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 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17
[ 131 ]
The Prehistoric Men of Kentucky
and be in position where the stroke would be most effective. In a little while it is probable that pestles were made with expanded base, with bottom flat or slightly convex, and sometimes with a small depression in the middle. The handle was made tapering, and of sufficient size to permit a firm grasp between the thumb and fingers. It may be said of pestles, as axes, that they were fashioned of every available material, and with varying shapes. Some were conical, occasionally grooved; some rounded at the top and flat at the bottom, and others bearing a very striking resemblance to what is called a rolling-pin; the longest of which the writer has observed in Kentucky measures seventeen inches in length by three inches in diameter. (See page 104.) These pestles of cylindrical form are rare in this State. The other forms would be used probably fifty times where the long cylinder was used once. These cylin- drical types now and then are discovered of very small size, not more than three or four inches in length and half an inch to an inch in diameter. It has been suggested, with some show of reason, that these were probably used by the tribal doctor in compounding herbs which constituted the drug supply. Here and there are found pestles made of rare stone and polished with great care and skill.
The usage to which this class of implements was applied is not a matter of dispute among those who are interested in archeology. Every one concedes that they were pestles and were very commonly used. The wearing away of the lower end, which is so often observed, could have been done by no other process than by grinding or pounding. Many show great economy in prehistoric domestic life. They have been worn to such small proportions that the object is but a fraction of its former size.
[ 132 ]
The Prehistoric Men of Kentucky
MORTARS.
When the pestle came into general use the mortar .
of necessity followed. If there was something to grind there must be something upon which the grinding could be done. This was undoubtedly in the early stages of pre- historic domestic life merely a flat stone. As soon as the prehistoric man realized the advantage of a pestle with broadened base, yet so formed as to enable the holder to grasp it firmly, he realized the necessity of an improved surface upon which the matter to be ground could be placed. He soon learned that a rounded cavity would permit a greater surface for the grinding, and by the con- cave form the material being ground would move to the center of the depression. This doubtless grew until the well-defined bowl mortar was evolved. Many of the larger and finer specimens made of sandstone and soap- stone, which have been found in the central and south- eastern part of the State, were probably used as cooking utensils as well as for grinding purposes. Steatite and sandstone make excellent ovens. These are in a large measure indestructible by any heat that would be applied in cooking, and at the same time the materials were easily worked, and it is certain that throughout Kentucky these sandstone and soapstone vessels were both used in cooking. The making of these utensils, even of the softer rocks, with the limited means at hand, was doubtless a slow and tedious process and one that required a very high order of patience to secure a sufficient depres- sion to render the oven useful and effective. But as time was of comparatively little value to these people, the
[ 133 ]
The Prehistoric Men of Kentucky
labor of days and even weeks consumed in the prepara- tion of these objects, which in the end would add so much to the comfort and welfare of the domestic life, was not begrudged. Sandstone was obtainable in many parts of Kentucky. Steatite was necessary to be brought from other States, but this did not deter the Mound Builders from using it in large quantities. The largest mortar that the writer has seen in this section weighs thirty-five. pounds and is in the shape of the old-fashioned wooden bread-tray. It measures eighteen inches in length. One in the writer's collection, from Franklin County, shows that it was designed to be fitted between the knees when in use. Judging from the depth of the cavity of this peculiar specimen, it is probable that it was kept for cracking walnuts or hickory nuts. No other specimen has been observed which has this same hollowing out on the sides in order to fit the shape of the knees, thus per- mitting it to be held firmly and securely while the pound- ing took place upon the upper surface. A remarkable stone mortar or bowl was found about fifteen years ago in Washington County. It is made of crystalline lime- stone, comparatively smoothly finished on the outside, while the inner or bowl surface has been carefully polished. This specimen in size and shape resembles the ordinary wash-basin. About the rim are four projecting knobs by which it could be held. Altogether this is one of the finest and rarest stone vessels that has been discovered. On page 105 is shown three of these mortars from the author's collection. The largest is made of sandstone, the others of steatite.
[ 134 ]
POTTERY BOWLS
Imitation of Fish. From Southern Kentucky
.
1
[ 135 ]
[ 136 ]
Hickman County
VASES-One fifth actual size Trigg County
Trigg County
LARGE COOKING POT Height, eight and one half inches; circumference, thirty inches Barren County
[ 137 ]
[ 138 ]
LARGE POTTERY VESSELS
Height, twelve inches; circumference, forty and one half inches Pulaski County
Height, twelve inches; circumference, forty inches Warren County
[ 139 ]
CUP AND WATER BOTTLES Fulton County. Taylor Collection
[ 140 ]
CUPS, DISHES, AND BIRD RATTLE From Southern Kentucky and Middle Tennessee
[ 141 ]
EFFIGY POTTERY
POT
From Trigg County. Johnson Collection
TURKEY BOWL One half size. The feathers are painted in black upon the body Fulton County. W. P. Taylor Collection
WATER BOTTLES AND CUPS Southern Kentucky [ 142 ]
The Prehistoric Men of Kentucky
POTTERY WARE AND IMPLEMENTS.
Pottery vessels, pipes, axes, shell and flint implements, large or small, constitute the vast majority of the remains of the prehistoric people. In Eastern and Central Ken- tucky pottery was never very abundant. Here and there perfect specimens may be found, and in many places large numbers of fragments are to be seen, but the great center of pottery-making, in so far as the remains indi- cate, is found west of Salt River. That the prehistoric people began the manufacture of pottery hundreds of years before the white man appeared, has been demon- strated in sundry ways so as to no longer admit of doubt, and that this manufacture reached a very high state before the red man ever heard of the white man is equally truc. Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, and Arkansas excel in pottery. In Kentucky, along the Cumberland River, have been found some of the very best specimens of this ware that were manufactured; not the most ornate, for to Arkan- sas, Southern Missouri, and Tennessee are to be attributed the best ornamented forms. But the pottery found along the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, much of which will ring when struck, shows that these people understood the art of hardening or tempering their ware so as to render it impervious to the effects of moisture.
The mound-building people of the Mississippi Valley displayed a wide range of originality and skill in the plas- tic arts. Their pottery ware covered an extensive variety of uses. From it were made images, pipes, toys, rattles, drinking cups, spools, ornaments, beads, trowels, and domestic vessels for storing and cooking. The use of
[ 143 ]
The Prehistoric Men of Kentucky
pottery was distributed over a large portion of the Ameri- can Continent. Not only was it generally made, but the remains found show that it was generally used, and this variety of use developed in many places great artistic skill. Ornamented pottery is not very abundant in Kentucky, and practically all that has been found comes from the western and southern portions of the State. The ornamentation on these vessels was done in several ways, sometimes by pressing coarse cloth upon the soft clay, sometimes by marking it with a sharp or blunt instru- ment, or even the finger nails; again by pressing it against forms of willow or other wood, which indented it. Usually these ornamental designs were made while the clay paste was in a soft and plastic condition, but sometimes even after it had been hardened. Considering the lack of resisting power of the material, these people showed great skill in forming the larger vessels. The largest of these were evidently salt kettles or pans. The action of the fire with which these vessels were hardened was most likely indirect, as pounded mussel shells, with a loam more or less impregnated with clay, were the materials from which they were prepared. It is certain that they could not have been subjected to a very high degree of direct heat without the particles of shell becoming cal- cined, thus rendering the vessel likely to leak and making it less resistant. In a number of these vessels the exist- ing conditions show that they were subjected to the direct action of fire after their manufacture. In all cases where this was done it was followed by the crumbling of the particles of shell imbedded in the clay at the point of contact with the fire, while the unburned portion contained the particles of shell in their original hardness.
[ 144 ]
ยท
The Prehistoric Men of Kentucky
The most complete account of aboriginal American pottery ever prepared is that of Professor W. H. Holmes, contained in the Report of the Bureau of Ethnology for 1903. For accuracy of statement, breadth of observa- tion, carefulness of research, completeness of detail, and thoroughness of delineation, this work has never been excelled. It is almost impossible to suppose that one person could have made such a large number of investiga- tions as fell to the lot of Professor Holmes, and to have examined with such a high degree of intelligence the thousands of ceramic forms that are exhibited in this won- derful work. On this subject it is a library in itself.
In the caves of Kentucky some pottery has been found, but the great finds came from the stone graves. The regions along the Mississippi, Tennessee, Tradewater, Barren, Green, and Little rivers have been most prolific. Here and there, about the headwaters of the Cumberland and Kentucky rivers, specimens of pottery are found, and while excellent in form and finish their occurrence . is comparatively rare, and the bulk, whether for domestic use or ornamentation, comes from the southern and western portions of the State.
Among the thousands of specimens of vessels dis- covered, no two are exactly alike. This demonstrates that this work was all done by hand, without the use of molds or forms, or even the potter's wheel. They had what is known among archeologists as trowels, made of clay, somewhat of the shape of an inverted mushroom. These are smooth on the outer and rounded surface, and were undoubtedly manufactured for the purpose of shap- ing as well as smoothing the vessels. In Christian County was found a trowel of a slightly different pattern. The
[ 145 ]
The Prehistoric Men of Kentucky
smooth surface is flat and oval in form, with a handle attached somewhat after the manner of a flatiron. It is similar to the trowels described by General Thruston in " Antiquities of Tennessee."
1
One of the most interesting features in connection with the manufacture of pottery is the large number of vessels and implements which are so diminutive as to leave but little doubt that they were prepared for the use of the children. In any large collection in Tennessee or Southern and Western Kentucky, which has been at all carefully selected, are many specimens which by their size, form, and finish indicate that they were playthings for young people. The smallest of these vessels are very little larger than a good-sized thimble. Many of them do not hold more than one or two ounces. They are seen in the form of drinking vessels, cups, and jugs, sometimes with a hole through the upper end, in which can be seen the effects of friction caused from its hanging by a string, showing that even the children carried their drinking vessels, either at play or upon journeys. None of them were ornamented by impressed designs, though they are sometimes made in the shape of animals, especially the frog and fish. While these little vessels indicate apparent thoughtfulness and affection, they show that the higher forms of skill in the manufacture of pottery was not exercised in the preparation of these toys, and suggest that perhaps many of them were made by the children themselves.
The vast number of specimens of pottery, large and small, ornamented and not ornamented, which have re- mained over in perfect form through the lapse of hundreds of years, show two things,-first, that the manufacture of
[ 146 ]
-
The Prehistoric Men of Kentucky
pottery ware was universal among the prehistoric people; and second, that in order to produce this large number of remains there must have been a vast population inhabit- ing the regions bordering on the Ohio River, south and north, and along the Cumberland, Tennessee, Green, and Barren. It must be remembered further, in connection with this statement, that much of the prehistoric pottery was merely sun-dried and has disintegrated in the soil, only the most fragmentary parts now remaining. The fragments found in the mounds and in and about almost every village site shows that the number of vessels of pottery prepared was almost unlimited.
CHIPPED STONE IMPLEMENTS.
No class of aboriginal artifacts are found in such vast quantities or distributed over so wide an area as the chipped implements of flint or kindred chalcedonic rock, and few are of more interest to the archeologist. In every section of Kentucky these implements occur in greater or less number, varying in size from large agricultural specimens measuring eighteen inches to minute arrow-points of such proportions as to preclude use for any practical pur- pose. The forms designated arrow-points and spear- heads are picked up literally by the thousands. Along all the fertile river bottoms the numerous flakes and cores of flint show where the prehistoric man of Kentucky had habitation or temporarily encamped on his hunting expe- ditions and where he manufactured these useful imple- ments. In many places, notably in Mercer, Wayne, Nich- olas, and Boyle counties, arrow-points and spearheads accompanied by axes have been turned up by the plow
[ 147 ]
The Prehistoric Men of Kentucky
in almost countless numbers away from ancient village sites, mute witnesses of a time when hostile tribes in deadly feud contended for the mastery of Kentucky.
In the author's collection are upward of forty thousand of these implements, illustrating every form, displaying every degree of skill, and every phase of workmanship of the prehistoric lapidary. Many are beautifully chipped in graceful forms, others fashioned in a crude and clumsy manner. Obviously every aborigine was not a skilled worker in stone. There were men in every tribe who, by natural aptitude and long practice, became adepts in this difficult art; they devoted their whole time to the work, and tradition has it that as from time to time they accumulated a store of these implements they would journey into distant regions to barter their wares for the products of other sections. The arrow-maker of Ken- tucky penetrated the mountains of North Carolina and exchanged his flints for mica and steatite; to Pennsyl- vania he went for graphite, and to Missouri for hematite. In Minnesota he sought the wonderful pipe-stone quarries, and in Michigan secured the highly prized copper of Lake Superior. From the Gulf of Mexico and the shores of the South Atlantic he brought to his lodge in Kentucky beautiful seashells fashioned into beads and pendants of exquisite lustre, and cunningly wrought gorgets of curi- ous form. It is said that while engaged in these com- mercial pursuits free passage was accorded him. His vocation was respected and rendered him immune to dangers which usually would beset a traveler through hostile territory. That such a trade was carried on not only in flint but other products, is amply demonstrated by the vast number of relics, the material of which is
[ 148 ]
The Prehistoric Men of Kentucky
nowhere found in situ in the State. In Mercer, Trigg, Warren, and Christian counties have been found arrow- points of obsidian, the source of which lies not nearer than New Mexico or the Rocky Mountains.
War parties frequently brought these foreign products to the places where we now find them. It is well known that the historic Indians frequently went on hostile excur- sions into territory many hundred miles distant. In "Jesuit Relations" (Volume 47, page 145), Father Lallemant, writing of the Iroquois Wars of 1661-62, says: " Pro- ceeding rather westerly than southerly another band of Iroquois is going four hundred leagues from here in pur- suit of a nation whose only offense consists in its not being Iroquois. It is called Ontoagannha, signifying 'the place where people can not speak,' because of the corrupt Algonquin in use there. Be that as it may, against those people the Onnontaheronnon Iroquois have turned their arms, to appease (as they say) the souls of those of their number who were killed there eight or nine years ago. Those souls will find no resting place in the other world until they have been atoned for, as it were, by fires of burnt captives." The Ontoagannha spoken of by the Jesuit Father were the warlike Shawnees who at that time occupied the extreme western portion of Ken- tucky and were the only Indians within its borders.
The specimens of chipped stone found in Kentucky are almost always made of the various forms of chalce- donic rock which are popularly termed flint, and the name "flints" here, as elsewhere, is used to designate all imple- ments made of this material.
In the art of chipping flint the prehistoric men of Kentucky exhibited a rare degree of manual skill. One
[ 149 ]
-
The Prehistoric Men of Kentucky
can not but marvel at the long, broad, and regular flaking displayed in much of their work. In the author's collection is a spearhead of dark brown jasper, from Warren County, seven inches in length, leaf shaped, with indented base. From either face have been struck off slender flakes, extending in parallel lines the whole length of the imple- ment. The edges, by a series of smaller chippings, have been fashioned into the most graceful lines. Along the middle line the specimen measures scarcely more than one eighth of an inch in thickness, while between this and the edge it reaches a thickness of nearly three eighths of an inch. Such marvelous skill as is here exhibited extorts for the aboriginal arrow-maker our wonder and admiration, and arouses a desire to know something of the methods by which these interesting relics were wrought.
Many of the early explorers and travelers have de- scribed the art of working flint among the historic Indians. Captain John Smith, in describing the making of arrow- points by the Virginia Indians in 1606, says: " His arrow he maketh quickly with a little bone which he ever wearest at his bracert, of a splint of a stone or glasse in the form of a heart and these they glew to the end of their arrowes." Catlin, in his "Last Rambles Amongst the Indians," thus describes the mode of making flint arrow-points among the Apaches: "Like most of the tribes west of and in the Rocky Mountains they manufacture the blades of their spears and points for their arrows of flint, and also of obsidian, which is scattered over those volcanic regions west of the mountains; and, like other tribes, they guard as a profound secret the mode by which the flints and obsidian are broken into the shapes they require. Every tribe has its factory in which these arrowheads
[ 150 ]
The Prehistoric Men of Kentucky
are made, and in those only certain adepts are able or allowed to make them for the use of the tribe. Erratic bowlders of flint are collected (and sometimes brought an immense distance), and broken with a sort of sledge hammer made of a rounded pebble of hornstone set in a twisted withe, holding the stone and forming a handle. The master workman, seated on the ground, lays one of these flakes on the palm of his left hand, holding it firmly down with two or more fingers of the same hand, and with his right hand, between the thumb and two forefingers, places his chisel (or punch) on the point that is to be broken off; and a co-operator (a striker) sitting in front of him, with a mallet of very hard wood strikes the chisel (or punch) on the upper end, flaking the flint off on the under side below each projecting point that is struck. The flint is then turned and chipped in the same manner from the opposite side; and so turned and chipped until the required shape and dimensions are obtained, all fractures being made on the palm of the hand. The yield- ing elasticity of the palm of the hand enables the chip to come off without breaking the body of the flint, which would be the case if they were broken on a hard substance. These people have no metallic instruments to work with, and the instrument (punch) which they use I was told was a piece of bone; but on examining it I found it to be a substance much harder, made of the tooth (incisor) of the sperm whale or sea lion, which are often stranded on the coast of the Pacific. This punch is about six or seven inches in length and one inch in diameter, with one rounded side and two plane sides, therefore presenting one acute and two obtuse angles to suit the points to be broken.
" This operation is very curious, both the holder and
[ 151 ]
-
The Prehistoric Men of Kentucky
the striker singing, and the strokes of the mallet given exactly in time with the music, and with a sharp and rebounding blow in which, the Indians tell us, is the great medicine (or mystery) of the operation."
Schoolcraft ("North American Indian Tribes," Volume III, page 467) writes as follows of the manufacturing of arrow-points by the Indians: "The skill displayed in this art, as it is by the tribes of the entire continent, has excited admiration. The material employed is generally some form of hornstone, sometimes passing into flint. This material is often called chert by the English mineralo- gists. No specimens have, however, been observed where the substance is gunflint. This hornstone is less hard than common quartz, and can readily be broken by con- tact with the latter. Experience has taught the Indian that some varieties of hornstone are less easily and regu- larly fractured than others, and that the tendency to a conchoidal fracture is to be relied on in the softer varieties. It has also shown him that the weathered or surface frag- ments are harder and less manageable than those quarried from the rocks and mountains.
"To break them, he seats himself on the ground and holds the lump on one of his thighs, interposing some hard substance below it. When the blow is given there is a sufficient yielding in the piece to be fractured not to endanger its being shivered into fragments. Many are, how- ever, lost. After the lump has been broken transversely it required great skill and patience to chip the edges. Such is the art required in this business, both in selecting and fracturing the stones, that it is found to be the employ- ment of particular men, generally old men, who are laid aside from hunting to make arrow and spearheads."
[ 152 ]
The Prehistoric Men of Kentucky
" The Viard arrow-maker," says Stephen Powers, "takes a piece of jasper, chert, obsidian, or common flint, which breaks sharp-cornered, and with a conchoidal fracture; this he heats in the fire and then cools slowly, which splits it in flakes; then taking one of these flakes, he gives it an approximately right shape by striking it with a rough hammer; then slips over his left hand a piece of buck- skin with a hole to fit over the thumb (this buckskin is to prevent the hand from being wounded), and in his right hand he takes a pair of buckhorn pincers, tied together at the point with a thong. Holding the piece of flint in his left hand, he breaks off from the edge of it a tiny fragment with the pincers by a twisting or wrenching motion. The piece is often reversed in the hand so that it may be worked away systematically. Arrowhead manufacture is a specialty, just as arrow-making, medi- cine, and other arts. These pincers are probably only our compound chipper." (Smithsonian Report, 1886, Otis T. Mason.)
These descriptions of the methods of making flint among the modern Indians will throw light on the methods employed by the prehistoric men of Kentucky, yet none of the historic tribes seem to have possessed the high degree of skill attained by the ancient flint-workers of Kentucky and Tennessee. Especially is this true of the manufacture of the larger and finer implements which are found in considerable numbers in parts of this State, and in even greater numbers in Tennessee. So far as the writer knows none of the modern tribes made imple- ments comparable in either size or beauty with the fine specimen shown on page 160.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.