THE ANCIENT CULTURE-GROUPS
As Major Powell found many linguistic stocks in North America in recent times, so we find quite as many cultures in ancient times. But the language of these people being unknown to us, we must study them through their implements. Some of these are widespread, while others are local. Consider, for instance, the saddle-shaped or bird-shaped stones, of which numbers are illustrated in chapter XXV. These, after great study, one must conclude originated in a certain tribe long ago. It is not proper to call them Iroquois, or Delaware; if they existed in historic times one might be more correct in stating that the Eries, or the Snake People, referred to by the Delawares in their Lenni-Lenape tradition, made and used them. Certainly they are not Iroquoian in character. Their very distribution would indicate that they are a product of Northern people of stone-age culture. As against this the bicave and discoidal stone is of central South culture and not of New England, the North, or West. Under other chapters I have presented some conclusions, and these will not be repeated here. Axes, flint implements, copper (by Mr. Brown), and several other divisions of artifacts have been already separated into their culture-groups. At the present writing there are so many new types on exhibition in public and private collections which formerly were considered products of individual fancy, that it is quite difficult for one to determine the number and extent of the prehistoric cultures in the United States.
However, one must make a beginning. In presenting what appears to me to establish various local cultures, I am quite aware that future observers—when the knowledge of this intricate subject is more widespread—may add or detract from my observations. The cultures mentioned, therefore, must be considered in the nature of pioneer observations, subject to development or change as archæologic knowledge expands and becomes more perfect.
In New Brunswick and Maine and about the mouth of the St. Lawrence there are the ever-present flint implements and chipped objects, and also numbers of slate points, which may be either problematical forms or winged spear-points and arrow-heads. Many of the slate points found by Mr. C. C. Willoughby in graves at Oldtown, Maine, appear to me to be too long and slender to have made effective weapons. Yet they may have served as such. The adze and gouge and the adze-blade celt are numerous in New England. I have commented on the types of chipped objects and how they differ in various sections of the country, so that it is not necessary to re-enter upon a lengthy dissertation on this question.
In New England proper, the region east of the Hudson River, the slate points are not common, and gradually disappear west of the Connecticut Valley. But the adze and the gouge and the long roller pestle abound in numbers. There are also strange effigies of whale, and rude effigies so rough that one does not know what the maker intended to represent. Plummet-shaped stones are also common. But the slate gorget and ornament, and the bell-shaped pestle, the discoidal and bicave, and many other forms, are almost wanting. The pipes are not common and far inferior to those of the Ohio Valley and Middle South and the South. New England, then, may be divided into two culture-groups, that east of the Merrimack River and that lying between the Merrimack and the Hudson. These are related to each other, but differences may be observed.
The next culture-group is that of eastern Canada, north of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. All of this region is marked by Iroquois influence, and the tribes preceding the Iroquois left exceedingly crude and rude handiwork in stone. The forms which may be considered to be pre-Iroquoian are very like those of the Lake Champlain district. A splendid collection of them is on exhibition in the Provincial Museum, Toronto, where Mr. David Boyle labored for many years to bring about the preservation of Canadian antiquities.
Between the Hudson and the line drawn between Buffalo, New York, and Baltimore, there are at least two cultures and indications of one or two more. In northern New York is the famous Iroquoian culture of which so much has been written—and by more competent observers—that I would not dare describe it here.
Suffice it to say that an inspection of the pipes, pottery, bone implements, etc., from Iroquoian graves and village-sites will acquaint one even superficially interested in archæology with the fact that the Iroquoian culture is plainly different from anything else on the American continent. Whether the Iroquois, previous to their famous Hiawatha, were organized and had developed this peculiar art is a question for others to decide. But the freshness of the Iroquoian pipes and pottery and the general tone of the objects—and by tone I mean that appearance which most of them possess—indicate that they show European influence—lead the archæologist to conclude that as to antiquity they are not in the class with the other objects found in America. It has always been my opinion that five or six centuries of time are sufficient to account for their production. None of them look old in the sense that objects from other sites appear old.
In southern New York and throughout New Jersey and Delaware we have chipped and polished implements which are supposed to stand for the prehistoric Delawares, and these types appear, in the main, very old. They are more than weather-beaten, many of them were on the verge of disintegration. Time alone can account for such condition. The Delaware Valley and the Susquehanna must have been ideal places for prehistoric man. In both the climate was not severe; game, nuts, herbs, fish, and other necessities of life abounded. A careful inspection of the work done by Dr. Charles C. Abbott and Mr. Ernest Volk leads me to believe that these men have, beyond question, established that man lived in the Delaware Valley three or four thousands of years ago. Rude axes and peculiar ornaments also abound. The gouge is rare. The adze is scarcely ever found, while the problematical forms are totally different from those of the Middle West and the Middle South. The roller pestle occurs, but it may not be considered a local type. Copper is found in limited quantities, hematite is almost entirely wanting, and effigy pipes are very rare. The Weaves, now and then discovered, may be considered as strays brought in by means of barter or exchange. The projectile points are as a rule slender, and are easily distinguished from those of New England, New York State, or Canada. Jasper, argillite, quartzite, and rhyolite predominate.
The next culture-group is that of central and western Pennsylvania, wherein many New Jersey and New York State types occur. The problematical forms, the black chert, arrow-points, the jasper knives, and the notched hoes or axes may be said to enable one to distinguish this region from other culture-groups of the East, even if they are more or less related. West Virginia may be said to lie on the border-line between Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Ohio. Hematite appears in the valleys of the Kanawha and other streams in West Virginia. The monitor pipes also appear, together with certain forms of axes, spear-heads, and knives which are found in greater numbers in Kentucky and Ohio.
Ohio and Kentucky stand as two separate cultures separated by the Ohio River. Yet the Ohio River was made use of by prehistoric man from above Pittsburg to its mouth at Cairo. Along the stream itself one may discern, on both north and south bank sites, all kinds of cultures, thus proving that the Ohio River was not only a thoroughfare but the thoroughfare in prehistoric times. It is only when one proceeds up the streams from the Ohio back fifty or a hundred miles in Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio that one observes how the local cultures have developed. The culture of the Muskingum and Scioto in Ohio are practically the same; the Miami is different. The Wabash in Indiana is yet another culture and the Illinois yet a third. In Kentucky the Cumberland and Tennessee are in a class by themselves, separate from the others mentioned. These two latter rivers are so long, and as each is navigable far into the State of Tennessee, I feel certain that five or six cultures may be clearly differentiated within their valleys. I have referred to the stone-grave culture of this region elsewhere. It merits further detailed study on the part of archæologists.
In the State of Illinois are long yellow chert spear-heads and lance-heads and knives, some of which have slightly turned points. Many of these are not unlike the Scandinavian daggers. In Michigan and Wisconsin there is a wealth of copper, many of the sugar quartz spears and knives, large numbers of peculiar winged problematical forms which have been quite fully illustrated in this work. The Illinois and Wisconsin cultures are separate and distinct.
Northern Illinois contains types of Wisconsin and Michigan as well as numbers of central Illinois forms. At Sandwich in DeKalb County there is a large collection owned by Mr. Henry W. Franck, who sent me numerous photographs of his exhibit. This collection illustrates the mingling of types of three cultures and is of great archæological importance.
Passing west to the Mississippi in Missouri we have the so-called hematite belt. Along the Missouri River occur great quantities of iron ore, and the natives worked this into hematite axes, celts, plummets, etc. This region of central Missouri appears to be different from southwestern Missouri. Central and western Missouri (outside of the Ozarks) are also different from the cultures bordering along the Mississippi River, or eastern Missouri.
In Kansas and Iowa we have the large notched hatchets which are peculiar to that section of the country, the white flint of Iowa, the dark chert of Kansas, and the minute arrow-heads, the small almost square hand-axes, the profusion of yellow chert and poor jasper hide-scrapers. These are always typical of the buffalo country. But the strangest culture, it seems to me, in America is that of the cave region of the Ozark Mountains, where Dr. Peabody and myself made several investigations. In southwestern Missouri, northwestern Arkansas, and Indian Territory, in both limestone and sandstone formation, are some thirty-five or more natural caverns which had been inhabited by man. In these are great quantities of ashes and debris. Our inspection of four or five of these caves, the study of local collections, and an examination of village-sites in the region revealed the fact that chipped implements of the village-sites are of different stone from those from the ashes in the caverns. That man in the Ozark region had no pipes, no slate articles, no problematical forms, no roller or bell-shaped pestles, no shell ornaments, no copper, no hematite, no celts, no grooved axes, etc. I say none, although in the entire region one slate article, one pipe, and two axes have been found. These may be considered as brought in by later Indians. The chipped implements are rough—save here and there a long, slender, well-chipped object; they are seldom well made. There is a profusion of sandstone mano-stones and mortars. There is every indication that the culture is extremely old and very primitive, as stalagmites have formed (notably in Jacob’s Cavern) over some of the human remains. This Ozark culture, as stated above, was carefully worked out by Peabody and myself, and was found to be an anomaly in American archæology. I am persuaded that there are other and equally peculiar local cultures to be found if one searches diligently.
The Southern culture shows local developments. It is chiefly distinguished by its pottery, which is different in Florida from that of Missouri and from Louisiana. The flint implements also differ, as do many of the types in stone. In Florida stone celts occur, but axes are extremely rare.
In Texas there is peculiar culture, chiefly of chipped implements of a rough sort and small minute arrow-points well made, with little or no pottery, with almost an entire absence of problematical forms, and of copper, little hematite, etc.
Throughout the entire Rocky Mountain chain, from northern British Columbia to the Colorado’s headwaters, is a peculiar “mountain culture.” From this is excepted the Columbia Valley proper, where large pestles occur, also polished paddle-shaped stones, minute chipped objects, and various problematical forms. The mountain chain proper (back from the Coast) is different as to culture, and large chipped discs abound, also short, round pestles, rubbing-stones, hand-hammers, large grooved hammers. Eastern types are entirely wanting, and many of the chipped objects may be distinguished from those of the Coast or the Columbia Valley.
Stone objects in the Rocky Mountains are not very numerous. This is explained on the ground that before the coming of the whites it was not necessary for the Indians to live in the mountains to any appreciable extent. Naturally, they preferred the valleys in the foothills where there was more game. The tribes were driven to the mountains by their enemies. The oldest Sioux have told me (at Pine Ridge) that they never liked to go into the main range of the Black Hills because evil spirits dwelt there.
The cultures in the Colorado basin might be divided into several groups—the Cliff-Dwellers, the Pueblo culture, the Cave-Dwellers, and the boulder ruin people. These might be classified by Dr. Fewkes as all belonging to the same class. I do not know with reference to that, but the implements, the surface indications, and the character of the burials lead me to suppose that the cave people of southern Utah and the boulder ruin people of San Juan Valley were to be considered as distinct from those of the great cliff-houses and of the modern pueblo towns. There is a wealth of material in this region in the way of fine pottery, turquoise beads, delicate chipped implements, shell ornaments and bracelets, etc. We learn much of prehistoric times by exploration in the cliff-houses, for the reason that the climate is exceedingly arid and that the objects are placed back in the rooms where no moisture can penetrate to them, even when it occasionally rains.
Therefore, axes are found in their original handles; wooden tools, throwing-sticks, and baskets, sandals, knives in wooden handles, mats, ropes, and other things that would perish in the North or the South, are preserved. Thus we have splendid opportunity to study how the ancient man mounted and used these various tools, etc.
Dr. Yates and the late Reverend Mr. Meredith have shown in their articles[[36]] that two separate cultures existed on the Pacific Coast, one in northern, and the other in southern California. In addition to these there is the famous culture of the Columbia Valley, which is somewhat different from others. Numerous figures and the delicate arrow-points in that region have been presented in the foregoing pages. Along the Northwest Coast there is yet another culture.
The Canadian and Utah and Dakota cultures have been described by Professor Montgomery in Chapter XXXV. I have run over these various cultures very rapidly. Much more could be said regarding each one. The finding of different kinds of implements on a given site may indicate different cultures, for it is probable that a favorable site was selected by subsequent tribes after it had been abandoned by the first occupants. This should be borne in mind by students.