In the case of the altar mounds, there seems to have been a different procedure, not a burial, but a great funeral sacrifice in honor of some very distinguished person, in which treasures of every kind, including great stores of pearls, were consumed, or meant to be. Of this, Mr. Moorehead says, in a letter to the author: “In the case of all altar offerings, a fire had been kindled ... and all these things were heaped upon it. They were utterly ruined, save a few; ... those at the top were not so much affected as those at the bottom.”
Mr. Moorehead’s investigations already mentioned were in the years 1888 to 1891 inclusive; he next took up especially the remarkable Hopewell groups of mounds, in 1891–1892, and explored these extensively for the archæological exhibit at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, at Chicago.[[554]] This was his most important and elaborate investigation, and will be described in some detail. In 1896, he made a partial exploration of the Harness mound near Chillicothe, which has been fully completed more recently by Prof. William C. Mills, and will also be described further on.
The investigations made in the Hopewell group of mounds were recorded by Mr. Moorehead in a series of articles in the “Antiquarian.”[[555]] He gives a general account of the remarkable region of ancient remains in Ross County, Ohio. The State archæological map shows the “mound belt,” as a strip of country some fifteen miles wide and one hundred miles long, extending through the Scioto Valley, from about Columbus to Portsmouth. The ancient works noted on this map, though not all that exist there, yet number over 900 mounds, 24 village sites, 36 circles of earth and stone, 87 other inclosures and works of similar character, and 31 sites of gravel or kame burials. Five groups of mounds in particular exist in Ross County, all of them showing a “high culture” state. “All of the lower Scioto Valley,” says Mr. Moorehead, “was occupied by a mound-building tribe ranking higher in intelligence and numerically stronger than that of any other section of the whole Ohio region.” Among the many remarkable ancient works in that part of the country, the five groups in Ross County are the most important, and among these, the Hopewell group is preëminent. The first published notice of them, which appeared in 1820, was by Mr. Caleb Atwater.[[556]] Squier and Davis examined and described them in the years 1844–1846, and obtained large and notable collections from them which are now in England, in the Blackmore Museum at Salisbury, as not enough interest in such matters then existed in America to induce the purchase and retention of these valuable treasures. From that time until 1891, when Mr. Moorehead began his explorations there, no one had paid much attention to these mounds, all published accounts being derived from those of Squier and Davis. They described them under the name of Clark’s works, from the owner of the farm within which they lie; but the property has since passed into the possession of Mr. M. C. Hopewell. From this fact, yet more from his kind and intelligent interest in the work of exploration, his name has been given to the group.
The Hopewell works are situated on the north fork of Paint Creek, about one third of a mile from the stream. The intervening space is low bottom-land, and the works stand upon a terrace about twenty feet high, from which again there is a rather steep rise of thirty or forty feet more, to the general level of the country. They consist of a nearly quadrangular inclosure, about half a mile in length (strictly 2800 feet), and half as much in width, occupying the entire breadth of the terrace. At its eastern end, this large inclosure opens into a second and smaller one, an exact square of 850 feet. Within the main inclosure are one or more village sites, a number of separate mounds, and especially a group of several connected elevations, together known as the Effigy mound, these being much the highest and most conspicuous, and themselves surrounded by a semicircular inclosure. The whole suggests a defensive work, or “walled town”; but the wall, although strongly and carefully built, partly of stones and partly of hard clay, is so low—only from four to six feet in height—that it could not have been a very formidable obstacle to a vigorous assault; and, moreover, the whole is overlooked and “commanded” from the bluff above it. The mounds, as Squier and Davis examined them, were pronounced to be mainly of the sacrificial or “altar” type. Since their very full and accurate account was published, time and the hand of man have reduced and almost obliterated portions of the wall and some of the smaller mounds, while the creek has slightly shifted its course. When they wrote their description, it was a little nearer than it is now; and they then expressed the belief that it had formerly washed the base of the terrace where the works are located.
Mr. Moorehead’s exploring party, aided by Dr. H. T. Cresson, began operations at this notable group of mounds in August, 1891, and continued them through about seven months, without interruption, much of the time in severe winter weather. The work was carried on under authority of the Anthropological Department of the Columbian Exposition of 1893, at Chicago. All the most interesting and important of the very extensive body of relics obtained was displayed there; and the whole remains as a permanent exhibit in the Field (Columbian) Museum of Natural History.
The Hopewell group comprises in all some twenty larger and smaller mounds within the general inclosure, besides a few unimportant ones outside of it, and the main connected group in the special inclosure near the center. These latter form together what is known as the Effigy mound, a name based upon its general resemblance to a reclining human figure; but it is not constructed on a human or animal design, as are the effigy mounds properly so called. After working for a time upon some of the others, and finding much interesting material, Mr. Moorehead set his men to work upon the Effigy mound, and spent most of his time and effort upon that remarkable structure, of which he made a very thorough and systematic exploration.
The Effigy mound is about 500 feet long and 220 feet wide, and rises 23 feet above the general surface at its highest point. It proves to belong to the fourth class of Squier and Davis, those of mixed character, with both altars and burials, as it contained three large altars and as many as 175 skeletons, nearly all of adults.
Reviewing now the entire exploration of the Hopewell group, the first mound opened, known as No. 17, was of considerable size, nearly ninety feet in diameter, and was notable for a layer of mica—some 3000 sheets—that extended almost entirely through it. It contained a rude altar, with ashes and bones, some copper implements, bone needles, sharks’ teeth, and nearly 200 pounds of bright galena. The next examined, No. 18, contained several decayed skeletons, and a good example of an “altar,” together with ornaments cut from human skulls. The next, No. 19, had an altar of earth, partially hardened by heat, which was taken out entire and boxed. It was roughly cubical, about three feet each way. In the “bowl,” or concavity, on the top of it, were various minor implements, with some galena and mica, etc. The next attacked was a large mound, No. 2, which had been partly opened by Squier and Davis, nearly fifty years before. It is remarkable for its immense store of roughly chipped flint disks, over 8000 in number, of which 600 were taken out by Squier and Davis, and most of the remainder by Mr. Moorehead. It would seem to have been a place of storage for partly worked material of this kind, to preserve it from the hardening effect of long exposure to the air.
Several other mounds yielded little of importance, save that from the soil on the site of No. 1, which had been obliterated, were taken a number of fragments of bone, curiously ornamented with finely carved patterns. Two others, Nos. 4 and 5, had peculiarly constructed altars, of which an extended account is given.
The first discovery of pearls by Squier and Davis was made in their mound No. 9, now obliterated by a railroad. With the pearls, they report as found on the top of a small altar, broken instruments of obsidian, cut patterns of mica, vestiges of cloth, etc.