Fig. 43 is a section of mound No. 9, in the plan of the great work on the North fork of Paint creek (Plate [X]). It will be seen that this mound has several peculiar features. The altar, a, instead of occupying the centre, is placed considerably towards one side, and a layer of charcoal, c, fills the corresponding opposite side. Over the altar curves a stratum of sand, and over the layer of charcoal still another, as exhibited in the section. This altar was the smallest met with. It was round, not measuring more than two feet across the top. It was nevertheless rich in remains. Within it were found—
- 1st. Several instruments of obsidian. They were considerably broken up, but have been so much restored, as to exhibit pretty nearly their original form. Too large for arrow-heads, and too thin and slender for points of spears, they seem to have been designed for cutting purposes.
- 2d. Several scrolls tastefully cut from thin sheets of mica. They are perforated with small holes, as if they had been attached as ornaments to a robe of some description.
- 3d. Traces of cloth; small portions of which, though completely carbonized, were found, still retaining the structure of the thread. This appeared to have been made of some fine vegetable fibre. It was what is technically termed “doubled and twisted,” and was about the size of fine pack-thread.
- 4th. A considerable number of ivory or bone needles, or graving-tools, about one tenth of an inch thick. Their original length is not known. Several fragments were found two and three inches long. Some have flat cutting points, the points of others were round and sharp; some were straight, others slightly bent. p156
- 5th. A quantity of pearl beads; an article resembling the cover of a small vessel, carved from stone; also some fragments of copper, in thin narrow slips.
There were no relics of any kind found amongst the charcoal. The layer of this material was not far from six feet square. It had been heaped over while burning.
Fig. 44.
Fig. 44 is a section of a large mound, No. 5, in the same enclosure. In this instance the altar was covered with stones; and instead of the usual sand stratum, there was found a layer of large flat stones, corresponding to it. The altar, A, was composed of earth elevated two and a half feet above the original level of the soil, and was five feet long by three feet four inches broad, the sides sloping at an angle of nearly thirty degrees. It was faced on the top and on the sides with slabs of stone, quite regular in form and thickness, and which, although not cut by any instrument, were closely fitted together, as shown in the supplementary section of the altar, A. The stone is the Waverley sandstone, underlying the coal series, thin strata of which cap the hills bordering these valleys. The altar bore the marks of fire; and a few fragments of the mound-builders’ ornaments, a few pearl beads, etc., were found on and around it. The original deposit had probably been removed by the modern Indians, who had opened the mound and buried one of their dead on the slope of the altar. The stones composing the layer corresponding to the sand stratum were two or three deep, presenting the appearance of a wall which had fallen inwards.
Fig. 45.
In the centre of the large enclosure, Plate [XIX], is a solitary mound, of which a section is here presented, Fig. 45. It is now, after many years of cultivation, about five feet high by forty feet base. Like that last described, it has some novel features, although its purposes can hardly admit of a doubt. It has the casing of pebbles and gravel which characterize the altar-mounds, but has no sand layer, except a thin stratum resting immediately on the deposit contained in the altar. This altar is entirely peculiar. It seems to have been formed, at different intervals of time, as follows: first, a circular space, thirteen feet in diameter and eight inches in depth, was excavated in the original level of the plain; this was filled with fine sand, carefully levelled, and compacted to the utmost degree. Upon the level thus formed, which was perfectly horizontal, offerings by fire were made; at any rate a continuous heat was kept up, and fatty matter of some sort burned, for the sand to the depth of two inches is discolored, and to the depth of one inch is burned hard and black and cemented together. The ashes, etc., resulting from p157 this operation, were then removed, and another deposit of sand, of equal thickness with the former, was placed above it, and in like manner much compacted. This was moulded into the form represented in the plan, which is identical with that of the circular clay altars already described; the basin, in this instance, measuring seven feet in diameter by eight inches in depth. This basin was then carefully paved with small round stones, each a little larger than a hen’s egg, which were laid with the utmost precision, fully rivalling the pavior’s finest work. They were firmly bedded in the sand beneath them, so as to present a regular and uniform surface. Upon the altar thus constructed was found a burnt deposit, carefully covered with a layer of sand, above which was heaped the superstructure of the mound. The deposit consisted of a thin layer of carbonaceous matter, intermingled with which were some burned human bones, but so much calcined as to render recognition extremely difficult. Ten well wrought copper bracelets were also found, placed in two heaps, five in each, and encircling some calcined bones,—probably those of the arms upon which they were originally worn. Besides these were found a couple of thick plates of mica, placed upon the western slope of the altar.
Assuming, what must be very obvious from its form and other circumstances, that this was an altar and not a tomb, we are almost irresistibly led to the conclusion, that human sacrifices were practised by the race of the mounds. This conclusion is sustained by other facts, which have already been presented, and which need not be recapitulated here.