near the city of Dayton, on a hill 160 feet high, where a +mound is enclosed, which like the ancient watch-towers of +Scripture, can command a view of the whole surrounding +country. Near Carlisle lies the site of another remarkable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +military enclosure, which overlooks the fertile valley, +between the Twin and Miami Rivers. Two deep ravines +fortify the north and south sides, while an almost perpendicular +bluff fortifies the east. The wall which is partly +of earth and partly of stone is 3,676 feet in length, and +encloses a beautiful area of fifteen acres.</p> + +<p>The settlers state that in early times there were two stone +mounds and one stone circle, which contained such excellent +building stone, that they removed them for building +purposes. They had to cut a way and grade it, to remove +the stones, which those rude architects of early prehistoric +times found no difficulty in taking from a distant quarry to +that high elevation. We must therefore agree that their +knowledge of the mechanical powers was far superior to +anything the Indian race has shown.</p> + +<p>About the largest fortification in Ohio may be seen at +Bournville. It encloses a magnificent area of fertility, on +an elevation of 400 feet. The sides are remarkably steep, +and are washed by small creeks, that empty into Paint +Creek hard by. Within the fortification are several depressions, +where water remains most of the year. The area, of +itself, would be a beautiful farm, as it consists of 140 acres. +The wall, which was about 2-1/4 miles in length, is very much +in ruins, being chiefly built of stone. Some years ago the +whole place was covered by the trees, and on the dilapidated +stone wall, may still be seen immense trees, whose growth +among the stones helped to displace them. The decayed +wood beneath some of these trees indicates that successions +of forests have flourished since these forts were abandoned +by those who made them.</p> + + +<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><span class="smcap">Graded Ways</span>.—It is well known that, in most of these +valleys; there are several terraces, from the river bottom or +flats, up to the high lands in the distance. Near a place +called Piketown there is a beautiful graded avenue. The +third terrace is seventeen feet above the second and the +second about fourteen feet from the river flat. These terraces +form, when graded, this avenue, which has walls on +either side in height twenty-two feet. These walls run for +1,010 feet to the third terrace, where they continue to run<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +for 2,580 feet, terminating in a group of mounds one of +which is thirty feet high. Some distance from these walls +another wall runs 212 feet at right angles, and then turns +parallel for 420 feet, when it curves inwardly for 240 feet.</p> + + +<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><span class="smcap">Mounds</span>.—I stated at the outset that the mounds in Ohio +were very numerous. They are of various sizes, ranging +from those which are only a few feet in height and a few +yards at their base, to those which are about 90 feet in +height, and covering some acres at their base. These mounds +are mostly composed of earth, the material often differing +greatly from the surrounding soil. When we consider the +multitudes of these mounds, and the immense transportation +of earth and stones required in their structure, it needs no +stretch of imagination to conclude that the Mound-builders +were a mighty race. Most of these mounds are located near +large rivers or streams, and, consequently, in the valleys, +although some few are to be found on high lands, and even +on hills very suitable for military purposes. Sometimes +they may be seen in clusters, indicating a great business +centre and large population, while again only one may be +found in a journey of fifty or one hundred miles.</p> + +<p>During the last fifty years, these tumuli have been carefully +examined, and, from their contents, shape and position, +they are now classified as Temple or Sacrificial Mounds, +Burial or Sepulchral Mounds, Symbolic Mounds, Signal +Mounds and Indefinite Mounds. I shall briefly describe the +characteristic of each class and give a few examples.</p> + +<p><i>Temple Mounds</i>.—These mounds are not so numerous in +Ohio as in some other States, yet they occur in sufficient +numbers to deserve a small share of our attention. The city +of Marietta has slowly encroached upon some interesting +remains of a sacrificial character, which consist of two +irregular squares containing 50 and 27 acres respectively. +They are situated on a level plain 100 feet above the level +of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers. The smaller square +has ten gateways, which are covered by mounds, while the +larger square, being strictly a sacred enclosure, has no +mounds to cover the 16 openings, but contains nevertheless +four temple mounds of considerable interest. On the top<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +of these mounds, doubtless there were erected capacious +temples, as there are significant avenues of ascent. There +may still be seen the remains of the ancient altar, where, +without doubt, these people assembled for worship, and +where, from the presence of human bones, we may conclude +human beings were offered in sacrifice. In all the sacred +enclosures, evidences of altars have been found, on which, +doubtless, the sacrificial fires blazed for ages. Often are to +be found successions of alternate layers of ashes and blue +clay, indicating a desire for pure sacrifice.</p> + +<p>In the neighborhood of Newark, Ohio, at the forks of +Licking River, may be seen most elaborate enclosures, +square, circular, and polygonal in their form, covering in all +an extent of four square miles. Like the ancient temples +of the Druids, most of the enclosures have their openings to +the east, or rising sun, so that the first rays shall strike the +altar where doubtless a priest, from the early hour of dawn, +performed mysterious rites.</p> + +<p>On the west, there is erected a mound, 170 feet long and +14 feet in height, which overlooks the whole works, and +has been styled "the Observatory". To the east is a true +circle 2,880 feet in circumference, the wall being 6 feet in +height. To the north of this is an avenue leading from the +circle to an <a name="octagon" id="octagon"></a>octagon of fifty acres, in the wall of which are +eight gateways, which, however, are covered by mounds five +feet in height. From this strange eight-sided figure run +three parallel walls. Those to the south are about two +miles in length, and those running towards the east are +each about one mile in length.</p> + +<p>About a mile east, where the middle line of parallel walls +terminates, is a square containing twenty acres, within and +around the walls of which are disposed seven mounds. To +the north-east of this is an elliptical work of large dimensions. +On the south-east is a circle, in the centre of which +is the form of a bird with wings expanded. The body is 155 +feet, the length of each wing 110 feet, and the head of the +bird is towards the opening. When this structure was +opened, there was found an altar, proving that, in this circular +place, this ancient people must have assembled for +worship.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> + +<p>There is a place three miles north of Chillicothe, where +an extensive enclosure—now called "Mound City"—contains +26 well formed and regularly disposed mounds, covering +an area of 13 acres. Many of those mounds contained +altars at their base, but have been subsequently converted +into ordinary mounds. One mound, which is 90 feet in +diameter at the base and 7-1/2 feet in height, contained an +altar, within the basin of which was found a layer of +solid ashes three inches thick, in which were numerous +pieces of pottery and shell-beads. On the top of the altar +was a layer of sand, then gravel for two feet, then a thin +layer of sand, then one foot of gravel.</p> + +<p>Buried three feet below the apex of the mound, were +found two well developed and highly preserved skeletons, +which, however, were not those of Mound-builders, but +rather of the Indians who were buried there long after the +mounds were abandoned. One altar was covered by a layer +of opaque mica, which must have been brought from a great +distance. In the centre of the basin was found, besides +numerous other relics, a large heap of burned human bones, +which would indicate it an altar of human sacrifice. From +other evidences, we may safely conclude that they were Sun +or Fire-worshippers. As to the cause of these altars being +afterwards changed into common mounds, it is difficult to +determine. Many such mounds are found, which for a long +time were used for purposes of sacrifice, and then covered +over by many feet of earth. We may not wonder, however, +at this, as even now many old churches are abandoned to +the fate of being turned into dwelling houses or barns.</p> + +<p>It may be, however, that after the decease of the priest +who performed his sacred functions before the altar for +many years, the people, to whom he had so long ministered, +laid, or burned his remains on the altar which they so +much revered, and then, like the ancient builders of the +pyramids, erected a monument to departed worth, and during +the strange ritual deposited beside the respected remains +whatever implements or ornaments they could part with, +in honor of the dead.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Burial Mounds</i>.—As in modern days, a place of sepulture +is usually selected some distance from the city or town, so +the burial mounds may be expected without the enclosures. +In our own time we find some cemeteries densely populated +with graves, and others have but few. So it was in the +days of the Mound-builders; for we find in some places +groups of burial mounds, and in other places only a few +may be found scattered over the plain.</p> + +<p>Burial mounds are of various sizes, I presume, according +to the dignity of the individual entombed. Sometimes one +large mound is found to possess a skeleton, and some interesting +relics, which indicate the position of the departed, +while a group of smaller mounds is situated around it. +The large one perhaps contained the skeleton of a leader, +surrounded by a few of his intimate followers. Or perhaps +it was that of a patriarch, surrounded by his numerous +progeny, much as, in our own day, burial plots are set apart +for families.</p> + +<p>Grave Creek burial mound, which stands at the junction +of Grave Creek, Virginia, with the Ohio, is one of the +largest and most important burial mounds in America. It +is 70 feet in height and at its base it is 1,000 feet in circumference. +When this mound was opened, two vaults +were found, one at the base contained two skeletons, one of +them a female. The logs of which this vault was composed +were all decayed, and the earth and stones lay upon +the skeletons. In the upper vault there was a single skeleton +very much decayed. Within these vaults and beside +the illustrous dead, were found more than 3,000 shell-beads, +ornaments of mica, copper bracelets, and other stone carvings. +Around the lower vault were found ten much decayed +skeletons, all in a sitting posture.</p> + +<p>The skeletons in the vaults, doubtless, were the remains +of royalty, or some distinguished chiefs, whose memory +these devoted people desired to perpetuate, while the ten +skeletons, which surrounded the vault, were perhaps some +of their loyal subjects who were sacrificed according to the +custom of some of the heathen nations both ancient and +modern. Foster, desiring to draw a comparison or rather<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +identify this mode of burial with those of the Greeks and +other nations, directs our attention to Herodotus, Book IV, +Chaps. 71 and 190. And for identifying the ceremonial with +the funeral of Achilles, our attention is called to the Odyssey, +Book XXIV, with the burial of Hector in the Iliad, +Book XXIV.</p> + +<p>Dr. Wilson identifies the burial of the living with the +dead by giving an account of the burial of Black Bird, the +great chief of the Omahas more than 60 years ago. He +caught the smallpox at Washington, and dying on his way +home, he gave instructions to his braves around him how +he was to be buried. "His body was clothed with the gayest +Indian robes, decorated with scalps and war eagle +plumes, and he was carried to one of the loftiest bluffs on +the Missouri. He was placed upon his favorite war horse, +a beautiful white steed. His bow was placed in his hand. +His shield, quiver, pipe, medicine-bag and tobacco-pouch +hung by his side, for his comfort on his journey to the happy +hunting grounds of the great Manitou. After a significant +ceremonial, the Indians placed turf and sod about the legs of +the horse; gradually the pile rose, until living horse and +dead rider were buried together in this memorial mound, +which may be seen from the banks of the Missouri."</p> + +<p>But to come back to the mound, I now describe a sandstone +disk, 1-1/2 inch in diameter and 3/4 inch thick, taken up +from near the skeleton in the lower part of Grave Creek +mound. According to Schoolcraft's analysis, communicated +to the American Ethnological Society, "Of the 22 alphabetic +characters, 4 correspond with the ancient Greek, 4 with +the Etruscan, 5 with the old Northern runes, 6 with the +ancient Gaelic, 7 with the old Erse, 10 with the Phœnician, +14 with the old British," and he also adds that equivalents +may be found in the old Hebrew. It is, as some writers +have described it, an exceedingly accommodating inscription. +The following readings have been given:—</p> + +<p>By M. Levy Bing: "What thou sayest, thou dost impose +it, thou shinest in thy impetuous clan, and rapid chamois." +By M. Maurice Schwab (1857): "The chief of emigration +who reached these places, has fixed these statutes forever."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +By M. Oppert: "The grave of one who was assassinated +here. May God, to revenge him, strike his murderer, cutting +off the hand of his existence." We can only say of these +readings what a Hebrew Rabbi said to an indolent student, +who in reading a verse in the Psalms in the original, gave +the translation of the next verse, "Gentlemen, that is a very +free translation." Besides this, other readings have been +given, all of which have the advantage that few can contradict +them.</p> + +<p>In the Scioto valley, where there are many very interesting +remains of the Mound-builders, there are many burial +mounds which have lately been opened. In many of these, +the casts of unhewn logs are still visible, showing that the +dead were placed in a rude vault, which was afterwards covered +by soil. One skeleton was found to have round the +neck several hundred beads, made mostly of marine shells, +others made of the tusks of animals and a few laminæ of +mica. In the same mound from which this skeleton was +taken, the vault gave strong evidence of its having been set +on fire during the burial ceremony,—the large quantity of +charcoal proving that it was suddenly quenched by the fresh +soil heaped upon it.</p> + +<p>If these Mound-builders were Sun-worshippers, as may +safely be concluded from tablets and from rock markings, +as well as from the fact of their sacred enclosures mostly +looking towards the east, where the early rays would fall +upon the altar, we may easily account for the fire having a +share In the burial ceremony. Some have concluded that +the blazing fire signified "life," and that the sudden quenching +signified "death."</p> + +<p>Let it not be thought, however, that there are no burying +places but these few mounds. I believe the mounds of a +burial character were only for persons of distinction, while +in reality there are thousands of ancient cemeteries of vast +extent, where multitudes have received common burial. +The spring freshets yearly uncover many of these, exposing +not only their bones, but many ornaments and implements +that were used by this wonderful people, and which were +deposited beside them when consigned to the silent tomb.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Symbolic Mounds</i>.—There can be no mistake in affirming +that the strange mounds, so prevalent in Wisconsin, and +frequently found in other States, were the result of intention +rather than accident. These are sometimes called +"Effigy Mounds." In Wisconsin, even implements, as well +as animals, are symbolized. The beaver, the tortoise, the +elephant, the serpent, the alligator seem to be their favorite +animals, whose images they have endeavored to perpetuate +in mounds, of course on a large scale. In Adams county, +Ohio, on a steep bluff, 150 feet above the level of Brush +Creek, may be seen a huge serpent.</p> + +<p>It is called the "Serpent Mound." The head of the serpent +lies towards the point of the spur, and then like the +serpent, its body winds gracefully back for 700 feet, the tail +curved into a triple coil. From this and other evidences +lately collected, we may assume that the serpent was among +the sacred animals. Between the jaws of this serpent there +is a stone mound, bearing marks of long use as an altar. +The body, which is a mere winding wall, is, on an average, +five feet in height, and thirty-feet broad at the base near the +centre. Doubtless this wall was much higher when first +made, and owing to the rains of centuries it has become +lower and broader.</p> + +<p>Another mound, the shape and proportion of an alligator, +may be seen in Licking county, Ohio, about one mile from +Granville. This is also on a spur of land near the Licking +River. Its length is 250 feet and height about four feet. +Its whole outline is strictly conformable to the alligator +with which animal they must have been familiar along the +Mississippi, where they could easily journey by boat. +Rather than transport the animal from the south, they +doubtless erected this representation of what they must have +held sacred.</p> + +<p>In the State of Wisconsin there is one symbolic mound +more worthy of notice than any other. It is called "the +Elephant Mound," from the fact that it bears the proportion +and conformability of the Mastodon. This people must +have known something of this animal which in early times +roamed over this continent. I think we should not be going<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +too far if we supposed that the Mound-builders lived contemporaneously +with the last of these monsters of the Prehistoric +forests.</p> + +<p><i>Signal Mounds</i>.—It seems quite in keeping with what we +have already seen of the sagacity of this wonderful race, +that they should erect stations of observation in various suitable +regions, so that signals could be given to the multitudes +who dwelt in the plain, when they were threatened +by an approaching enemy. If a fire were lit on a much +burnt mound at the ancient fort near Bournville, it could be +seen over a large portion of the valleys, where numerous +works are found. No doubt, this was a signal mound, where +the appointed watchman, like the watchman of Scripture, +could give the alarm of the coming foe, enabling the industrious +people to reach the fortress in safety.</p> + +<p>On a hill 600 feet high, near Chillicothe, Ohio, there is a +mound, which in the days of the Mound-builders must have +been a signal mound. A light on this can be seen for +twenty miles either up or down the valley.</p> + +<p>The great mound at Miamisburg, Ohio, which is 68 feet +high and 852 feet in circumference at its base, served, no +doubt, this important department of warfare, as a fire +kindled on it could flash light into Butler county, near Elk +Creek, where it would again be taken up by the watchman +there, and light flashed in the direction of Xenia, and from +one signal mound to another until it would reach the great +works at Newark. Thus in the course of an hour the whole +southern portion of the State of Ohio could be warned of +danger and prepare for combat or shelter.</p> + +<p>Such a system has been used by all nations, both civilized +and savage. We need not wonder that the Mound-builders +with such sagacity and forethought, should establish such a +system of alarm by which the inhabitants could be apprised +of invasion.</p> + +<p><i>Indefinite Mounds</i>.—Of this class there are many. Thousands +of such indefinite mounds and squares and circles are +to be seen scattered over the various States of the Union. +Their structure, composition and contents, give us no clue +by which they may be assigned a place. It is believed that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +many of the strange works that abound in Butler county, +Ohio, and which cannot be classified, are among the incomplete +works, that is, works left unfinished by the builders.</p> + + +<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><span class="smcap">Implements</span>.—The people of Ohio have appropriated the +implements of the Mound-builders to a large extent. Almost +every homestead in Ohio is ornamented with some of those +ancient implements and relics, yet tons have been taken +away to grace private and public museums in all parts of +this country, and even the museums of Europe and Asia. +Among the implements are to be found spear heads, arrow +heads; rimmers, knives, axes, hatchets, hammers, chisels, +pestles, mortars, pottery, pipes, sculpture, gorgets, tubes, +and articles of bone and clothing. Fragments of coarse, but +uniformly spun and woven cloth have been found, of course +not in preservation, but charred and in folds. One piece, +near Middletown, Ohio, was found connected with tassels or +ornaments, and may be seen at the <a name="Smithsonian" id="Smithsonian"></a>Smithsonian Institute at +Washington. In Anderson township, Ohio, native gold has +been found for the first time. Several small ornaments of +copper have been found covered with thin sheets of gold. +Earrings also, made of meteoric iron, have been found, and +a serpent cut out of mica. Some terra-cotta figures also, +which give us an idea of the way the hair was dressed in +the days of the Mound-builders. I cannot here name all +the implements and ornaments that have been discovered. +Though most of them are of hard stone, yet many have been +found made of copper.</p> + + +<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><span class="smcap">Mining, etc</span>.—That these people were miners, is evident +from the prevalence of various mineral fragments and implements. +At Mound City, near Chillicothe, has been found +galena, none of which can be found in Ohio. Obsidian also +is found in the shape of instruments, which they must have +transported from the Rocky Mountains. Ancient mining +shafts are found in Minnesota, where the solid rock had +been excavated to the depth of 60 feet. On Isle Royal +there are pits 60 feet deep, worked through nine feet of solid +rock, at the bottom of which is a rich vein of copper, and +in the two miles of excavations in the same straight line<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +have been found the mining implements in great numbers. +Such advancement in mining, sagacity in warfare, industrial +pursuits, and geometric skill, as their works display, prove +their great superiority of race over the modern Indian. +Their implements, some of them most elaborately made, +their brick-making and various other ingenious works, +enable us to place them high as an industrial people, while +their sacred enclosures, and altars, and tablets, together +with the numerous evidences of their being an agricultural +nation, enable us to place them far above the modern Indian +in the scale of civilization.</p> + +<p>The people of the United States, though much to be commended +because of their prudence and forethought in laying +out their modern towns and cities along the various water +courses, which serve as the different highways of commerce, +have by no means shown a superior sagacity in that respect +to the Mound-builders, whose great centres of population +are now mostly occupied, or are encroached upon by the +modern cities.</p> + +<p>We may with safety assert that the population about +Newark, and Xenia, and Mound City, was far above what it +is now. The country about Dayton, Miamisburg, Oxford, +Hamilton and Marietta was, undoubtedly, in the days of the +Mound-builders moving with a greater mass of human beings +than it can boast of to-day.</p> + +<p>And if those peaceable and industrious inhabitants were +as numerous as their remains indicate, what must have been +the strength of those invading hordes who caused their +downfall and perhaps wiped out forever every living representative +of that ancient race, who could leave no more lasting +memorial of their existence and struggles than those +mysterious mounds which have given them their name.</p> + + +<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><span class="smcap">Antiquity of the Mound-Builders</span>.—Upon this point +there are many theories, some regarding them as the earliest +of the Indian tribes. Others give them a very great +age and claim them to belong to preadamite man. By far +the greater number of archæologists, however, place their +existence at about 2,000 years ago.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> + +<p>In favor of the latter view we may call as evidence the +present forest trees, which, though of great age, still flourish +on some of the ancient remains. On one of the mounds at +Marietta, Ohio, there stood a gigantic tree, which, when cut +down, displayed 800 rings of annual growth. In many other +places, trees of the age of 750 years have been cut, and underneath +them evidences of previous forests found. One tree +750 years old was found to have underneath it, on the walls +of one of the forts in Ohio, the cast of another tree of equal +size, which would carry us back at least 1,500 years since +those trees began to grow on those deserted walls of that +ancient fortification.</p> + +<p>We have some data in the vegetable accumulations in the +ancient mining shafts near Lake Superior, as well as in the +vegetable and other matter deposited in the numerous pits +and trenches found among the works. Though these evidences +cannot give the exact time of their accumulation, +yet they give it approximately, by comparison with similar +recent deposits.</p> + +<p>There is another still stronger argument in favor of their +antiquity, viz., the decayed condition of the skeletons. The +skeletons of the oldest Indian tribes are comparatively sound +while those of the Mound-builders are much decayed. If +they are sound when brought out, they at once begin to +disintegrate in the atmosphere, which is a sure sign of their +antiquity. We know that some skeletons in Europe have +lately been exhumed, which, though buried more than 1,000 +years, are comparatively firm and well-preserved. We are, +I think, bound to ascribe a greater antiquity to the Mound-builders' +skeletons than to those found in the ancient barrows +of Europe. Other considerations, such as stream +encroachment, and river-terrace formation, might also be +brought in as presumptive arguments in favor of their great +antiquity.</p> + + +<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><span class="smcap">Origin of the Mound-Builders</span>.—This is a question not +easily answered. It brings me into no discredit before the +educated world to acknowledge ignorance on this mysterious point. +The study of Craniology and Philology, in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>connection +with Ethnology, shall alone throw light on this +subject. Dr. Wilson says, in his "Prehistoric Man" +(p. 123), "The ethnical classification of this strange race is +still an unsettled question," and he declares without fear of +contradiction, "that especially concerning the Scioto Mound +skull, the elevation and breadth of the frontal bone, differs +essentially from the Indian, and that the cerebral development +was more in accordance with the character of that +singular people, who without architecture have perpetuated, +in mere structures of earth, the evidences of geometric skill, +a definite means of determining angles, a fixed standard of +measurement, and the capacity as well as the practice of +repeating geometrically constructed works of large and +uniform dimensions."</p> + +<p>Undoubtedly they were skilled in agriculture, from the +remains of ancient garden-beds, which were cultivated in a +methodical manner. The modern Indians give no such evidence +of labor. For wherever they are found they love to +roam in undisputed possession of the forest, and lead an +indolent life. Of course I do not assign this as a valid reason +for their not being identified with the Mound-builders. +An ancient race may have a degenerate offspring.</p> + +<p>Nor shall I attempt to find in the various inscriptions any +clue to their Hebrew origin, or to identify that ancient +people with the lost tribes, as some have dared to do. Foster +inclines to regard them as emigrating from the tropics, +rather than coming from the north.</p> + +<p>This would involve us in investigating the antiquity of +the Mexican and Peruvian ruins, where vast works of high +architecture and more advanced civilization were found than +among the Mound-builders. There is little difficulty in +concluding that the Aztecs, who occupied Mexico during +the Spanish invasion under Cortez, were the conquerors of +several races that preceded them. Among these conquered +races, no doubt, were the Toltecs, who were afterwards +found in such great numbers, and in an amazing state of +advanced civilization. The crania of the Mound-builders +and the Toltecs correspond. Now, whether they migrated +to the north from the tropics, or journeyed south from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +north, I cannot say. I should incline to the latter theory. +Industry is sure to advance. The rude mounds of the United +States are far surpassed by those immense pyramids in +Mexico and Peru, surpassing the Egyptian in size. And +those fine architectural palaces and temples, whose history +we cannot fully know, far eclipse anything in the northern +part of America.</p> + +<p>Whoever they were and wherever they came from, they +were doubtless driven southward by the invading tribes of +the north. They nobly fought their way, contesting every +foot, until superior numbers took them by force. Thus these +quiet and inoffensive creatures were finally expelled from +their home which doubtless their fathers had occupied +through centuries. If any escaped they, no doubt, found an +asylum southward, where there were other tribes equally +civilized, and, forming an union with them or conquered +by them, they began a higher and better civilization as seen +in Mexico and Peru.</p> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> + +<p class="center">Transcriber's Notes:</p> + +<p>Page 8: Octogon has been changed to <a href="#octagon">octagon</a>.</p> + +<p>Page 15: Smithsonion has been changed to <a href="#Smithsonian">Smithsonian</a>.</p> + + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mound-Builders, by William J. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Mound-Builders + +Author: William J. Smyth + +Release Date: March 12, 2006 [EBook #17969] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOUND-BUILDERS *** + + + + +Produced by Thierry Alberto, Diane Monico, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net. (This file was produced from images +generously made available by the Canadian Institute for +Historical Microreproductions (www.canadiana.org).) + + + + + + + + + +MOUND-BUILDERS + +BY + +REV. W. J. SMYTH, M.A., B.Sc., Ph.D. + +_Pastor of St. Joseph Street Presbyterian Church, Montreal._ + + +PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, +TORONTO. + + +MONTREAL: +GAZETTE PRINTING COMPANY. +APRIL, 1886. + + + + +MOUND-BUILDERS + +BY REV. WILLIAM J. SMYTH, M.A., B.Sc., Ph.D. + + +When the early settlers began to pioneer the unbroken forests of North +America, they considered the various Indian tribes to be the true +Aborigines of this continent. But long before the red man, even long +before the growth of the present forests, there lived an ancient race, +whose origin and fate are surrounded with impenetrable darkness. The +remains of their habitations, temples and tombs, are the only voices +that tell us of their existence. Over broad areas, in the most fertile +valleys, and along the numerous tributaries of the great rivers of the +central and western portions of the United States, are to be found +these wonderful remains, of the existence and origin of which, even +the oldest red man could give no history. + +Following in the track of these ancient tumuli, which have been raised +with some degree of order and sagacity, we are bound to believe that +they were constructed by a very intelligent and somewhat civilized +race, who during long periods enjoyed the blessings of peace, but like +most nations of the earth, at times were plunged in the horrors of +war. We cannot tell by what name these strange people were known +during their existence. But archaeologists, to keep themselves safe, +have given them the name of "Mound-builders," from the nature of the +structures left behind them. + +Of this wonderful, semi-civilized, prehistoric race, we have no +written testimony. Their mysterious enclosures, implements of war, and +comparatively impregnable fortifications, together with a few strange +tablets, are the only evidence of their character, civilization, and +doom. No contemporary race, if such there existed on this continent, +has left any record of them. + +The mounds they have left are found in the western part of the State +of New York, and extend, it is said, as far as Nebraska. And as they +have lately been found in the Northwest, they have thus a much more +northern limit than was at first thought, while the southern limit is +the Gulf of Mexico. + +Having seen only a few mounds in Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky, I +must confine my paper to those found in the State of Ohio, where, +during a residence of seventeen months, I made the closest +investigation my time and duties permitted. In Ohio, the number of +mounds, including enclosures of different kinds, is estimated at about +13,000, though it requires the greatest care to distinguish between +the mounds proper and those subsequently erected by the Indians. In +some parts they are very close together, which is strong evidence that +these regions were densely populated. In others, a solitary mound, +with adjacent burial mounds, gives us the idea of a rural village or +town. + + +ENCLOSURES.--In the State of Ohio, alone, there have been found 1,500 +enclosures. Some of these have walls ranging in height from three to +thirty feet, enclosing areas of from ten to 400 acres. Those areas, +enclosed by strong walls, erected in regions difficult of access, were +undoubtedly intended as military enclosures; while those areas +enclosed by slight walls, with no mounds to cover the openings, were +intended as sacred enclosures. I shall leave the consideration of the +sacred enclosures until I describe the temple, or sacrificial mounds, +giving a brief outline of some of the famous fortifications built by +those strange people. + +Within convenient distance of the city of Xenia, on Little Miami River +in Warren county, Ohio, can be seen at any time that famous enclosure +known as "Fort Ancient." There can be no mistake as to the intention +of this wonderful enclosure. It is situated on the east bank of the +Miami on a most commanding position. On the east, two ravines +originate, running on either side towards the river, leaving the great +fortress on an elevation of 230 feet above the river. The whole is +surrounded by a wall of five miles in length, but owing to the uneven +course of the river, there are only enclosed one hundred acres. The +wall has numerous openings, which, however, are well protected by +inner walls, or mounds. These openings could be occupied by warriors +while the interior would not be exposed to the enemy. Within the +enclosure are disposed twenty-four reservoirs, which could be +dexterously connected with springs, so that in time of siege, they +would be comparatively independent. The strength of this fortress does +not depend on the walls alone, which range in height from five to +twenty feet, but upon its isolated position and steep sides. Near the +fortification are two large mounds from which run two parallel walls +for 1,350 feet, and then unite, enclosing another mound. We cannot +tell what part these outer walls and mounds played in the defence of +this fortification. But we know that all give evidence of an immense +garrison occupied by an ancient and somewhat civilized race, whose +numerous enemies, doubtless, forced such strong defence. In point of +inaccessibility, engineering skill, and strength, this famous +enclosure will compare not unfavorably with Edinburgh Castle, the +stronghold of Quebec, or the impregnable Gibraltar. + +Another stronghold of considerable importance may be seen at Fort +Hill, in Highland county, on an elevation of 500 feet, and enclosing +an area of forty acres. There is another near Piqua, on a hill 160 +feet high; and another near the city of Dayton, on a hill 160 feet +high, where a mound is enclosed, which like the ancient watch-towers +of Scripture, can command a view of the whole surrounding country. +Near Carlisle lies the site of another remarkable military enclosure, +which overlooks the fertile valley, between the Twin and Miami Rivers. +Two deep ravines fortify the north and south sides, while an almost +perpendicular bluff fortifies the east. The wall which is partly of +earth and partly of stone is 3,676 feet in length, and encloses a +beautiful area of fifteen acres. + +The settlers state that in early times there were two stone mounds and +one stone circle, which contained such excellent building stone, that +they removed them for building purposes. They had to cut a way and +grade it, to remove the stones, which those rude architects of early +prehistoric times found no difficulty in taking from a distant quarry +to that high elevation. We must therefore agree that their knowledge +of the mechanical powers was far superior to anything the Indian race +has shown. + +About the largest fortification in Ohio may be seen at Bournville. It +encloses a magnificent area of fertility, on an elevation of 400 feet. +The sides are remarkably steep, and are washed by small creeks, that +empty into Paint Creek hard by. Within the fortification are several +depressions, where water remains most of the year. The area, of +itself, would be a beautiful farm, as it consists of 140 acres. The +wall, which was about 2-1/4 miles in length, is very much in ruins, +being chiefly built of stone. Some years ago the whole place was +covered by the trees, and on the dilapidated stone wall, may still be +seen immense trees, whose growth among the stones helped to displace +them. The decayed wood beneath some of these trees indicates that +successions of forests have flourished since these forts were +abandoned by those who made them. + + +GRADED WAYS.--It is well known that, in most of these valleys; there +are several terraces, from the river bottom or flats, up to the high +lands in the distance. Near a place called Piketown there is a +beautiful graded avenue. The third terrace is seventeen feet above the +second and the second about fourteen feet from the river flat. These +terraces form, when graded, this avenue, which has walls on either +side in height twenty-two feet. These walls run for 1,010 feet to the +third terrace, where they continue to run for 2,580 feet, terminating +in a group of mounds one of which is thirty feet high. Some distance +from these walls another wall runs 212 feet at right angles, and then +turns parallel for 420 feet, when it curves inwardly for 240 feet. + + +MOUNDS.--I stated at the outset that the mounds in Ohio were very +numerous. They are of various sizes, ranging from those which are only +a few feet in height and a few yards at their base, to those which are +about 90 feet in height, and covering some acres at their base. These +mounds are mostly composed of earth, the material often differing +greatly from the surrounding soil. When we consider the multitudes of +these mounds, and the immense transportation of earth and stones +required in their structure, it needs no stretch of imagination to +conclude that the Mound-builders were a mighty race. Most of these +mounds are located near large rivers or streams, and, consequently, in +the valleys, although some few are to be found on high lands, and even +on hills very suitable for military purposes. Sometimes they may be +seen in clusters, indicating a great business centre and large +population, while again only one may be found in a journey of fifty or +one hundred miles. + +During the last fifty years, these tumuli have been carefully +examined, and, from their contents, shape and position, they are now +classified as Temple or Sacrificial Mounds, Burial or Sepulchral +Mounds, Symbolic Mounds, Signal Mounds and Indefinite Mounds. I shall +briefly describe the characteristic of each class and give a few +examples. + +_Temple Mounds_.--These mounds are not so numerous in Ohio as in some +other States, yet they occur in sufficient numbers to deserve a small +share of our attention. The city of Marietta has slowly encroached +upon some interesting remains of a sacrificial character, which +consist of two irregular squares containing 50 and 27 acres +respectively. They are situated on a level plain 100 feet above the +level of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers. The smaller square has ten +gateways, which are covered by mounds, while the larger square, being +strictly a sacred enclosure, has no mounds to cover the 16 openings, +but contains nevertheless four temple mounds of considerable interest. +On the top of these mounds, doubtless there were erected capacious +temples, as there are significant avenues of ascent. There may still +be seen the remains of the ancient altar, where, without doubt, these +people assembled for worship, and where, from the presence of human +bones, we may conclude human beings were offered in sacrifice. In all +the sacred enclosures, evidences of altars have been found, on which, +doubtless, the sacrificial fires blazed for ages. Often are to be +found successions of alternate layers of ashes and blue clay, +indicating a desire for pure sacrifice. + +In the neighborhood of Newark, Ohio, at the forks of Licking River, +may be seen most elaborate enclosures, square, circular, and polygonal +in their form, covering in all an extent of four square miles. Like +the ancient temples of the Druids, most of the enclosures have their +openings to the east, or rising sun, so that the first rays shall +strike the altar where doubtless a priest, from the early hour of +dawn, performed mysterious rites. + +On the west, there is erected a mound, 170 feet long and 14 feet in +height, which overlooks the whole works, and has been styled "the +Observatory". To the east is a true circle 2,880 feet in +circumference, the wall being 6 feet in height. To the north of this +is an avenue leading from the circle to an octagon of fifty acres, in +the wall of which are eight gateways, which, however, are covered by +mounds five feet in height. From this strange eight-sided figure run +three parallel walls. Those to the south are about two miles in +length, and those running towards the east are each about one mile in +length. + +About a mile east, where the middle line of parallel walls terminates, +is a square containing twenty acres, within and around the walls of +which are disposed seven mounds. To the north-east of this is an +elliptical work of large dimensions. On the south-east is a circle, in +the centre of which is the form of a bird with wings expanded. The +body is 155 feet, the length of each wing 110 feet, and the head of +the bird is towards the opening. When this structure was opened, there +was found an altar, proving that, in this circular place, this ancient +people must have assembled for worship. + +There is a place three miles north of Chillicothe, where an extensive +enclosure--now called "Mound City"--contains 26 well formed and +regularly disposed mounds, covering an area of 13 acres. Many of those +mounds contained altars at their base, but have been subsequently +converted into ordinary mounds. One mound, which is 90 feet in +diameter at the base and 7-1/2 feet in height, contained an altar, +within the basin of which was found a layer of solid ashes three +inches thick, in which were numerous pieces of pottery and +shell-beads. On the top of the altar was a layer of sand, then gravel +for two feet, then a thin layer of sand, then one foot of gravel. + +Buried three feet below the apex of the mound, were found two well +developed and highly preserved skeletons, which, however, were not +those of Mound-builders, but rather of the Indians who were buried +there long after the mounds were abandoned. One altar was covered by a +layer of opaque mica, which must have been brought from a great +distance. In the centre of the basin was found, besides numerous other +relics, a large heap of burned human bones, which would indicate it an +altar of human sacrifice. From other evidences, we may safely conclude +that they were Sun or Fire-worshippers. As to the cause of these +altars being afterwards changed into common mounds, it is difficult to +determine. Many such mounds are found, which for a long time were used +for purposes of sacrifice, and then covered over by many feet of +earth. We may not wonder, however, at this, as even now many old +churches are abandoned to the fate of being turned into dwelling +houses or barns. + +It may be, however, that after the decease of the priest who performed +his sacred functions before the altar for many years, the people, to +whom he had so long ministered, laid, or burned his remains on the +altar which they so much revered, and then, like the ancient builders +of the pyramids, erected a monument to departed worth, and during the +strange ritual deposited beside the respected remains whatever +implements or ornaments they could part with, in honor of the dead. + +_Burial Mounds_.--As in modern days, a place of sepulture is usually +selected some distance from the city or town, so the burial mounds may +be expected without the enclosures. In our own time we find some +cemeteries densely populated with graves, and others have but few. So +it was in the days of the Mound-builders; for we find in some places +groups of burial mounds, and in other places only a few may be found +scattered over the plain. + +Burial mounds are of various sizes, I presume, according to the +dignity of the individual entombed. Sometimes one large mound is found +to possess a skeleton, and some interesting relics, which indicate the +position of the departed, while a group of smaller mounds is situated +around it. The large one perhaps contained the skeleton of a leader, +surrounded by a few of his intimate followers. Or perhaps it was that +of a patriarch, surrounded by his numerous progeny, much as, in our +own day, burial plots are set apart for families. + +Grave Creek burial mound, which stands at the junction of Grave Creek, +Virginia, with the Ohio, is one of the largest and most important +burial mounds in America. It is 70 feet in height and at its base it +is 1,000 feet in circumference. When this mound was opened, two vaults +were found, one at the base contained two skeletons, one of them a +female. The logs of which this vault was composed were all decayed, +and the earth and stones lay upon the skeletons. In the upper vault +there was a single skeleton very much decayed. Within these vaults and +beside the illustrous dead, were found more than 3,000 shell-beads, +ornaments of mica, copper bracelets, and other stone carvings. Around +the lower vault were found ten much decayed skeletons, all in a +sitting posture. + +The skeletons in the vaults, doubtless, were the remains of royalty, +or some distinguished chiefs, whose memory these devoted people +desired to perpetuate, while the ten skeletons, which surrounded the +vault, were perhaps some of their loyal subjects who were sacrificed +according to the custom of some of the heathen nations both ancient +and modern. Foster, desiring to draw a comparison or rather identify +this mode of burial with those of the Greeks and other nations, +directs our attention to Herodotus, Book IV, Chaps. 71 and 190. And +for identifying the ceremonial with the funeral of Achilles, our +attention is called to the Odyssey, Book XXIV, with the burial of +Hector in the Iliad, Book XXIV. + +Dr. Wilson identifies the burial of the living with the dead by giving +an account of the burial of Black Bird, the great chief of the Omahas +more than 60 years ago. He caught the smallpox at Washington, and +dying on his way home, he gave instructions to his braves around him +how he was to be buried. "His body was clothed with the gayest Indian +robes, decorated with scalps and war eagle plumes, and he was carried +to one of the loftiest bluffs on the Missouri. He was placed upon his +favorite war horse, a beautiful white steed. His bow was placed in his +hand. His shield, quiver, pipe, medicine-bag and tobacco-pouch hung by +his side, for his comfort on his journey to the happy hunting grounds +of the great Manitou. After a significant ceremonial, the Indians +placed turf and sod about the legs of the horse; gradually the pile +rose, until living horse and dead rider were buried together in this +memorial mound, which may be seen from the banks of the Missouri." + +But to come back to the mound, I now describe a sandstone disk, 1-1/2 +inch in diameter and 3/4 inch thick, taken up from near the skeleton +in the lower part of Grave Creek mound. According to Schoolcraft's +analysis, communicated to the American Ethnological Society, "Of the +22 alphabetic characters, 4 correspond with the ancient Greek, 4 with +the Etruscan, 5 with the old Northern runes, 6 with the ancient +Gaelic, 7 with the old Erse, 10 with the Phoenician, 14 with the old +British," and he also adds that equivalents may be found in the old +Hebrew. It is, as some writers have described it, an exceedingly +accommodating inscription. The following readings have been given:-- + +By M. Levy Bing: "What thou sayest, thou dost impose it, thou shinest +in thy impetuous clan, and rapid chamois." By M. Maurice Schwab +(1857): "The chief of emigration who reached these places, has fixed +these statutes forever." By M. Oppert: "The grave of one who was +assassinated here. May God, to revenge him, strike his murderer, +cutting off the hand of his existence." We can only say of these +readings what a Hebrew Rabbi said to an indolent student, who in +reading a verse in the Psalms in the original, gave the translation of +the next verse, "Gentlemen, that is a very free translation." Besides +this, other readings have been given, all of which have the advantage +that few can contradict them. + +In the Scioto valley, where there are many very interesting remains of +the Mound-builders, there are many burial mounds which have lately +been opened. In many of these, the casts of unhewn logs are still +visible, showing that the dead were placed in a rude vault, which was +afterwards covered by soil. One skeleton was found to have round the +neck several hundred beads, made mostly of marine shells, others made +of the tusks of animals and a few laminae of mica. In the same mound +from which this skeleton was taken, the vault gave strong evidence of +its having been set on fire during the burial ceremony,--the large +quantity of charcoal proving that it was suddenly quenched by the +fresh soil heaped upon it. + +If these Mound-builders were Sun-worshippers, as may safely be +concluded from tablets and from rock markings, as well as from the +fact of their sacred enclosures mostly looking towards the east, where +the early rays would fall upon the altar, we may easily account for +the fire having a share In the burial ceremony. Some have concluded +that the blazing fire signified "life," and that the sudden quenching +signified "death." + +Let it not be thought, however, that there are no burying places but +these few mounds. I believe the mounds of a burial character were only +for persons of distinction, while in reality there are thousands of +ancient cemeteries of vast extent, where multitudes have received +common burial. The spring freshets yearly uncover many of these, +exposing not only their bones, but many ornaments and implements that +were used by this wonderful people, and which were deposited beside +them when consigned to the silent tomb. + +_Symbolic Mounds_.--There can be no mistake in affirming that the +strange mounds, so prevalent in Wisconsin, and frequently found in +other States, were the result of intention rather than accident. These +are sometimes called "Effigy Mounds." In Wisconsin, even implements, +as well as animals, are symbolized. The beaver, the tortoise, the +elephant, the serpent, the alligator seem to be their favorite +animals, whose images they have endeavored to perpetuate in mounds, of +course on a large scale. In Adams county, Ohio, on a steep bluff, 150 +feet above the level of Brush Creek, may be seen a huge serpent. + +It is called the "Serpent Mound." The head of the serpent lies towards +the point of the spur, and then like the serpent, its body winds +gracefully back for 700 feet, the tail curved into a triple coil. From +this and other evidences lately collected, we may assume that the +serpent was among the sacred animals. Between the jaws of this serpent +there is a stone mound, bearing marks of long use as an altar. The +body, which is a mere winding wall, is, on an average, five feet in +height, and thirty-feet broad at the base near the centre. Doubtless +this wall was much higher when first made, and owing to the rains of +centuries it has become lower and broader. + +Another mound, the shape and proportion of an alligator, may be seen +in Licking county, Ohio, about one mile from Granville. This is also +on a spur of land near the Licking River. Its length is 250 feet and +height about four feet. Its whole outline is strictly conformable to +the alligator with which animal they must have been familiar along the +Mississippi, where they could easily journey by boat. Rather than +transport the animal from the south, they doubtless erected this +representation of what they must have held sacred. + +In the State of Wisconsin there is one symbolic mound more worthy of +notice than any other. It is called "the Elephant Mound," from the +fact that it bears the proportion and conformability of the Mastodon. +This people must have known something of this animal which in early +times roamed over this continent. I think we should not be going too +far if we supposed that the Mound-builders lived contemporaneously +with the last of these monsters of the Prehistoric forests. + +_Signal Mounds_.--It seems quite in keeping with what we have already +seen of the sagacity of this wonderful race, that they should erect +stations of observation in various suitable regions, so that signals +could be given to the multitudes who dwelt in the plain, when they +were threatened by an approaching enemy. If a fire were lit on a much +burnt mound at the ancient fort near Bournville, it could be seen over +a large portion of the valleys, where numerous works are found. No +doubt, this was a signal mound, where the appointed watchman, like the +watchman of Scripture, could give the alarm of the coming foe, +enabling the industrious people to reach the fortress in safety. + +On a hill 600 feet high, near Chillicothe, Ohio, there is a mound, +which in the days of the Mound-builders must have been a signal mound. +A light on this can be seen for twenty miles either up or down the +valley. + +The great mound at Miamisburg, Ohio, which is 68 feet high and 852 +feet in circumference at its base, served, no doubt, this important +department of warfare, as a fire kindled on it could flash light into +Butler county, near Elk Creek, where it would again be taken up by the +watchman there, and light flashed in the direction of Xenia, and from +one signal mound to another until it would reach the great works at +Newark. Thus in the course of an hour the whole southern portion of +the State of Ohio could be warned of danger and prepare for combat or +shelter. + +Such a system has been used by all nations, both civilized and savage. +We need not wonder that the Mound-builders with such sagacity and +forethought, should establish such a system of alarm by which the +inhabitants could be apprised of invasion. + +_Indefinite Mounds_.--Of this class there are many. Thousands of such +indefinite mounds and squares and circles are to be seen scattered +over the various States of the Union. Their structure, composition and +contents, give us no clue by which they may be assigned a place. It is +believed that many of the strange works that abound in Butler county, +Ohio, and which cannot be classified, are among the incomplete works, +that is, works left unfinished by the builders. + + +IMPLEMENTS.--The people of Ohio have appropriated the implements of +the Mound-builders to a large extent. Almost every homestead in Ohio +is ornamented with some of those ancient implements and relics, yet +tons have been taken away to grace private and public museums in all +parts of this country, and even the museums of Europe and Asia. Among +the implements are to be found spear heads, arrow heads; rimmers, +knives, axes, hatchets, hammers, chisels, pestles, mortars, pottery, +pipes, sculpture, gorgets, tubes, and articles of bone and clothing. +Fragments of coarse, but uniformly spun and woven cloth have been +found, of course not in preservation, but charred and in folds. One +piece, near Middletown, Ohio, was found connected with tassels or +ornaments, and may be seen at the Smithsonian Institute at Washington. +In Anderson township, Ohio, native gold has been found for the first +time. Several small ornaments of copper have been found covered with +thin sheets of gold. Earrings also, made of meteoric iron, have been +found, and a serpent cut out of mica. Some terra-cotta figures also, +which give us an idea of the way the hair was dressed in the days of +the Mound-builders. I cannot here name all the implements and +ornaments that have been discovered. Though most of them are of hard +stone, yet many have been found made of copper. + + +MINING, ETC.--That these people were miners, is evident from the +prevalence of various mineral fragments and implements. At Mound City, +near Chillicothe, has been found galena, none of which can be found in +Ohio. Obsidian also is found in the shape of instruments, which they +must have transported from the Rocky Mountains. Ancient mining shafts +are found in Minnesota, where the solid rock had been excavated to the +depth of 60 feet. On Isle Royal there are pits 60 feet deep, worked +through nine feet of solid rock, at the bottom of which is a rich vein +of copper, and in the two miles of excavations in the same straight +line have been found the mining implements in great numbers. Such +advancement in mining, sagacity in warfare, industrial pursuits, and +geometric skill, as their works display, prove their great superiority +of race over the modern Indian. Their implements, some of them most +elaborately made, their brick-making and various other ingenious +works, enable us to place them high as an industrial people, while +their sacred enclosures, and altars, and tablets, together with the +numerous evidences of their being an agricultural nation, enable us to +place them far above the modern Indian in the scale of civilization. + +The people of the United States, though much to be commended because +of their prudence and forethought in laying out their modern towns and +cities along the various water courses, which serve as the different +highways of commerce, have by no means shown a superior sagacity in +that respect to the Mound-builders, whose great centres of population +are now mostly occupied, or are encroached upon by the modern cities. + +We may with safety assert that the population about Newark, and Xenia, +and Mound City, was far above what it is now. The country about +Dayton, Miamisburg, Oxford, Hamilton and Marietta was, undoubtedly, in +the days of the Mound-builders moving with a greater mass of human +beings than it can boast of to-day. + +And if those peaceable and industrious inhabitants were as numerous as +their remains indicate, what must have been the strength of those +invading hordes who caused their downfall and perhaps wiped out +forever every living representative of that ancient race, who could +leave no more lasting memorial of their existence and struggles than +those mysterious mounds which have given them their name. + + +ANTIQUITY OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS.--Upon this point there are many +theories, some regarding them as the earliest of the Indian tribes. +Others give them a very great age and claim them to belong to +preadamite man. By far the greater number of archaeologists, however, +place their existence at about 2,000 years ago. + +In favor of the latter view we may call as evidence the present forest +trees, which, though of great age, still flourish on some of the +ancient remains. On one of the mounds at Marietta, Ohio, there stood a +gigantic tree, which, when cut down, displayed 800 rings of annual +growth. In many other places, trees of the age of 750 years have been +cut, and underneath them evidences of previous forests found. One tree +750 years old was found to have underneath it, on the walls of one of +the forts in Ohio, the cast of another tree of equal size, which would +carry us back at least 1,500 years since those trees began to grow on +those deserted walls of that ancient fortification. + +We have some data in the vegetable accumulations in the ancient mining +shafts near Lake Superior, as well as in the vegetable and other +matter deposited in the numerous pits and trenches found among the +works. Though these evidences cannot give the exact time of their +accumulation, yet they give it approximately, by comparison with +similar recent deposits. + +There is another still stronger argument in favor of their antiquity, +viz., the decayed condition of the skeletons. The skeletons of the +oldest Indian tribes are comparatively sound while those of the +Mound-builders are much decayed. If they are sound when brought out, +they at once begin to disintegrate in the atmosphere, which is a sure +sign of their antiquity. We know that some skeletons in Europe have +lately been exhumed, which, though buried more than 1,000 years, are +comparatively firm and well-preserved. We are, I think, bound to +ascribe a greater antiquity to the Mound-builders' skeletons than to +those found in the ancient barrows of Europe. Other considerations, +such as stream encroachment, and river-terrace formation, might also +be brought in as presumptive arguments in favor of their great +antiquity. + + +ORIGIN OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS.--This is a question not easily answered. +It brings me into no discredit before the educated world to +acknowledge ignorance on this mysterious point. The study of +Craniology and Philology, in connection with Ethnology, shall alone +throw light on this subject. Dr. Wilson says, in his "Prehistoric Man" +(p. 123), "The ethnical classification of this strange race is still +an unsettled question," and he declares without fear of contradiction, +"that especially concerning the Scioto Mound skull, the elevation and +breadth of the frontal bone, differs essentially from the Indian, and +that the cerebral development was more in accordance with the +character of that singular people, who without architecture have +perpetuated, in mere structures of earth, the evidences of geometric +skill, a definite means of determining angles, a fixed standard of +measurement, and the capacity as well as the practice of repeating +geometrically constructed works of large and uniform dimensions." + +Undoubtedly they were skilled in agriculture, from the remains of +ancient garden-beds, which were cultivated in a methodical manner. The +modern Indians give no such evidence of labor. For wherever they are +found they love to roam in undisputed possession of the forest, and +lead an indolent life. Of course I do not assign this as a valid +reason for their not being identified with the Mound-builders. An +ancient race may have a degenerate offspring. + +Nor shall I attempt to find in the various inscriptions any clue to +their Hebrew origin, or to identify that ancient people with the lost +tribes, as some have dared to do. Foster inclines to regard them as +emigrating from the tropics, rather than coming from the north. + +This would involve us in investigating the antiquity of the Mexican +and Peruvian ruins, where vast works of high architecture and more +advanced civilization were found than among the Mound-builders. There +is little difficulty in concluding that the Aztecs, who occupied +Mexico during the Spanish invasion under Cortez, were the conquerors +of several races that preceded them. Among these conquered races, no +doubt, were the Toltecs, who were afterwards found in such great +numbers, and in an amazing state of advanced civilization. The crania +of the Mound-builders and the Toltecs correspond. Now, whether they +migrated to the north from the tropics, or journeyed south from the +north, I cannot say. I should incline to the latter theory. Industry +is sure to advance. The rude mounds of the United States are far +surpassed by those immense pyramids in Mexico and Peru, surpassing the +Egyptian in size. And those fine architectural palaces and temples, +whose history we cannot fully know, far eclipse anything in the +northern part of America. + +Whoever they were and wherever they came from, they were doubtless +driven southward by the invading tribes of the north. They nobly +fought their way, contesting every foot, until superior numbers took +them by force. Thus these quiet and inoffensive creatures were finally +expelled from their home which doubtless their fathers had occupied +through centuries. If any escaped they, no doubt, found an asylum +southward, where there were other tribes equally civilized, and, +forming an union with them or conquered by them, they began a higher +and better civilization as seen in Mexico and Peru. + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Page 8: Octogon has been changed to octagon. + +Page 15: Smithsonion has been changed to Smithsonian. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mound-Builders, by William J. Smyth + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOUND-BUILDERS *** + +***** This file should be named 17969.txt or 17969.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/9/6/17969/ + +Produced by Thierry Alberto, Diane Monico, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net. 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