USA > Kentucky > The prehistoric men of Kentucky : a history of what is known of their lives and habits, together with a description of their implements and other relics and of the tumuli which have earned for them the designation of Mound builders > Part 2
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views divided the sentiment of the country. The first class saw no evidence of art beyond what might be expected of existing tribes with the simple difference of more numer- ous population and consequently better defined and more permanent habitations; the others found proofs of skill and refinement to be explained, as they believed, only upon the supposition that a superior native race, or more probably people of foreign and higher civilization, once occupied the soil.
Bishop Madison was an advocate of the first theory and Doctor Harris undertook to make good the claims of the second, and urged with great vigor that the Mound Builders were Toltecs who, after residing for a time in the regions of the Mississippi Valley, moved south into Mexico. These two views were pressed with great force and earnestness by many learned and careful observ- ers in later years. As has been said, on this subject two opinions are held and strongly advocated; the first, that the people who constructed these remains were of a different and superior race to the Indian. Those so holding contend that the remains found in the shape of mounds, teocallis (or places of worship), fortifications, implements of various kinds, indicate that these people were a race of superior culture to the Indians; that these remains point conclu- sively to the fact that those who constructed them were an agricultural people of sedentary habits, and lived in organized communities; that the works themselves bear evidences of mathematical and engineering knowledge which the Indian never possessed or exhibited; and that the fortifications show that these people were at war with other nations, and that in such warfare it became neces- sary for these Mound Builders to erect stone, wooden,
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and earthen defenses, and that the evidences show that these were displaced by more aggressive and warlike foes. They also insist that the Indians themselves declared that they knew nothing of the people who builded these structures, and that they were concluded ages before even the red men found them, and that they could tell nothing concerning the origin or use of these monuments. There are some who insist that these monuments must have been erected by a people different from the American Indian, yet they do not attempt to tell who the Mound Builders were. They hold no opinion upon the racial and ethnical relations of those who constructed these monuments, but declare that the Indian was not capable of doing the work which was required in their construction.
The second class insist that there is nothing in these monuments to indicate greater genius, greater skill, or greater patience than the American Indian has exhibited along many other lines; that it is established beyond all question that in historical times the Indian constructed mounds and fortifications, and further, that their burials are similar in most respects to those of the Mound Builders. They say that the mere fact of structures being erected for military purposes demonstrates nothing, because the different Indian nations were themselves constantly at war with each other, and were known to make long marches in order to punish or destroy other Indian nations who had inflicted upon them some real or imaginary wrong. They say further, that there was scarcely a tribe from the Atlantic to the Western plains that did not have some capital or fixed location in which large numbers of their people resided, and that these subsisted upon the prod-
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ucts of agriculture. They insist that De Soto found all the tribes he visited were successful in cultivating maize and various vegetables, and that the early voyagers along the Atlantic shores found the same thing true from Florida to Massachusetts, and that John Smith and his colony depended largely for subsistence upon the products raised by the Indians. Champlain, La Salle, and Mar- quette all observed that the Indians were engaged in suc- cessful agriculture, and, instead of being dependent upon the chase, really lived almost altogether upon the prod- ucts of the soil. They insist that the specimens of art from the mounds "do not excel in any respect those of the Indian tribes known to history." The advocates of this theory insist that there is conclusive evidence to show that in New York and in the Southern States the Indians did build mounds and embankments that are essentially of the same character as those found in Ohio; that during the examination of one of the greatest of the Ohio systems of works, which are among the most elaborate of their kind-namely, the remains at Circleville, Ohio-were found articles of iron and silver, showing conclusively that these were built after contact with the whites, and therefore by the recent Indians. They further argue that as the Indians are the only people except the whites who, so far as we of this age know, have ever held the region over which these remains were scattered, that therefore it requires proof of the most positive character to show that they were not the work of the red Indians. They contend that this proof is lacking, and that the reasonable conclusion is that they were built by the red man, or the American Indian.
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Some of the most acute and careful of all American writers have engaged in discussions on this subject, and probably no fact of American history has brought to its elab- oration more brilliant, scholarly, or enthusiastic authors. To the average mind, after hearing all that can be advanced by either side, it may be safely said that the better of the argument remains with those who insist that these monu- ments were erected by the red Indians or their ancestors, but even those who maintain this view with the greatest perti- nacity and defend it with the greatest ability are compelled to admit that their own conclusions are not always satis- factory, and that there are many things said by those who oppose their theory which carry with them much weight, and which necessarily inject some doubt into the con- clusions which they have reached and which they so ardently maintain. A book of a thousand pages could not fully and thoroughly set forth all that has been vigor- ously said on both sides of this question. As these people seem to have had no written language, and no system of transcribing even in stone the story of their life and of their origin, after all there must be much of conjecture and there must ever remain, at least in some minds, a doubt of the certainty that these wonderful antiquities were constructed by the American Indian. It is not the purpose of this book to argue out this question, but we can only state succinctly and fairly the various theories upon either side of this subject, and then deal with the things about which we can be reasonably certain in con- nection with those who undertook the erection of these attractive and interesting structures, and who, in their completion-considering the implements they had at hand- demonstrate certainly not only great genius and great
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taste, but an energy and persistence which are both strik- ing and surprising, and it may be said almost incredible. Without wagons or carts, or beasts of burden, they under- took the erection of earthworks which fill us with ad- miration at the courage and the patience which would seek to accomplish such marvelous tasks. The greatest of all the mounds is that at Cahokia, Illinois, and even to the men of the present day the construction of such a work would entail an outlay of money and time which would stagger the enterprising and well-equipped con- structor of modern days. The monument erected on the battlefield of Waterloo is one of the most notable instances of modern earthworks. Compared to the great mound at Cahokia, its building would be but child's play. This monument at Waterloo is justly esteemed one of the most effective of all monuments ever builded to commemorate the deeds of men.
The base of the Cahokia mound, north and south, measures 998 feet, east and west 721 feet, height 99 feet, width of lower terrace 30 feet, outward extent of terrace 200 feet, and the area of the base of the mound is estimated to cover sixteen acres of ground. Omitting much that might be counted within the mound and represented in the labor of its erection, the contents covered 21,690,000 cubic feet. It has been estimated that it would require, according to the calculations, one thousand men nearly five years to erect such a mound with the means that the prehistoric inhabitants had at their command. We are bound to conclude from the structures of earth and stone which were fashioned by these people-whether they be historic or prehistoric, whether they be Indians or be- longed to another race-that they were a people who pos-
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sessed considerable mechanical genius and engineering skill, and that there was nothing too great for them to undertake in the commemoration of their distinguished dead, or for the purposes of worship, or for places of safety when imperiled by flood. If these earthworks were used ceremonially or for purposes of worship, they exhibited an intensity of zeal and consecration to the objects of their adoration which have few parallels in human observation. If they were used for the purpose of burial, then they demonstrate a love and veneration for the dead which have no equal in the annals of man- kind. If they were used for purposes of residence or refuge, they likewise exhibit a zealous activity and untiring indus- try that excite, as well as deserve, the admiration of all races and people.
BEGINNINGS OF ARCHEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN KENTUCKY.
The first permanent white settlement in Kentucky was in 1775. Those who had come into the State floated down the Ohio and traveled along the difficult and dangerous Wilderness Road, built their stockade at Boonesboro and their cabins at Harrodsburg, and began the conquest of the wilderness which on every side, in its density and in its difficulties, faced the new-coming Anglo-Saxon. The men who thus came into the State had no opportunity for archeological investigation; they were busy in the defense of their lives, in cutting down the mighty forest trees, in preparing their corn patches and taking care of them. The first cabin at Lexington was
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built in 1779. On the first of April the pioneers began to fell the trees, clear the space, and a blockhouse, sur- rounded by a stockade commanding Maxwell Spring, was the beginning of that beautiful and progressive city.
John Filson, Kentucky's first historian, noted the fact that Lexington had been inhabited long years before the coming of the white man. As early as 1776, some hunters from Boonesboro had their curiosity excited by the strange appearance of a pile of stones of curious work- manship which they saw in the woods covering the place where Lexington now stands. The removal of these stones is said to have revealed the entrance to an ancient catacomb. A gradual descent from the opening covered by these rocks revealed a passage four feet wide and seven feet high, leading into a large stone room in which were numerous niches containing human bodies in a state of preservation. As late as 1782 this catacomb was visited by numbers of Indians and whites, but it was early de- spoiled of its ancient treasures, and the bodies, mummified by some process, destroyed.
Early traditions tell that, when peace had come and the white men had driven the red men out of the territory, this underground burial place was visited and inspected. Thomas Ashe, a traveler of questionable veracity in this country in 1806, claimed in his book, published at London in 1808, that he had visited and explored this marvelous catacomb, and added not a little to the early traditions which existed concerning it. The truth of much that he claimed to have seen rests entirely on his state- ments. It was three hundred feet long, one hundred feet wide, and eighteen feet high. The dust and rubbish which covered the floor was that which had come from the bodies
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entombed within its depths. It is a strange fact that the entrance to this burial place is now totally unknown. Within its vacant chambers no voice is heard and no footstep disturbs the silence of its dead; above, the tide of commerce and trade sweeps over the surface which hides from human eye the story of this ancient tomb. Be this as it may, it is a fact that can not be denied that Lexington was once the center of a great prehistoric popu- lation. About the city are found the remains of earth- works; whether they be fortifications or whether they be sacrificial altars, they were certainly constructed by people who, for savages, were well advanced, and the vast number of implements and arms of stone tell the story that they were used by a people both intelligent and brave.
When Kentucky pioneers undertook, in 1775, to make a permanent settlement within the limits of the State, they had neither the time nor the ability to investigate any of these remains, but as soon as the forest was leveled and the fields began to be cultivated, they observed a large number of artificial earthen mounds. They inquired of the red man what was his knowledge of these tumuli. He answered, "Our people did not build them; they belong to a people whom our forefathers fought and drove from the territory, but whence these people came and whither they have gone we do not know." As cultivation extended and the area of the fields increased, these mounds became more distinct and better recognized, and then, led by curiosity, their contents were examined; the forti- fications or places for worship which had been builded with earthen embankments were noted, but it was not until 1819 that the subject received any scientific or intel- ligent investigation.
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In 1788 Transylvania Seminary was removed to Lex- ington; in 1794 it had reached a high degree of efficiency, and in 1798 the pretentious name of Transylvania Uni- versity was given the infant institution. To this insti- tution, in 1817, had come Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, a young professor full of enthusiasm and zeal. These an- cient monuments of a vanished race aroused not only the curiosity, but quickened the enthusiasm in the mind. of this distinguished and brilliant young student. He was profes- sor of natural sciences, and issued a thin octavo volume, in 1824, entitled "Ancient Annals of Kentucky." For four years he had been diligently engaged in discovering and sur- veying these earthen and stone monuments, and had been able to locate one hundred and forty-eight sites, and five hundred and five ancient remains or monuments. This remarkable man, at that period among the most learned in America, was born in Constantinople in 1784. He had gone with his father to France and Italy, and, after residing in various cities in both of these countries, had come to America in 1802. Filled with the spirit of travel, as well as the desire to make a great collection of botanical and other specimens, on the invitation of John D. Clif- ford, of Lexington, he was induced to visit the Western States. From Pittsburgh he floated down the Ohio, visited Louisville, where he remained long enough to catalogue the fishes and shells of the Ohio, and later visited John J. Audubon, the distinguished ornithologist, who then had his home in Henderson. From Henderson he went by a roundabout way to Lexington, to visit his friend Mr. Clifford. He was persuaded by Clifford to settle in Lexing- ton upon the promise of a professorship in Transylvania University. Having determined to accept a place in that
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institution, he returned to Philadelphia preparatory to mak- ing his arrangements for his residence in the West. Upon his return trip, at Chillicothe, Ohio, he first saw the great earthen monuments, or mounds or altars, of the ancient people of America. He had passed these same mounds in his travels down the Ohio, but either lack of time or the density of the forest on both sides of the river had prevented an examination by this acute observer. These remains filled him with astonishment as well as admira- tion, and he undertook at once a study of them. In 1819 he returned to Lexington, to remain seven years as pro- fessor of natural sciences in Transylvania University. This gifted man taught French, Italian, and Spanish to all who cared to know these languages. With others who had been enthused by his learning and genius, he undertook to establish in Lexington a botanical garden. During those seven years he essayed to secure specimens and materials of all kinds for a book which he proposed to call "A History of the Earth and Mankind, Principally in America." The first outgrowth of this arduous and laborious study and research was made public in a book entitled " Ancient Annals of Kentucky," published as an introduction to Marshall's "History of Kentucky," edition of 1824, and also in separate book form.
In June, 1825, he left Kentucky, and died fifteen years later in Philadelphia, September 18, 1840. For his period he was possessed of wide learning. In 1836, about four years before his death, in commenting upon his own life, he says "in knowledge he had been a botanist, naturalist, conchologist, geologist, geographer, ethnographer, philolo- gist, historian, antiquary, poet, philosopher, economist, and philanthropist, and by profession a traveler, mer-
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chant, manufacturer, collector, improver, professor, teacher, surveyor, draftsman, architect, engineer, palmist, author, editor, bookseller, librarian, secretary, chancellor, and he hardly knew what he might not become, since he never falied to succeed in whatever he applied himself to if it de- pended on himself alone, unless impeded and prevented by lack of means or by the hostility of the foes of mankind."
His investigations and discoveries and the putting forth of his theory created a strong spirit of archeological study, and to this wonderful and marvelous intellect we are indebted for a large proportion of what we know now of the prehistoric remains of the State. There was no limit to his energy; there were no bounds to his research; for a man of his period, there was no parallel to his vast and extraordinary knowledge of Nature. He located pre- historic remains as early as 1824 in forty-one counties in the State. When we consider the difficulties of travel in Kentucky from 1819 to 1825, it is almost impossible. to believe that this wonderful man could have been able to have produced the maps and drawings of prehistoric sites and monuments scattered over such a vast territory. Beginning at Greenup on the east, his explorations extended as far west on the Ohio River as McCracken County; begin- ning on the Ohio River at Louisville, extended in a straight line of investigations southward and westward through Knox and Whitley, and covered almost the entire area of the Bluegrass. Remote counties like Adair and Clay and Harlan were not exempt from his trail, and Perry, Pulaski, and Rockcastle gave up to his genius the story of their remains. He was enabled to find in Bourbon County alone five sites and forty-six monuments, a circus of fourteen hundred and fifty feet, and a town built
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upon the lines of a polygon which had four thousand six hundred and seventy-five feet of walls. Near Augusta he found and described a great battleground, from the site of which he unearthed rings and copper medals upon which unknown letters had been stamped. In Fayette he found, on South Elkhorn and on North Elkhorn, sites of circuses and towns, and a large number of graves from which were taken East Indian shells. In Hickman he discovered and described teocallis four hundred and fifty feet long, ten feet high, and thirty feet wide; in Livingston an octagon remains with walls two thousand eight hun- dred and fifty-two feet in length; in McCracken, two hundred and fifty miles away from Lexington, he found a square teocalli twelve hundred feet long and fourteen feet high; in Montgomery, elliptical or ditched mounds and circuses or circular temples; in Rockcastle a stone grave two hundred feet long and five feet wide and three feet high; in Scott a ditched town; in Trigg a walled town with a circumference of seven thousand five hundred feet, and mounds and teocallis almost unnumbered; in Warren a ditched town of octagonal shape one thousand three hundred and eighty-five feet around; in Whitley a town with houses and a teocalli three hundred and sixty feet long and one hundred and fifty feet wide and twelve feet high, and the remains of towns with houses; in Wood- ford an octagon teocalli twelve hundred feet long and eight feet high, and on South Elkhorn a town which required twenty-seven hundred feet of embankment to enclose its area. Altogether in Kentucky he claimed to have dis- covered one hundred and forty-eight ancient sites and five hundred and five monuments. He surveyed and described many of these.
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It is greatly to be regretted that a man of Rafinesque's boundless energy, enthusiasm, and wide learning had not been more accurate in his observations and had not held in check his marvelous imagination. His work is chiefly valuable in locating the sites of these aboriginal works. Many of the monuments pointed out by him were natural and not of artificial origin. His writings, however, aroused widespread interest in the subjects he discussed. and led others to examine the works and make record of what were the real conditions which existed.
PERIOD IN WHICH THESE PEOPLE LIVED IN KENTUCKY.
When our pioneer forefathers came over the mountains and settled in the State, the monuments of earth and stone were hoary with age. A large number of them had produced on their crests and sides timber which would require hundreds of years to grow, and existing under such conditions as to give the timber itself an age that antedated 1492. There are no annals to tell aught of these structures, but the timber, stone implements, and bodies long before interred, all taken together, in some respects at least are conclusive of the fact that these monuments of various kinds have been in existence in Kentucky more than six hundred years. One instance is known in which a gentleman entered in his diary a record of the felling of a tree on a certain mound in Madison County, Kentucky, in 1787. The writer examined the mound in 1894, one hundred and seven years after the tree had been cut down. A careful study of the number of rings, which
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were clearly traceable on the stump, showed them to be two hundred and thirty-seven, so that the mound must have been constructed two hundred and thirty-seven years before 1787, thus satisfactorily determining that the mound was built before 1550. Recently the reliability of the rings of trees as an indication of their age has been questioned, but after observations of half a century in Kentucky and diligent inquiry among those who have observed the growth of timber, the writer feels confident that in the predominant timbers in Kentucky, such as hickory, poplar, oak, hackberry, beech, walnut, and ash, the rings show substantially the age of growing trees. This is especially true of timber grown on the highlands. The sycamore and cottonwood, down in the river bottoms, might not give the same symmetry as the species above indicated. Severe droughts occurring in Kentucky might stop the growing of the tree, and afterward, in the fall, abundance of rain and the genial sun might make a double growth, and thus two rings show for the same year; but this would not be likely to occur more than once in thirty or forty years.
In another instance, near Lebanon, Kentucky, a mound was opened in which were found three very remarkable relics of the primitive age, namely, copper spools. These spools had been hammered out of copper which had been brought from the copper mines in Michigan. They were discovered in the center of the mound. This mound had contained two growths of timber, and the combined ages of the two would give an age to the structure of not less than five hundred years. On the mound were grow- ing trees which it was absolutely certain had begun their lives three hundred years before, and there were, on the
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ground beneath these, remains of a growth which had ante- dated that which was then standing, so that the mound must have had an age exceeding five hundred years.
Another instance is recalled of a pipe that was taken from the root of a beech tree which had grown upon a mound near Green River. When this tree, which was calculated to be four hundred years old by a most expert antiquarian, was overturned, within the grip of its tap root was a stone pipe. This pipe had been broken into nine pieces, but with a patience and industry almost surpassing credibility, Colonel Robert Munford, who found it and afterward gave it to the writer, proceeded with his search for the broken fragments of this handsome pipe for a period of eight months, when his persistence was at last rewarded by finding the ninth piece.
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