USA > Ohio > History of Ohio; the rise and progress of an American state, Volume One > Part 5
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PAINT CREEK.
Six miles of the Paint Creek Valley, from near where the creek enters the Scioto River. This map shows (A) Seip Mound, (B) Baum Village Works, (G) Spruce Hill and Fort, and other lesser works.
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
ЯНАЯЭ-ТИНАТ
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Par Crock & dotted will the ever- oflis. Three miles above the city left, a very large circular enclosure, Back on the upland, while on the edge rhanging the river is ""Mound City," An volt Fe, the wall, thise to fornis feet high, tach uden with is a thousand feet long, the corners wounded lathes thao sorular; the Inrigen arms & dotted n'twenty- pherical taped , explora- Ind altare andamos 4 remains
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Chillicothe
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47
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
parallel walls presumably a covered avenue, half a mile in length. Passing small circles and a crescent, directly north of "Hopetown," where the river curves to the west, we encounter, on the table-land, the "Cedar Banks" square; walls forming three sides of a parallel- ogram, the fourth side being protected by the natural bluff, seventy feet high and facing the river. Within these walls was a "temple mound" or elongated plat- form, four feet high, two hundred and fifty feet long by one hundred and fifty feet in width, provided with graded ascents at each end; another reminder of the Toltec altars of Mexico. Two miles further north on our left are the "Dunlap Works," a small circle, a large square and lengthy parallels. But we cannot enu- merate, much less describe, even the most remarkable of these incomprehensible works on the Scioto, which works more and more excite our wonder and exercise our imagination; the futility of our explorations in- creases the fascination, which they create. A brief glance at the Paint Creek valley and we proceed to another feature of these people. The "Hopewell Group" is the most extensive exhibit in this region; on the north fork of Paint Creek; the chief figure of which is a parallelogram one hundred and eleven acres in area, the wall nearest to, and paralleling, the river bank, is half a mile in extent; its main gateway opens into a perfect square containing sixteen acres, with four entrances, one on the center of each side, each opening having the often employed inner mound, which stands like a bulky, imperturbable sentinel guarding the open gate. Within the great parallelogram are numerous mounds and two striking enclosures, one a
48
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
circle and the other a large crescent or half moon, with the horns united by a straight connecting line. Near the present villages of Bourneville and Bainbridge are works equally deserving our attention had we time to dwell thereon.
We reluctantly cease our sight-seeing tour among these marvels of an unknown age and race. There is scarcely a point along the Scioto, below Circleville,- to make place for which city vast works of the Mound Builders were destroyed,-to the river's mouth, where one may not be within a short distance of some form of aboriginal handiwork. A ponderous volume could easily be written upon the Mound Builders' remains with their almost "infinite variety," comprised within a twenty mile section of the Scioto River and Paint Creek valleys.
From its juncture with the Olentangy, to its mouth, a hundred and fifty miles, the Scioto runs its course through a continued story of the Mound Builder, a story the curious and fascinating illustrations of which form a panorama of a vanished empire, a story the text of which is lost, but which if it could be restored would doubtless unfold a volume of human interest, which not even the lore of the Nile could surpass. On the tops of the hills bordering the valleys of the Scioto and its tributaries, in which the earthworks are found, mounds occur in considerable numbers, the most ele- vated and commanding positions being often crowned with them. An enthusiastic antiquarian, who devoted much time and study to the examination of the Mound Builders' remains in the section mentioned, demon- strated by actual survey, that the signal forts or ele-
49
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
vated watch towers, which occur in the Scioto valley, formed a regular chain or system and that by means of fires upon them, signals could be sent up or down the valley from Columbus to Portsmouth. Many of the works of which we have spoken and the hundreds not mentioned still stand intact in their pristine forma- tion, though some are mutilated and many obliterated; great pity it is that the ruthless hand of rapacious civilization has not been stayed in its work of shameless desecration and destruction. Priceless treasures, far transcending in value the "wealth of Ormus or Ind," are these remaining monuments Says one author: "Proud, stately marble palaces and temples have fallen into shapeless masses of ruins, while the simple mounds erected by a rude and primitive people have withstood the elements and retained almost perfectly their original forms and proportions."
If the fifteen hundred "enclosures," existing or known to have existed until recently in Ohio, present an inexhaustible study in their extent and variety, then the isolated mounds, the estimated total number of which in the state exceeds, or did but a few years ago, the appalling number of ten thousand, must sur- pass our comprehension. The mounds are compara- tively scarce in the northwestern and southeastern part of the state, in the northeast they are often found but in the center and southwest they prevailed in almost countless numbers. In size they vary from a knoll three feet in height and less than twenty feet in base diameter to the largest one, that at Miamisburg, sixty- eight feet in perpendicular altitude, eight hundred and fifty feet in base circumference and containing over
50
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
a million cubic feet of earth. The most of these mounds, often called tumuli, from the Latin tumeo, to swell-literally a little swelling-of the earth, are con- ical shaped with a "flat dome or segment of a sphere." These mounds, it must be borne in mind, are simply piles of earth-except where rarely stones are used- heaped together without the slightest evidence of any mechanical assistance-the massing together of small lots from a peck to two pecks in size, the amount of a single load-borne by the carrier to the desired spot in a basket or in a sack or bag or skin-and flattened out by the weight of the loads deposited upon it.
The erection of the mounds, so far as known, were for two purposes, first as watch towers; this usually when they are built on the hill-top, as hundreds of them have been, and second, those on the lowlands, as tombs or sepulchres, the receptacles of the dead. The burial mound was the first and the universal architectural expression of primitive man, and the earliest glimpse we get of any people is the earthen mound containing the remains of the tribal hero or chief or departed kin. These burial mounds, of crudest form, everywhere more or less similar in shape and material, are found in the uttermost parts of the earth; in Russia, China, Japan, India, Egypt, Greece, wher- ever man has found habitation. Homer recounts in the Odyssey how over the ashes of Patroclus and Anti- lochus a "great and symmetrical tumulus" was raised that "it might be seen from afar by the living and by future generations of men." Likewise in the Iliad "a mound, with all speed was erected over the grave" of Hector.
51
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
It should be understood that we are examining only tumuli belonging to the prehistoric man and not the mounds attributed to later Indians. It is known that the Indians-the historic Indians-did occasionally engage in mound building, but so seldom that for the purposes of our study we do not take their works into consideration.
The researches in the ancient mounds establish the fact that more than nine-tenths of them contain human remains, thereby demonstrating that their prime pur- pose was sepulchral. As a rule, not many bodies were covered by a single mound; the number varying from one to twenty, rarely as many as the latter, the average being perhaps six. The number usually bears no proportion to the size of the mound. The manner of the burial is in great diversity. In some mounds large quantities of bones-representing many bodies-are found mingled in confusion, suggesting a "communal burial," in which the skeleton remains of those who had died during a period of several years were gathered up, and deposited at one time. The skeletons are found in all conceivable positions and in all parts of the mound though ordinarily the bodies were laid on the surface of the earth and the mound raised to its final height over them. In some cases the arrangement of the skeletons denotes successive burials, one above another or even side by side, the mound being enlarged as the burials required until all lay within one large completed structure. The interiors of the mounds disclose altars -low tables or basins-differing in form, size and material, the latter being clay, sand, stone or ashes. Again the remains revealed modes of incineration-
52
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
burning of the body-either before or at the time of burial. More often than otherwise, articles-pre- sumably the possessions of the inhumed-ornaments, war implements, domestic utensils-were buried with the dead. It is from these funereal accompaniments that we learn much of the nature and life of the Mound Builders.
It would be wearisome and profitless to attempt any extended description of the mound explorations by such experts as Cyrus Thomas, Frederick Putnam, Warren K. Moorehead, Gerard Fowke and others. We confine ourselves to a few typical cases the careful and more recent researches of Prof. W. C. Mills, who has employed the latest and most improved methods of investigation. The earlier excavators with the laud- able purpose of preserving the mounds, usually con- ducted their examinations by either sinking a vertical shaft from the top of the mound to the bottom or by running a horizontal tunnel, at the base line, from the circumference to the center, sometimes both. While that method spared the mound, it was not so satis- factory in results, as the lack of proper light and the unavoidable damage to or destruction of the interior contents made the discoveries incomplete. The meth- od of Professor Mills is to level or annihilate the mound. This, however, only when the mound in question is otherwise marked for destruction. Beginning at the top the earth is cautiously removed in thin layers. Thus all the contents are found in their exact position and rela- tion to the mound and to each other, and are removed intact, while views may be taken of each stage of the process, thus preserving the actual situation in every
ADENA MOUND.
Diagram showing formation of the Adena Mound when explored; revealing the outlines of the mound as first con- structed and the mound as subsequently enlarged; also showing the sub-surface tomb.
GARTNER MOUND.
A "trinity " mound, comprising three separate mounds, the intervening spaces having been subsequently filled in so as to complete the composite mound.
SOIL
GRAVEL
312 SECTION
24º SECTION
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
CUOMA AVHOA
the before or at the time of
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rk Putnam,
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We callfor nunes na An appeal suey the careful and aun mail -unddes af Pail W. C. Mills, who las ompliget the bros ind most improved methodo Alay higado. The earlier excavators with the laud- abile pusyuse of preserving the mounds, usually con- dotes ther examinations by either sinking a vertical shalt from the top of the mound to the bottom or by ruthbig a horizontal tunnel, at the base line, from the circumference to the center, somerimes both. While this method wpared the mound, it was not so satis- factory in results, as the lack of proper light and the uugvoldalle Analge to of destruction of the interior conterite made the discovenes mcomplete, The meth- od of Poweror Milly Da to level or ann Fuite the mound This, however, only when the mound in question is otherwise marked for destruction. lleganing at the top the earth is cautiously removed in thin layera. Thus all the contents are found in their exact position and rela Lion to the mound and to each other, and are removed Intact, while views may be taken of each stage of the process, thuis preserving the actual situation in every
SOIL
GRAVEL
3AR SECTION
2ºº SECTION
IST SECTION
ASHES
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
section of the constructive history of the mound. We refer to only a few of the more interesting excavations.
One of the most prominent mounds explored by the Ohio State Archæological and Historical Society under the direction of its Curator, Professor Mills, was that known as the Adena Mound, near Chillicothe, at the foot of the hill upon which rests the time-honored and spacious mansion called Adena, once the residence of Governor Worthington. This mound at the time of demolition for scientific purposes was near twenty- seven feet high with a circumference of five hundred and fifty feet. The work of exploration, beginning at the summit, soon revealed that it was a double mound; the original mound-twenty feet high with a base diameter of ninety feet, having been enlarged by a sub- sequent addition as shown in the diagram, the soil of the second period differing from that of the first. Thirty-three burials were opened in the mound and as many skeletons removed; twenty-one from the orig- inal mound and twelve from the secondary one. The burials in each section differed in mode; those in the original tumulus were all within a few feet of the level surface or base of the mound; those in the later portion were scattered from top to bottom, being mere inter- ments in the earth with little or no attempt at grave structure or accompaniment of ornaments or insignia, showing the additional mound had been built up as new burials were made. The bodies in the original portion had in many cases been enveloped in a coarse woven fabric, or wrapped in a bark and all enclosed in a rude sepulcher made by placing unhewn logs at the sides and ends of the body with a top covering of small-
54
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
er timbers. These log encasements had long ago de- cayed, and crumbled away, but leaving the impact earth solid in its position, thus creating a grave cavity eight to nine feet long, five to seven wide and eighteen to thirty inches in height. In these chambered graves, ornaments of great variety were found; especially copper bracelets and rings that encircled the arms and the fingers of the favored skeletons. These copper adornments were occasionally wrapped in a covering of woven fabric, just mentioned; it was the most prim- itive form of cloth, made from the bast fibre of plants or the fibrous inner bark of trees. This prehistoric textile, found in many mounds, revealed under the microscope that it was woven in the many methods known to the weaver, the "simple" and the "reticu- lated," etc., varieties of inter-crossing the warp and woof threads. But the chief discovery in the Adena mound was that of a subterranean chamber, directly under the center of the primary mound and entirely beneath the original surface line. Layers of bark covered the floor and sides of the underground room, fourteen feet long, near twelve wide and seven high. Upon the bark flooring lay the skeleton of an adult, who in life had the noble stature of six feet. The skeleton had been wrapped in three layers of bark and the upper bones of the legs had been painted red and then swathed in woven fabrics. Around the honored dead lay nine large leaf-shaped flint knives, all finely wrought, while numerous other articles betokened the high character or office of the dead. Here must have lain a mighty ruler or chief, perhaps the hero of his
55
OF AN AMERICAN STATE
tribe of whom Bryant might have truly written in his "Disinterred Warrior,"
" Gather him to his grave again, And solemnly and softly lay, Beneath the verdure of the plain,
The warrior's scattered bones away."
Near the top of this sepulchral chamber on the base line of the mound were the remains of a great "fire place," the ashes of which lay fourteen inches thick, intermingled with great quantities of burial mussel shells and the bones of various birds and animals, the food of their captors. These bones were found in all parts of the mound as were ornaments and implements, many specimens most skillfully made; earthen jars- found in fragments only-shell hoes, fresh water mussel shells, with perforations through which the end of the wooden "hoe handle" would be thrust and fastened; bone and shell beads in abundance-strings of them -- on skin or fibre threads-were found encircling the necks of skeletons, generally those of children; awls and needles, the latter, six to eleven inches in length, made from the bones of elk and deer; flakes of mica cut into artistic figures.
The Mound Builder seems to have been universally a smoker, for his pipes, stone and clay, were everywhere in evidence, and the art of their manufacture must have been a favorite one. Among the many lesser specimens here unearthened was the masterpiece of this artifact; it was eight inches long, and exquisitely carved to represent the human form in nude state, save a cloth covering around the loins. It was made of clay, such as was found in the nearby Scioto bottoms, burned
56
RISE AND PROGRESS OF AN AMERICAN STATE
to a red color and highly polished. It must have been . the prized gem of some tribe chief. Professor J. W. Foster in his "Prehistoric Races" notes, "with the Mound Builder tobacco was the greatest of luxuries; his solace in his hours of relaxation, and the choicest offering he could dedicate to the Great Spirit. Upon his pipes he lavished all the skill he possessed in the lapidary's art:"
" From the red stone of the quarry With his hand he broke a fragment, Moulded it into a pipe head, Shaped and fashioned it with figures."
Such were some of the features and archaeological riches of Adena Mound, now no more save in the record of the explorer.
CHAPTER III. PREHISTORIC; VILLAGE SITES
GARTNER MOUND GRAVE.
Photograph of opened grave in the Mound, showing remains of human skeleton and the earthenware bowl near head of the figure. It was a frequent custom of the Mound Builders to place bowls near the head of the dead. This photograph was taken by Professor Mills at the time of his explorations.
ЯЧАЯЭ ЦИЈОМ ЯДИТЯАО
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O N the Scioto River six miles north of Chilli- cothe was, before its recent destruction, the Gartner mound, now famous for the wealth of knowledge and material derived from its exploration. This mound, standing on the site of a prehistoric village with an area of four acres, was a "trinity" structure, comprising three separate and distinct mounds, the intervening spaces having been subsequently filled in so as to complete the triple composite elevation which was eight feet high and seventy-five in diameter. All three sections of the mound were replete with skeleton burials, or the charred remains of cremated bodies, in various fashions of inter- ment. We cannot particularize as to details, save to note that large "crematories" were unearthed therein. These were platforms of hardened earth, the largest being thirty-two feet long, sixteen wide, the elevation being two feet. These platforms were on the earth's surface line in the base of the mound, evidently being village altars or tables on which the dead were burned, subsequently the platforms were covered by the mound. With the burned skeletons and heaps of bones were found the usual variety of implements and ornaments.
We practically ignore the exploration of the mound to study the village site that surrounds it; a site known to have been a residence center of the Mound Builder from the evidential remains, such as tepee pole holes, ash and storage pits, bake cavities or "ovens" and the countless articles buried beneath the surface or scat- tered promiscuously above the ground. Vast quan- tities of animal-no less than seventeen varieties-and bird bones were strewn about. There were fine speci-
1
60
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
mens of stone hammers, shell, flint and bone scrapers, whetstones to sharpen objects made of bone and shell; pipes, pendants and beads; pestles and mortars; bone fish hooks and net sinkers, the latter pebbles notched or grooved so that the fibre or skin string might be fastened about them. The Mound Builder was an expert in the piscatorial art and sunk his nets and cast his line and hook into the Scioto, without restraint from any game law.
The storage pits of this village exhibited the food productions and "bill of fare" of the primitive man. More than one hundred of these pits -large holes sunk in the ground-were uncovered. In these pits, some- times several feet in depth and diameter, often with a flooring of straw or bark that also lined the walls, were found beans, shelled corn in woven bags, or ears of corn laid in regular order upon the bottom; seeds of the pawpaw, hickory nuts, walnuts, chestnuts, seeds of the wild red plum, etc. Surely there was no lack of variety of vegetable articles of diet to accompany their lists of meats from the wild game of the forest.
But more interesting still were the two "clam ovens" or mussel "bakes," made by digging an opening in the ground five feet deep and four in diameter. Each oven had been burned until the clay on the bottom and sides was red to the depth of several inches. The bak- ing process was simple. A fire was started in the oven, quantities of small bowlders were thrown upon the fire and upon these heated stones mussels of small size were heaped till the pit was filled, the top was then, no doubt, covered over with grass and the mussels left to bake. After the "feast, which it no doubt was,"
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
says Professor Mills, the shells were thrown back into empty pits. Thousands and thousands of these shells lay near the two "bakes. "
Another of the chief village sites that proved a mine of information for the explorer is that of Baum village on Paint Creek, a few miles from its entrance into the Scioto, and within sight of the Spruce Hill fortification.
The village extends over more than ten acres of ground, in the center of which is a large square mound. Immediately adjoining the village location are extensive wall enclosures in circular and square form, embracing some seventy acres which were all described by Squier and Davis in 1846 in the great work on "Ancient Mon- uments." The Baum village, so-called from the pro- prietor of the land, has been a favorite field for the explorer, both state and national; Professor Mills has elaborately exploited it in a monograph publication of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society. Here the evidence is that the tepees or domiciles in which the prehistoric man lived were permanent and not temporary abodes, evidencing that the Mound Builder was stationary rather than migratory in his habits. This conclusion is further sustained by the magnitude and permanency of his fortifications and enclosures. The largest tepee in this village was twenty-two feet long and twelve feet wide. The large post holes, twenty-one in number, showed the posts- small tree-trunks with the bark attached and "cut" the proper length by being burned off-had been set upright on the line of the sides of the tepee; within this exterior line were seven other posts, similar in size to the outer ones, but promiscuously placed, presuma-
62
THE RISE AND PROGRESS
bly as columns or pillars to support the tepee roof, which must have consisted of bark, grass or skins, as there were no indications found pointing to the use of earth plaster. In the center of the tepee was the great fire place, four feet in diameter and six inches deep, the hearth being bowl shaped, and the packed earth forming it burned to a brick red to the depth of eight inches. The accumulated debris, about this hearth, was filled with implements and ornaments, both finished and unfinished, polished stones, broken pottery, hammer stones, a large mortar, and bones of animals, mostly those killed in the winter season, indicating, says Professor Mills, that the tepee was the scene of do- mestic activities during the winter, and that during the spring, summer and autumn the preparation of food was mostly done outside at the large fireplaces close to the tepee, which was no doubt in many cases, not only one family home but that of two or more families-a group habitation. The village was a cluster of tepees, all smaller than the one described. Adjacent to each one was, usually, a subterranean store- house and a burial place, which private burial ground was generally in close proximity to the tepee, perhaps not more than three to ten feet distant. The store house, too, was often a near neighbor to the burial plot, for the ancient man had little regard for sentiment or village sanitation. These three, the tepee, the store cellar and the grave, completed the "home" requirements of the Mound Builder. There was also one large or common cemetery in which thirty burials were unearthed. It was also discovered that in some instances the cistern-like holes, primarily used as refuse
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