The gradual slope, resembling a graded way, upon the southern side of this mound, is a feature not easily explained. It would seem at first glance to be designed as a passage to the top. The more probable conclusion however is, that it is a supplementary mound, which by cultivation and the lapse of time has become so merged in the larger one at its side as not to be distinguishable from it. Sepulchral mounds of various sizes, joining and running into each other, are common. This mound is nearer to enclosures than any other of the class yet examined.
Mounds of this, as well as of the first class, were often disturbed by the later Indians. Their remains are frequently found, in some cases in large quantities, as if the mound had been used for a long period as a general burial-place. Such was the case with a large mound, situated six miles above the town of Chillicothe, in which a great number of burials had been made, at various depths, from eighteen inches to four feet. The skeletons were, in places, two or three deep, and placed without arrangement in respect to each other. Some were evidently of a more ancient date than others, showing, from their condition as well as position, that they had been deposited at different periods. One or two were observed in which the skull had been fractured by blows from a hatchet or other instrument, establishing that the individual had met a violent death. With some, rude vessels of pottery, and stone and bone implements, had been deposited; and, in a small mound close by, a silver cross, of French origin, was discovered,—all going to establish the comparatively recent date of these burials. In sinking a shaft five feet square, no less than seven skeletons, the lowest about four feet from the surface, were exposed. Beneath all of these, at the depth of fourteen feet and near the base of the mound, were found traces of the original deposit of the mound-builders. In this case, had the investigation been less complete, it might have been concluded that this mound was a grand receptacle of the dead, and “contained many thousand human skeletons.” Another proof is here furnished of the necessity of thoroughness in explorations of this character, in order to arrive at correct conclusions.
The ceremonies of interment, so far as we are enabled to deduce them from these monuments, were conducted with great regularity and system. None of those disturbances mentioned by various writers, where the remains seem to have been heaped together without order and without care, have been observed in the course of these investigations, except in cases where recent deposits had been made. p167 On the contrary, all the circumstances seem to indicate that burial was a solemn and deliberate rite, regulated by fixed customs of, perhaps, religious or superstitious origin. It is possible that in certain cases, a special practice was prescribed. We may thus account for the presence or absence of the charcoal layers, and also for the practice of incremation in some instances and simple inhumation in others.[108]
In a very few of the sepulchral mounds, a rude enclosure of stone was placed around the skeleton, corresponding to that of timber in others. No mounds possessing this peculiarity fell under notice during the investigations here recorded: there can, however, be no doubt of the fact. A mound within the limits of Chillicothe was removed a number of years since, in which a stone coffin, corresponding very nearly with the kistvaen of the English antiquaries, was discovered. The stones are said to have been laid up with great regularity.[109] In some instances a pile of stones seems to have been heaped carelessly over the skeleton; in others it was heaped upon the timbers covering the sepulchral chamber, as in the mound at Grave creek.
Urn burial does not seem to have been practised in the valley of the Ohio. It is nevertheless undoubted that in some of the Southern States, by either the ancient races or the more modern Indians, burials of this character were frequent. This is sufficiently established by the discovery in the mounds and elsewhere, of earthen vessels containing human remains, generally but not always burned. In the mounds on the Wateree river, near Camden, South Carolina, ranges of vases, filled with human remains, were discovered. A detailed account of these is given by Dr. Blanding, in a preceding chapter. (See page [106].) When unburnt, the skeletons seem to have been packed in the vase, after the flesh had decomposed. Sometimes, when the mouth of the vase is small, the skull is placed, face downwards, in the opening, constituting a sort of cover. Entire cemeteries have been found, in which urn burial alone seems to have been practised. Such a one was accidentally discovered, not many years since, in St. Catharine’s island, on the coast of Georgia. The vases were coarse in material, of rude workmanship, from eighteen to twenty inches in height, and filled with burned human bones. One of the vases from this locality is now deposited in the museum of the Georgia Historical Society.[110] p168
The relics of art found in these mounds possess great uniformity of character. Personal ornaments are most common, such as bracelets, perforated plates of copper, and beads of bone, ivory, shell, or metal. Few weapons, such as spear or arrow points, are found; stone implements are more common. Many of these articles are identical with those found in mounds of the first class. Plates of mica are of frequent occurrence; they are sometimes of large size and considerable thickness. Instances are known in which this material has been found in vast quantities, dispersed over and sometimes completely covering the skeleton. It seems not unlikely that a degree of superstitious regard attached to it, or that it was sacred to certain purposes. The plates are often cut into regular figures, discs, ovals, etc. Vases of pottery are occasionally, but not often, found. Of all these varieties of relics appropriate notice will be taken in a subsequent chapter.
In all of the sepulchral mounds opened and examined in the course of these investigations, with a single exception, the human remains have been found so much decayed as to render any attempt to restore the skull, or indeed any portion of the skeleton, entirely hopeless. With this experience, it is considered extremely doubtful whether any of the numerous skulls which have been sent abroad and exhibited as undoubted remains of the mound-builders, were really such. A few are possibly genuine; this can only be determined by a full understanding of the circumstances under which they were obtained. The fact that they were found in the mounds, in view of the variety of deposits which have been made at different periods, is hardly presumptive evidence that they belonged to the builders.
Considering that the earth around these skeletons is wonderfully compact and dry, and that the conditions for their preservation are exceedingly favorable, while they are in fact so much decayed, we may form some approximate estimate of their remote antiquity. In the barrows of the ancient Britons, entire well-preserved skeletons are found, although possessing an undoubted antiquity of at least eighteen hundred years. Local causes may produce singular results, in particular instances, but we speak now of these remains in the aggregate.
It has already been observed, that, as a general rule, each mound was raised over a single individual.
