USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Madisonville > Indian Village Site and Cemetery Near Madisonville, Ohio > Part 32
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 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59
The pottery of the builders of this mound group shows a great variety of form, size, and decoration. The patterns upon some of the sherds, although more crude, seem to belong to the same general class as the designs upon the hollow stone effigies illus- trated on plate 19. There can be little doubt that if the ex- plorations of the Hopewell, Mound City, Liberty, and other well-known sites of southern Ohio had been as prolonged and as carefully conducted as those of the Turner Group, an equal number and variety of potsherds would have been found.
Mr. Holmes was the first to recognize that the few known vases and sherds, bearing the characteristic zigzag ornamentation above described, which were obtained from the mound area of the states bordering Ohio, should be attributed to the Great Earthwork Builders, whose center of development was in the southern portion of that state.
94
TURNER GROUP OF EARTHWORKS
Mr. Holmes writes as follows: 1
It would seem that the builders of the great mound groups about Chilli- cothe, the enterprising people who gathered stores of shells from the Atlantic, copper from Lake Superior, flint from the lower Ohio Valley, and obsidian from the Rocky Mountains, Oregon, or Mexico, were identical with or closely related to tribes scattered over a large part of a region including parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Though the pottery of this group of people is not nearly so highly developed as is that of the southern mound-builders, as for example those of Cahokia in Illinois, and of Etowah in Georgia, there can be little doubt that their general culture was of an order equally advanced.
With respect to the origin of the great numbers of obsidian implements found in the Hopewell mounds, it may be well to note that there is no trace of Mexican characters in the pottery of these mounds; besides, the general trend of the group of ware here associated is from Chillicothe toward the north- west, suggesting the upper Missouri region or the valley of the Columbia as the source of the obsidian. The significance of this observation is emphasized by the discovery of fragments of rouletted ware in the Yellowstone National Park, where great beds of obsidian are found. . . . These fragments were brought in by Colonel P. W. Norris, Superintendent of the Park, in 1880. They represent a large jar or pot with upright neck. The material is coarsely silicious, and the walls are thick. Just below the rim is a line of nodes made by punching with a round implement from within, and there are indistinct traces of roulette-markings. These pieces have a close analogy with the roulette- stamped ware of Naples, Illinois, and therefore with the whole rouletted group.
It is an interesting fact that much of the pottery from this mound group of the cooking pot class is very nearly duplicated in material, form, and decoration by the archaic Algonquian pottery from the graves and shell heaps of New England.2 The more or less curved chisel-like implement with plain or notched edge was used in the same peculiar manner in making the char- acteristic decorations of both regions, and many of the other forms of ornament are similar. This resemblance may possibly be more than casual. In this connection it may be of interest to note that the " monitor " pipe of the type illustrated in figure 11, c, is also not uncommon in the older graves in New England.
1 Holmes, ibid., pp. 194, 201.
? C. C. Willoughby, Pottery of the New England Indians, Putnam Anniversary Volume, pp. 83-101.
.
PEABODY MUSEUM PAPERS
VOL. VIII, No. 3, PLATE 24
A
m
Potsherds from the Turner Group showing typical decorations.
95
HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO
CONCLUSION
General Summary. The people who constructed the Turner Group of Earthworks belonged to that great culture group whose center was in southwestern Ohio, and whose remains are found as far north as Grand Rapids, Michigan, as far west as Naples, Illinois, and as far south as Franklin in central Tennessee. In the height of their power they undoubtedly dominated a consider- able portion of this region, and their influence probably extended beyond these limits.
The center of population was apparently the valleys of the three principal rivers of southwestern Ohio: the Great and Little Miami, the Scioto, and their tributaries.
The earthworks which mark the sites of their former occupancy are sometimes very extensive. The embankments form various figures, including squares, parallelograms, circles, and covered ways, which are usually accompanied by tumuli and other mounds. The relation between these remains and the great hill-top forti- fications, of which Fort Ancient is perhaps the best example, has not been definitely worked out. It is very improbable that the group of artifacts belonging to what is commonly known as the " Fort Ancient Culture " was connected in any way with the builders of that stupendous earthwork. This culture is the same as that of the great site near Madisonville, which is proto-historic.
The occupancy of southern Ohio by the Great Earthwork Builders must have covered a considerable period of time. This would account for the few local differences in their cultural de- velopment.
Their occupation of this region preceded that of another group of Indians of a lower grade of culture, whose remains are found over a large part of southern Ohio, and whose largest village and cemetery, so far as known, were near Madisonville. The last remnants of this later group, who may have been the Monso- pelea 1 were apparently in southern Ohio when first heard of by
1 Dr. John Swanton, in a letter to the writer, calls attention to a tribe "which may possibly be that formerly in occupancy of the Madisonville site, since its history fits in rather well with what may be inferred from the Madisonville remains. This is the Monsopeles, which, when first heard of by the French, was in southern Ohio, but soon moved down to the Mississippi, and ultimately united, in part at least, with the Taensa Indians. In Hanna's Wilderness Trail most that we know about them has been brought together (Vol. II, pp. 97-108). A note on one of the early maps tells us that when they reached the Mississippi they had already obtained
96
TURNER GROUP OF EARTHWORKS
the French. They in turn were succeeded by the Miami, and later by the Shawnee.
The Turner Group of Earthworks is only four miles distant from the Madisonville site.1 The differences in culture, however, are very marked. The pottery of the Madisonville people be- longs to Holmes's central Mississippi group. Nearly all of the cooking pots were supplied with ears for suspension. The Turner Group pottery is without ears, was not made for suspension, and belongs to a group developed apparently from an early form closely resembling the archaic Algonquian type of the northern Atlantic Coast Indians. Hundreds of finely chipped arrowpoints were found at Madisonville; none was recovered during the work at the Turner Group. "Snub-nose " scrapers were abundant at Madisonville; none was obtained at the Turner Group. These are only minor differences, of course, but they show that the cul- tures of these two people were very unlike, even when applied to many objects in nearly universal use.
Dr. Hooton's study of the skeletal remains shows that physically this people may be classed with certain Algonquian tribes. They were prevailingly long headed and differed materially from the people of Madisonville. From the figurines we learn that the common dress of the men seems to have been the breech-cloth, worn without hanging ends. It was probably of dressed skin, colored red. They sometimes wore moccasins of the Algonquian type, fitted with short leggings. The hair of the older men was collected in a knot above the forehead. The warriors shaved the sides of their head, the remaining hair being cut somewhat short, and worn in a ridge extending from the forehead backward across the crown, after the manner of the Sauk and Fox, and other tribes. The women wore the blanket skirt, wrapped around the hips and secured by tucking in one corner at the waist. The hair of the matrons was parted, and gathered into a chignon at the back of the head. They wore what appears to be low shoes of the same form as the woven grass shoes from the Kentucky caves.
firearms. Hanna places them a little east of Madisonville, but they are assigned eight villages on the Franquelin map, so that one of them may have been farther west. Their name appears to be Algonquian, but they united with a people of the Natchez connection. As yet, we must admit that we do not know to what group they really belonged."
1 For a description of these remains, see Indian Village Site and Cemetery near Madisonville, Ohio, by E. A. Hooton, with notes on the artifacts by C. C. Willoughby, Peabody Museum Papers, Vol. VIII, No. 1.
97
HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO
Practically nothing was learned about their habitations. It is doubtful if they were very substantial. There is a possibility that the embankment of the great enclosure may have marked the site of earth-covered dwellings. That structures of some kind, per- haps of a religious or semi-sacred character, formerly occupied many of the mound sites is evident from the presence of numerous post-holes. It is probable that some of these structures, perhaps the ones which occupied the sites of mounds 3 and 4, served as store houses for tribute and other property of chiefs, which was sacrificed upon the altars at their death, the buildings destroyed, and mounds erected over the remains.
Smith, writing of the Virginia Indians, tells us that in a thicket of wood near Orapaks, Powhatan had a treasure house, fifty to sixty yards in length, frequented only by priests, where he kept his treasure, such as skins, beads, pearls, and copper, stored up against the time of his death and burial. Here also was his store of red paint for ornament, bows and arrows, shields, and clubs. At the corners of the house stood four images as sentinels, one a dragon, another a bear, the third like a leopard, and the fourth like a giant-like man, made " evill favouredly according to their best workmanship." 1
If these Indians possessed a stronghold, it must have been either the site of the elevated circle, or the two smaller circles within the great enclosure. Each of the embankments of the latter was bordered by a trench upon its inner side, the usual ac- companiment of embankments supporting palisades. It is pos- sible that a council house of a semi-public nature may have stood within the elevated circle, although no direct evidence of this was found.
This people reached a high degree of excellence in their art designs. In this line they were probably unsurpassed by. any tribe north of Mexico. In modeling, relief carving, and copper working they also attained high proficiency. As traders they were enterprising and resourceful. They procured obsidian, probably from the Yellowstone; shells from the Florida coast; copper from the Lake Superior region; and mica from the Appalachian High- land. While no ivory artifacts were found during the exploration of this group, several fine carvings of this material were taken from
1 Captain John Smith, True Travels, Richmond Edition, 1819, p. 143.
98
TURNER GROUP OF EARTHWORKS
one of the altars of the Hopewell mounds, and the writer has ex- amined a beautifully made ivory ring from a mound in Indiana. These were probably made of fossil tusks of the mammoth, which may not have been brought a great distance.
So far as the religious beliefs of the people are concerned, but little was learned. That the horned serpent was one of their principal deities is indicated by the mica effigy from the altar of mound 4, and by the finding of parts of what seems to be a larger representation of this god upon the central altar of mound 3. The great Serpent Mound of Adams County, situated between the Scioto and Miami Rivers, about fifty miles to the east of the Turner Group, was probably one of their chief shrines.
Like so many important works of this interesting prehistoric people, the Turner Group of mounds has practically disappeared under the destroying hand of the white man. The elevated circle and a part of the graded way remain, but most of the area which includes the great enclosure is now an immense gravel pit. During a recent visit by the writer, steam shovels were rapidly eating westward to the foot of the graded way. Embankments, mounds, graves, and many feet of gravel beneath them, have gone to form new road beds, another and a more prosaic type of earth- work.
THE SKELETAL REMAINS BY EARNEST A. HOOTON
The Collection in General. The skeletal remains from the Turner Group of Earthworks now forming a part of the collec- tions of the Peabody Museum represent at least 90 individuals. Eight of these have been cremated; 17 are the remains of imma- ture persons; and 30 are represented by such scanty fragments that they are practically useless for purposes of study. The remaining 35 skeletons are all in a fragmentary condition. Measurements of a few long bones of some, and incomplete measurements and observations on the crania of others were taken wherever possible. Of the skeletons measured or observed, 12 came from intrusive or secondary burials, and it is therefore necessary to consider them separately. This leaves a very inadequate series upon which to base conclusions. One can place little confidence in the chance that such a small sample is representative. Under the circum- stances, statistical treatment of measurements would be mislead- ing. The arithmetic mean, for example, of such a short series is often a fictitious figure representing not a single observed fre- quency. If, however, a high degree of homogeneity characterizes an inadequate series, there is some hope of its being representative.
Measurements and observations upon the material presented here have all been taken by the writer, except the cranial capaci- ties. The latter were measured by Miss Ruth O. Sawtell, ac- cording to Hrdlička's method. The writer is also indebted to Miss Sawtell for the recording of the data. Measurements con- form to the International Agreement of Monaco, unless other- wise stated. Observations are based upon the system devised by Dr. Ales Hrdlička.
Some time before 1886, Miss C. A. Studley, then Assistant in the Museum, prepared a report upon the crania from the intrusive pit in mound 3. This paper consists of a careful account of the pathological features of the skulls and a minute description of the perforations found in six of the crania, together with measure-
99
100
TURNER GROUP OF EARTHWORKS
ments and observations on the specimens. It includes measure- ments on one cranium, number 32413, which I have been unable to find. It also includes many measurements which I have been unable to take on the crania on account of their present frag- mentary condition. Some of Miss Studley's measurements agree exactly with mine, but others differ to the extent of several mil- limeters. This may be due partially to the fact that many of these crania have been mended, presumably by Miss Studley, and have come to pieces, necessitating re-mending. Many of
AGE AND SEX DISTRIBUTION
Infants
Less than 1 year
2-3 years
4-5 years Total
Number
1
2 5
Children
6-8 years
2 9-10 years
11-12 years
Numbe .
4
1
0 5
Adolescents.
13-14 years 0
2
3
5
Sub-adults
19-20 years 2
2
R
female
1 Young
Middle-aged
Old
21-35 years 36-50 years
51- years
Number: male
1
27
13
41
female.
1
9
4
14
Adults (age doubtful) Number: male
6
4
female.
4
sex doubtful.
7
Total
90
15-16 years 17-18 years
Number.
Number: male
1
Adults
them are somewhat warped, so that re-mending may have changed the dimensions; but aside from this there are certain divergences in results that cannot be reconciled except on the assumption of a difference in methods or in precision of instruments. I have there- fore refrained from utilizing Miss Studley's measurements. I also find myself disagreeing with her in respect to the sex of one cranium, number 32411, which I judge to be that of a sub-adult female. I have not included this specimen in most of the tabula- tions.
In most of the tables given below, percentage distributions of the various characters have been omitted, because such tabulated
101
HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO
percentages are likely to be misleading when they are based upon so small a number of crania. In some instances where there is little sex difference manifested and where the distribution in the two series of male crania is approximately the same, percentage frequencies for the combined series have been given.
The collection includes the remains of 15 children and adoles- cents and of 75 sub-adults and adults. Of the latter, 49 are males, 19 females, and 7 of indeterminate sex. The excess of males may be due in part to erroneous sexing caused by the fact that many skeletons are represented by a few fragments only, but this cause is not sufficient to account for the disproportions of the sexes.
The sex characters are, for the most part, well marked and little difficulty was encountered in determining the sex of fairly well-preserved skeletons.
Cranial Deformation. A considerable amount of post-mortem deformation and warping has occurred in many of the crania of these series. In many instances this renders them useless for purposes of measurement.
On the other hand, there is very little artificial cranial deforma- tion. In the primary series, 5 of 21 crania show a slight or very slight occipital deformation, in no case sufficiently marked seri- ously to affect the measurements. In the secondary or intrusive series of 13 crania, one specimen shows a medium degree of occip- ital deformation and 3 display very slight occipital flattening. But in some cases this inconsiderable flattening is so combined with post-mortem warping as to necessitate throwing out the measure- ments.
In respect to artificial deformation these series are markedly in contrast with the group of crania from the neighboring Madison- ville site previously studied by the writer. Of 53 male crania from the Madisonville site, 73.5 per cent showed occipital deformation, although the flattening was medium or pronounced in only 9.4 per cent of the male series. In the case of females from Madison- ville, 29 in number, 82.7 per cent displayed occipital deformation which was medium or pronounced in 13.8 per cent.1
1 Hooton, E. A. and Willoughby, C. C., Indian Village Site and Cemetery near Madison- ville, Ohio, Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Ethnology and Archaeology, Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 1, p. 85.
102
TURNER GROUP OF EARTHWORKS
Cranial Vault - Measurements and Indices.
CRANIAL INDEX Dolicho. Meso. Brachy. Total
Min.
Mean
Max.
Primary series:
Males: number
7
3
2
12
71
75.58
83
Females:
1
4
2
7
70
77.85
83
Secondary series:
Males: number.
5
5
0
10
68
74.3
79
Females:
1
0
0
1
. .
73.26
. .
In the tabulation of cranial indices above, one male skull of the secondary series has been excluded because of a medium occipital deformation (index 83.5), and several others because of post- mortem warping. It includes several indices which may be only approximately correct on account of defective conditions of the specimens. Taken at its face value the table would seem to in- dicate that the primary series contains a brachycephalic element which is absent from the secondary series.
These skulls, with respect to the cranial index, contrast sharply with the neighboring Madisonville group which included only 2 dolichocephalic crania of a total of 81 measured by the writer, whereas 62 crania or 76.54 per cent were brachycephalic. The Turner group of crania resembles rather the Eastern Indians in its predominant dolichocephaly. Hrdlička found brachycephaly present among the Eastern tribes to the extent of 10.9 per cent in 138 male crania and 10.3 per cent in 145 female crania.1
The brachycephalic element is slightly more pronounced in our primary series from the Turner Group, if indeed such a short series is at all representative. In the secondary series there is but one brachycephalic cranium, which is the only one of either series presenting a medium occipital deformation. This cranium is almost certainly a naturally mesocephalic specimen.
DIAMETERS OF THE CRANIAL VAULT
Length Glabello-occipital
Height Basion-bregma
No. Min.
Mean Max. No. Min. mm. mm. mm.
Breadth Maximum Mean mm.
mm.
mm. mm.
Max. mm.
Primary series:
Males 13 175 183.15 191
12 129
138.50
153
3 136 142.66 151
Females 7 169 175.43 186
7 131 136.57 144
3 134 137.33 142
Secondary series:
Males 10 173 183.80 199 10 124 135.30 145 0 0
0 0
1 Hrdlicka, Ales, Physical Anthropology of the Lenape or Delawares and of the Eastern Indians in General, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 62, p. 113.
-
Max. No. Min. Mean.
mm.
103
HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO
The mean length of crania of males in the two series from the Turner Group is approximately the same (183.15 mm. in the primary series and 183.8 mm. in the secondary series), but the primary series with a mean breadth of 138.5 mm. exceeds the secondary series (mean breadth 135.3 mm.).
The Madisonville series of 52 male crania yielded an average glabello-occipital length of 177.4 mm., and that of 29 female crania, 169 mm. The mean breadths of this series were 146.1 mm. and 147.1 mm., respectively. The basion-bregma height in the Madisonville series averages 136.9 for males and 131.3 for females. It is quite apparent that both series from the Turner Group differ from the Madisonville crania in all three skull diameters. The crania from the Turner Group are longer, narrower, and higher. They resemble rather the crania of the Eastern Indians. Our primary series is similar in cranial dimensions and cranial index to those Eastern groups which contain brachycephalic elements such as the Virginia series measured by Hrdlička.1 The secondary series shows affinities with the more dolichocephalic Eastern tribes, but the writer wishes to avoid overemphasizing these resemblances and differences in view of the small number of crania under consideration.
Height Indices. All but 9 of the Turner Group crania are so defective that the height-length index cannot be ascertained. Three of four male crania in the primary series are hypsicephalic and one orthocephalic. Three females of the primary series are all hypsicephals, as is the one male skull of the secondary series in regard to which this index is valid. The mean of the four male crania is 77.72 and of the three female crania 79.66. Miss Studley calculated the mean height-length index of 9 crania of the intrusive or secondary series at 78.9, but her measurements of the basi-bregmatic height must have been mere guesses, unless the crania in question have been broken since she studied them, which is not probable. If any significance is to be attributed to these few height-length indices, it is that they are rather above the average for Eastern Indians, except the Virginia Indians, the crania of which average in two small series of males 76.2 and 79 respectively.2 Height breadth indices are too few to merit consideration.
1 Op. cit., pp. 118-119,
2 Hrdlicka, op. cit., loc. cit.
104
TURNER GROUP OF EARTHWORKS
Cranial Arcs and Circumferences.
MEAN VALUES AND RANGE
Mean
Range
Number Male Female
Male mm.
Female mm.
Male mm.
Female
mm.
Horizontal Circumference:
Primary series .
516
498
495-536
478-512
12
8
Secondary series
515
496-537
10
. .
Nasion-opisthion arc:
Primary series
381
358
371-400
345-370
6
4
Secondary series
364
323-405
7
..
Transverse arc:
Primary series
318
303
305-327
292-320
8
7
Secondary series
309
282-328
9
. .
From an inspection of the table above it may be observed that the mean values of the horizontal circumferences (above brow- ridges) in our primary and secondary series of males from the Turner Group are approximately the same, 516 mm. and 515 mm. respectively. These figures are slightly in excess of the mean for Madisonville males, which is 513 mm.
The figures for the nasion-opisthion arc are based upon very few observations and the mean of the primary series of males (381 mm.) is extremely high as compared with that of the secondary series (364 mm.). The mean of the females of the primary series is also high (358 mm.). The means of corresponding measure- ments on Madisonville males and females are 361 mm. and 345 mm., respectively. The high mean for this measurement in the case of the males of our primary series is probably due to the circum- stance that the only skulls of the short series upon which this measurement could be taken happened to be the largest skulls of the series. The nasion-opisthion arc in 7 Munsee (Delaware) males averaged 371 mm. and in 9 Munsee females 346 mm., according to the work of Dr. Hrdlička.1
The transverse arc of the males of the primary series averages 318 mm., and of the males of the secondary series 309 mm. This difference may possibly be significant. The figures for Madison- ville males and females are 316 mm. and 306 mm., respectively.
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.