USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Madisonville > Indian Village Site and Cemetery Near Madisonville, Ohio > Part 7
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
Similar instruments are still found among the Thompson Indians of British Columbia, where they are used by pubescent girls in their ceremonies. The girl's mouth must not touch the surface of the water, so she drinks through a bone tube. These are generally plain, but some of them are furnished with holes along one side so as to be used also as a whistle, from which a number of notes are produced in imitation of various birds. Sometimes birds are called with them. There is in the Museum, an instrument of this type collected by Mr. James Teit which is almost a duplicate of some of the Madisonville specimens.
A considerable number of fragments of ribe of deer and elk were found with shallow transverse grooves about one fourth to one- half an inch apart. Two of these are shown in b and c, plate15, and an unbroken specimen is illustrated in a. In addition to the transvers grooves this example is notched along the convex edge, the witcher apparently having no relation to the grooves. A for small.ribe were also found without the transverse grooves,
PEABODY MUSEUM PAPERS
VOL. VIII, PLATE 13
MADISONVILLE SITE Blades made of elk antler, about } natural sise, probably hafted as shown in d. c.
PEABODY MUSEUM PAPERS
VOL. VIII, PLATE 14
a
f
6
€
MADISONVILLE SITE Blades made from elk antler. (About }.)
63
NEAR MADISONVILLE, OHIO
but having notches close together along the convex edge. These may have been tally sticks or possibly tools for smoothing pottery, and probably bear no relation to the above specimens. A number of fragments of the former type show considerable wear along the center of the grooved side, and in some instances the grooves at this point have been worn partially or wholly away, as illustrated in b, by the continued rubbing of the scapula or other accessory used in producing the sound.
There can be no doubt that these specimens are analogous to the well-known notched sticks used for marking time in the dances of the Pueblo Indians. When in use these sticks usually rest upon a resonator made of a hollow gourd and are scraped along the notches with the scapula of the deer, thus producing a sharp rattling sound. Similar instruments made of the notched cannon bones of the deer and used with scapula scrapers are also found among the Huichol Indians of Mexico;1 and notched human femora and tibiae, which undoubtedly served a like purpose, were taken from graves by Dr. Lumholtz at Zacapa, Mexico .?
In the West Indies notched gourds were used for this purpose, and notched sticks, with a plain stick for a scraper, are reported from the Utes and from the Iroquois of New York State.3
Personal Ornaments of Shell. A considerable number of per- sonal ornaments made of shell were obtained from graves. The species most commonly used was probably Fulgur perversa from the coast of Florida, although a number of specimens made ap- parently from Fulgur carica were found.
The common unio shells of the inland streams, used so exten- sively for spoons and implements, do not seem to have been very highly valued for the production of ornaments, although several interesting specimens made of this pearly material were recov- ered. On plate 16, a, c, are shown two gorgets cut from these fresh water shells, one of which has some unintelligible marking in incised lines. A few pendants, were also obtained; two of these are represented in j. A number of crudely fashioned discs (s) ap- proximately one-half to one inch in diameter, which may have been used as dice, were recovered. One might be disposed to con- sider these unfinished discoidal beads, were it not for the fact that
1 Carl Lumbolts, Unknown Mexico, vol. ii, p. 155.
, Ibid., p. 429.
' Frances Morris, Catalogue of the Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, vol. ii, p. 184.
64
INDIAN VILLAGE SITE AND CEMETERY
only a very few finished beads of this type were found during the explorations. A large one, from a grave, is shown in t.
The other objects illustrated upon this plate are made from fulgur shells, some of which were undoubtedly obtained by traffic with more southern tribes. The gorget, b, cut from the wall of a large fulgur, was found near the lower jaw of a skeleton. The mask-like gorgets, d-h, with one exception, accompanied skele- tons; g was found near the lower jaw of an adult; and d and e are from graves of children. The latter is apparently cut from one of the large circular gorgets having elaborate designs, which are not uncommon in Tennessee and Kentucky. That portion of the original design which remains upon the reverse of the ornament is shown in the drawing. These specimens, all of which represent the conventionalized human face, recall at once the larger gorgets of the same general type from the graves and mounds of Tennessee and Virginia, illustrated and described by Holmes in his Art in Shell. That the same deity or personage is represented by the specimens from Madisonville is evident from the design surround- ing the eye-like perforations in g, which apparently embodies a like symbolism to that appearing upon the specimens figured by Holmes.
One of a pair of mushroom-shaped ornaments, probably ear plugs, is figured in i. They were found in a grave by Mr. Swanton in 1897. These were cut from large fulgur shells, and are very carefully made, each being a close duplicate of its companion. It is probable that they were obtained by trade from the more south- ern Indians, as similar specimens have been taken from the mounds of Arkansas. They are also reported from Georgia. The Arkansas specimens, however, are smaller and relatively thicker and do not have the perforation at the lower end.
The specimen illustrated in k, resembles the upper portion of the ornament above described. In place of the long projection with perforated end, however, there is a short and much thinner perforated projection standing out at an angle from near the edge of the disc. This specimen was found near the bones of the left hand of a skeleton. A similar but much smaller ornament, taken from a cache-pit, is shown in the drawing below.
In m, n, of the above plate, are figured two of the five pendants made of small fulgur shells. These were found with skeletons.
PEABODY MUSEUM PAPERS
VOL. VIII, PLATE 15
1
MADISONVILLE SITE
a-c, Musical instruments made of deer ribs; d, Flute-like instruments; e. Beaver tooth chisels; f, Antler handle; g, Implement of bone; h, i, Scrapers of u io shell; j, k, Combined spoons and cutting implements. (About }.)
-
65
NEAR MADISONVILLE, OHIO
The shells are unworked, save for a groove or perforation near the Emaller end for attaching the cord. Three of these are made from the shells of Fulgur perversa, the others from Fulgur carcia.
Only two small "pins" wrought from the columellae of fulgur shells were obtained during the explorations by the Museum. One is represented in r. Both were found with skeletons. Although now somewhat disintegrated, they originally bore a general resem- blance to the well-known shell pins from the graves of the Tennes- see region, but the heads are much flatter.
Considering the number of burials, very few shell beads were recovered. Nearly all were made from the columellae of fulgur shells. As a rule, only a few small beads of the type shown in p, occurred with a skeleton. These were usually found at the wrist or neck.
The large massive beads, q, made from the columellae of Fulgur perversa, occurred singly or in groups of two or three. Only one necklace worthy of the name was obtained during the explora- tions. This was found with a skeleton by Mr. Swanton and con- sisted of fifty-five beads of nearly uniform size, made from the columellae of Fulgur carica, a species common as far north as Cape Cod. Seven of these are illustrated in o. With this skeleton were also found several copper beads and pendants, the copper ornamented belt and the iron bead illustrated on plate 18, g and 8, and also two very large shell beads.
There were a few pieces of bone or shell without perforations which may have been used for inlaying in wood, an art in which some of the Algonquian tribes were proficient. One of these pieces cut from unio shell is illustrated in l.
A very few of the small marginella shells, with a portion of the shoulder ground away to make a perforation for the passage of sinew thread, were taken from graves. These were probably used in forming designs upon cloth or buckskin, to which they were sewed. Probably the finest example of this work extant is the " Powhatan " mantle in the Ashinolean Museum. This is figured on plate 15 of the tenth volume of the Reports of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
Implements and Utensils of Shell. Unio shells were found in large numbers in the cache-pits and general refuse of the site. The unworked valves were often used as spoons and ladles.
66 INDIAN VILLAGE SITE AND CEMETERY
Many of the pottery vessels contained mush or other food when deposited in the grave. They were frequently accompanied by one or two valves of this shell, placed within the vessel to serve as spoons.
In most of the village sites in southern Ohio which belong to the Madisonville culture, a few spoons cut from the valves of this shell are found, having a well-wrought handle upon one side. Such spoons are common in the graves of Tennessee and Kentucky. They are very rare indeed at this site, only two broken examples being in the Museum collections, one of which is illustrated on plate 15, k. In both of these examples, the handle is furnished with a serrated edge admirably adapted for the cutting of meat and other solid food, which generally makes up a portion of the typical Indian stew. The spoon illustrated has a perforation to receive the suspending cord. A third well-made spoon from this site is preserved in the cabinet of the Literary and Scientific Society of Madisonville and is figured in Holmes's Art in Shell in the Report of the Bureau of Ethnology for 1880-1881. This has the serrated cutting edge upon one side, and a short rounded handle which is also perforated for suspension.
An interesting specimen, probably a combined spoon and food cutter, is shown in plate 15, j. The shell is unmodified except near the edge, which is coarsely serrated - probably also for the pur- pose of rendering it more effective in cutting. Such specimens are rare at Madisonville, but are found more commonly on other Ohio sites of this culture.
Several hundred implements of the type illustrated on plate 15, h, i, were taken from the cache-pits and general refuse. They con- sist of a single valve of unio shell with a perforation about half an inch in diameter near the center. The posterior point of the valve, in some instances, shows little wear, but in the majority of cases is worn or broken, probably in cutting or hacking. In some of the better preserved specimens this portion shows careful grind- ing to a well-finished blunt scraping edge, and these were apparently not used for cutting or hacking but for scraping. They may have been employed in skin-dressing. Practically all of these imple- ments have the opposite end near the hinge blunted by breaking away the edge of the shell at this point. This was probably done to facilitate hafting. The great majority of the specimens show
--
PEABODY MUSEUM PAPERS
VOL. VIII, PLATE 16
2
6
R
4
9
f
1
1
m
O
$
O
-
MADISONVILLE SITE Personal ornaments of shell. (About }.)
67
NEAR MADISONVILLE, OHIO
no wear near the central perforation. When signs of wear appear it is usually on the convex side of the shell and towards the hinge.
It is an interesting fact that some of the antler blades of the types illustrated on plate 14 have a bluntly ground scraping edge similar to that of the better preserved shell implements, and it is very probable the perforation in both the antler and shell blades served a like purpose, which was undoubtedly to assist in securing the blade to the haft.
Professor Holmes has discussed the probable manner of hafting these unio blades in his Art in Shell above referred to.
Combs and Personal Ornaments of Bone and Antler. On plate 17, a, b, are shown a pair of armlets made from deer ribs. They were found one upon either arm of the skeleton figured at the right in c, plate 4. One is neatly ornamented with incised lmes and dots; the other is without ornamentation. A third specimen, illustrated in c, is from a cache-pit. Fragments of several others were found, most of them showing incised markings of a nature similar to the above. These armlets are very neatly made, and each end is perforated for receiving the thong or cord which bound them together and held them in place. DuPratz tells us that the young Louisiana Indian men wore bracelets made of deer ribs softened in boiling water, then bent into the required shape, and finely polished so that they resembled ivory. These ornaments must have been more common than appears from the scant evi- dence furnished by archaeological investigations. The use of boil- ing water to soften bone and antler for the purpose of rendering them more easily worked with primitive tools, appears to have been common among Indians in general. The pair of neatly made objects of antler, illustrated in d, were found near the jaw of a skeleton. They appear to have been personal ornaments of some kind, perhaps ear plugs. They are not perforated, the ends being carefully finished by grinding. The central cellular portion of the antler at these points is now somewhat disintegrated, especi- ally in the broken one shown in the upper drawing. A few similar specimens were obtained from the general refuse of the site.
Several pendants, made from deformed tips of deer antler, which had been shaped into crudely-made effigies of the heads of birds or quadrupeds, were recovered. Three of these are shown at e, plate 17, the lower specimen being found with a skeleton. The upper
68
INDIAN VILLAGE SITE AND CEMETERY
one of the three illustrated shows a natural resemblance to the head of a bird. This portion of the pendant is unworked. Several canine teeth of the bear, wolf and dog, perforated for suspension, were secured. Two of these are illustrated in j. A few perforated elk teeth were found, but these were not abundant, and do not seem to have been in general use.
Beads of various sizes, consisting of cylinders cut from the large bones of various birds, were found in graves and in the general refuse. A number of these are illustrated in f, g. Most of them were without ornamentation, but a few were decorated with de- signs in incised lines. The largest figured in group g, is one of ten found with a skeleton. They extended in a row " from the mouth to the arms and down them." Seven of the beads bore the design shown in the illustration. This design appears also upon & number of other objects from the site, as will be seen by referring to plates 16, 19, 20. It is evidently in part a lightning symbol, and is found most commonly surrounding the eyes of the human face in a certain class of shell gorgets, one of which, a small one from this burial place, is illustrated in g, plate 16. Large shell gorgets bearing this general design occur most frequently in Ten- nessee and Virginia.1 The same figure occurs surrounding the eyes of birds, serpents and human beings in numerous drawings and sculptures from various sections of the Mississippi Valley.
A fragment of the bone base of a holder for an eagle feather is illustrated on plate 17, h. The broken lines indicate its original form, which may be duplicated by recent examples in almost any large ethnological collection from the Indians of the Interior Basin.
One of the cylinders which holds the feather and fits over the large hole in the narrow end of the base of these ornaments, is figured in i. There is a hole upon either side near the lower end for the thong, which passes also through the perforations upon either side of the large hole in the base to which it is tied. This thong also serves to fasten the ornament to the lock of hair on the crown of the warrior.
The base, supporting an upright bone cylinder and feather, and worn nearly in a horizontal position, with the broad end projecting backward, is placed within an ornament of upright deer hair dyed
1 See W. H. Holmes, Art in Shell, Rept. Bureau of American Ethnology, vol. ii, plates 67-69.
PEABODY MUSEUM PAPERS
VOL. VIII, PLATE 17
1
0
a
0
O
O
1
i
0
[
m
A
MADISONVILLE SITE
a-c, Antler arm-bands; d, Cylinders of antler, perhaps parts of ear-ornaments; 6, Pendants in form of bird heads made from diseased tips of deer antler; f, g, Bone beads; h, i, Bone base. and cylinder for supporting eagle feather in head-dress; j, Canine teeth pendants; k-0, Antler combe. (About }.)
69
NEAR MADISONVILLE, OHIO
red and fringed with the black " beard hair " of the turkey or long stiff hair of the porcupine. Taken altogether it forms a very hand- some and striking head ornament, and was worn by warriors of various tribes over a considerable area.
The fragment of the base was found in a cache-pit. Only two or three of the cylinders were recovered during explorations by the Museum.
Five antler combs are shown on plate 17, k-o. These are all from cache-pits, with the exception of k, which lay near one of the &kx eletons illustrated in c, plate 4. Upon the upper portion of this comb is engraved a rattlesnake. Each of the combs is perforated Dearits upper end for the suspending cord. In two of the specimens, k and n, horizontal striae are noticeable upon the teeth, which are evidently caused by long continued use of the implement, for dress- ing the hair or for a similar purpose. Combs of like form, but With more pointed teeth, are often used by the Eskimo for combing od renovating the hair of their skin garments.
Personal Ornaments of Copper. A considerable number of Ometal objects were found with skeletons, and in the cache-pits and eneral refuse. Most of these were in the form of cylindrical cop- Der beads of various sizes, made by rolling small pieces of sheet metal into tubular form. The majority of these are probably Drought from native copper, but some are undoubtedly made of European copper. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to de- termine even approximately the number belonging to each group without a chemical analysis of the metal. Most of the smaller beads of the longer type, however, appear to be of native metal, for they are, as a rule, more crudely fashioned than the larger specimens. No single individual appears to have been the pos- sessor of more than a few copper beads. In the graves they were usually found singly or in groups of only a few, sometimes in com- pany with beads of shell. Plate 18, a, shows the various forms. The six small beads in a row of nearly uniform size, were taken from near the wrist of a skeleton, and probably formed part of a bracelet. Those in the lower row were found with the skeleton of a child, and still retain their position on the original string.
A few bell-shaped tinklers are illustrated in f. They were ob- tained from both cache-pits and graves. In recent times they are made of tin, and are used extensively by the Indians as ornamental
-
70
INDIAN VILLAGE SITE AND CEMETERY
pendants. The smaller end is clasped to a thong, and a bunch of hair, usually dyed a brilliant color, often projects from the larger end.
The band bent into a circle and figured in b, was probably for the finger, for four similar rings made of brass and still clasping the phalanges of the fingers of a skeleton were taken from a grave by Professor Putnam. One of these is shown in i. A few rings made of native copper beaten into a small rod and bent into shape (c) were recovered from the cache-pits, as were also the serpent or lightning symbols illustrated in d.
The largest amount of copper found with a burial was taken from Trench I, grave 60, by Mr. Swanton. There were several pieces of sheet copper with one or more of their edges clinched over pieces of buckskin. Two of the larger are figured in g. They lay near the thighs, and seem to have ornamented a girdle. With this burial were also found seven copper beads and pendants, the iron bead illustrated in s, and fifty-five shell beads. Taking into con- sideration the iron bead, which appears to have been made from a piece of sheet iron, it is not improbable that the copper also may be of European origin, as there seems to be no evidence that the proto-historic Indians of southern Ohio used meteoric iron in fashioning their ornaments, as did the builders of the great earth- works of this region. Small copper ornaments with two of their edges bent over, apparently for securing to thongs, are figured in h. These are from graves.
Only a few examples of overlaying with thin copper sheets were recovered. The first of these were two small pear-shaped objects about three-eighths of an inch in diameter, made of wood and cov- ered with thin copper, which is now badly corroded. The salts of copper have preserved one of the wooden forms perfectly. These were found with the skeleton of a child, in company with several beads and a few coils of copper wire, evidently of native make.
The other examples of overlaying were thin discs of bone, one- half to three-fourths of an inch in diameter, covered on one side with thin copper, the edges of which were turned over and clinched upon the opposite side (e). Vegetal fiber was placed over the discs before the copper sheet was applied.
One of these discs was found beneath the lower jaw of a skeleton. The other three came from a cache-pit. In the Journal of the
PEABODY MUSEUM PAPERS
VOL. VIII, PLATE 18
C
2
-
9
0
MADISONVILLE SITE a-h, l, m, Personal ornaments and other objects of copper; i-k, n, Personal ornaments of brass; o-r, Iron blades; s, Iron bead; t, Iron sword guard from grave. (About }.)
71
NEAR MADISONVILLE, OHIO
Cincinnati Society of Natural History, July, 1880, p. 131, is figured a crude bell or rattle from this site. It was made of a
single piece of copper of irregular shape, the edges of which have been brought together so as to form a ball, or rather like a sleigh bell, having an irregular " opening on one side. A small hole was punched through the top and a strip of copper doubled up and the ends pushed through the opening from the in- side, forming a handle. Inside this bell is a fragment of copper about the size of a large pea and when the ornament is shaken it produces a rattling or tinkling sound.
Perhaps the most interesting objects of this metal are the two double crosses illustrated in 1, m. The first of these was found with a skeleton by Dr. Metz. The account of the discovery follows: 1
On Thursday, October 28, Skeleton No. 8 was found, an adult male, with head southeast, length 5 feet 8 inches, depth 15 inches. A broken vessel was found at the right of the head, and on the left side a pipe made of limestone, well finished, and carved to represent the head of some animal. A copper ornament was also found at the right of the neck. This relic, which has two bars or cross arms, is made of a very thin piece of copper, rolled or beaten evenly, with a small perforation at one end, doubtless for suspensory purposes.
The other double cross was taken from a skeleton by Mr. B. W. Merwin while conducting work for the Museum in 1911. It lay just to the left of the skull. With the skeleton were also a stone pipe, a flint point on ribs of the right side, and an antler harpoon point near left humerus, (plate 11, 1). A flint arrowpoint was em- bedded in the frontal bone of the skull. These copper specimens at once recall to mind the double crosses of silver obtained by the Indians from the Catholic missionaries. The copper crosses, how- ever, are probably of Indian make. The first example has the appearance of having been roughly cut from European sheet cop- per, then the surface and edges carefully finished by grinding. The second specimen has more the appearance of being made of native copper. Only a chemical analysis, however, can settle these points.
Personal Ornaments of Brass. A cross cut from sheet brass, and of the same general form as those above described, but having one cross-bar instead of two, is illustrated in n, plate 18. This was found with the skeleton of a child by Professor Putnam in 1882,
1 Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, July, 1880, p. 133.
72
INDIAN VILLAGE SITE AND CEMETERY
together with a few copper beads and spirals of brass wire, and a pottery vessel of the usual type having four ears or handles. One of the beads is shown at the left in the upper row in a, and two of the spirals are illustrated in k. This is one of the most instructive burials found during the explorations, as it definitely connects this form of cross with the proto-historic period, and also proves that the pottery vessels of the type so characteristic of this ceme- tery were in use at this time.
An interesting copper cross of somewhat similar design, from a stone grave near Nashville, Tennessee, is in the Museum collec- tion. This is illustrated on page 98 of the third volume of the Reports of the Peabody Museum. No other object from this group of Tennessee graves shows indication of contact with Europeans, and perhaps this specimen bears no relation to the Christian cross.
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.