Burial Mounds of the Northern Sections of the United States

by Cyrus Thomas

For the purpose of examination, a tunnel was excavated into the mound from the east, a little one side of the center and on a level with the natural surface of the ground. When the point directly under the outer edge of the top of the mound was reached, holes were found containing fragments of rotted wood showing that stakes or palisades had been erected here when the mound was commenced. The sound of the pick indicating a cavity or different material below, the excavation was carried downward about 2 feet, when two skeletons were uncovered, fragments of which preserved are marked No. 1. The bones were packed in a small space, as though the bodies were crowded down, without much regard to position of hands, into a pit not exceeding 3 feet in length. One of the skulls is of especial interest, as possibly indicating that the remains are those of [victims] immolated in some sacrificial or burial rites. The side was crushed in, as if with a club. I have connected together the pieces of the upper jaw so that they retain the position in which they were found, a position which cannot with probability be supposed to be the result of the settling of the earth around it, if unbroken when buried. The bones of the bodies, although so friable that they could not be preserved, were entire, in positions indicating that the bodies had not been dismembered and forbidding the supposition that they were the remains of a cannibal feast.

The excavation was carried forward as indicated on the plat and on a level with the location of the skeletons first found. It became evident at once that the material of which the mound was constructed was taken from the immediate neighborhood, it being composed of the same alluvial soil, full of the shells found on the surface, but in a much better state of preservation; but no arrow-heads, chippings of flints, or fragments of pottery now covering the surface were found. These would have been abundant if the mound had been erected subsequent to the manufacture of the pottery and arrow-heads at that place. Single fragments of pottery were found, but these were painted and of much better quality than those found on the surface.

The mound was composed of alternate layers of earth and ashes, showing that a surface of the size of the top, when finished, was kept substantially level, and raised only 2 to 3 feet at a time, when fires were kindled, which must have been large or continued for a long time, as the amount of the ashes and charcoal abundantly indicates.

Near the center of the mound rows of stake-holes were found, as far as followed, marking two sides of a rectangular parallelogram, which continued would have formed an enclosure around the center. In some of these were the remains of the wood and bark, not enough to show the marks of tools, if any had been used. They penetrated the natural surface of the ground to the depth of about 2 feet.

Here and at about the same level as at No. 1 were found the skeletons of which the skull bones and other parts are marked No. 2. They were apparently the remains of a youngish woman and two children, all so far decomposed that only the parts sent could be preserved. The larger skeleton was in such a position as a person would take on kneeling down, then sitting upon the feet; the hands were brought to the head and the body doubled down upon the knees. The head was toward the south. The remains of the children were found at the right side of this body, the bones mingled together.

About 2 feet directly under these the skeleton of which the skull is marked No. 3 was found, in a similar position, it is said (I was not present when it was taken out), with the one above it.

I attempt no description and indulge in no speculations in regard to these remains, as I have decided to forward them to you for the examination of those who can compare them with other skulls and are better qualified to make a proper use of them. They are unquestionably of the age of the mound-builders.

We are reminded, by the remains of upright timbers found here, of the wooden vaults of the Grave Creek and other mounds of West Virginia, but in the form of the mound we have an indication that it belongs to the southern class of ancient works.

Rev. E. O. Dunning mentions[41] a stone-grave mound which he examined in the valley of the Little Tennessee. Speaking of this mound he remarks:

I did not expect to find rock graves in a mound of earth, but after clearing away rubbish and penetrating 6 feet below the top, near the center the workman struck a slab of slate, which proved to be part of the covering of a stone tomb. It was much like those scattered over the "river bottom"—more nicely constructed, however, and fitted with more care, being arched over the top, at an acute angle, with pieces of slate 3 inches thick. Owing to its situation, raised above the level of the river and covered with sand to the depth of 6 feet, its contents were better preserved than those of the graves just mentioned. At the head of it I took out a vessel of fine red clay and pulverized mussel shells a foot in diameter, gourd-shaped, and having a handle and spout 6 inches long, and holding about a quart. It was preserved nearly whole. Artificial fire had been kindled in the tomb, but it had been smothered by the throwing in of sand before all the contents were consumed. Besides some entire bones of the human skeleton, flint arrow-heads and a large number of flint and stone beads were removed. The beads could be traced along the lines of the legs and arms, as if they had been attached to the garment in which the dead was buried. Further excavations disclosed two more of these stone sepulchers, the first 3 feet below the one described, the other 2 feet from it, in the same plane. They contained only fragments of bones, charcoal, and ashes.