The North Americans of Antiquity / Their origin, migrations, and type of civilization considered

by John T. Short

SINCE the greater part of this work was put in type, the exploration of ancient mounds in several localities in the United States has yielded gratifying results. Most conspicuous for rich returns, both in pottery and human remains, are the researches which have recently been prosecuted with such rare intelligence and vigor by the Literary and Scientific Society of Madisonville, Ohio, in the aboriginal burying-grounds and among the mound-works of the Little Miami Valley. Through the liberality of the society and the courtesy of its secretary, Mr. Frank W. Langdon, we are enabled to present an authorized account of the explorations. We take this opportunity of expressing our obligations to the society, and especially to Mr. Langdon, who has kindly prepared the following report:

Notice of Some Recent Archæological Discoveries in the Little Miami Valley. By Frank W. Langdon, Secretary of the Literary and Scientific Society of Madisonville, Ohio.

The valley of the Little Miami River, in South-western Ohio, has long been noted for the number and extent of its pre-historic earthworks, which, distributed on either side of the river, from its confluence with the Ohio to the well-known Fort Ancient and beyond, form an almost continuous chain of mounds, forts, circles, and embankments, extending for more than fifty miles, and constituting an important division of the great earthworks system of the Mississippi Valley.

Of the few publications relating more especially to the ancient works of this series, one of the most important, perhaps, is the paper by Dr. Charles L. Metz, entitled “The Prehistoric Monuments of the Little Miami Valley,”[805] accompanied by a chart showing the location and character of more than forty of these earthworks, situated in Columbia, Spencer and Anderson Townships of Hamilton County. The Hon. Joseph Cox, H. B. Whetsel, Esq., Mr. Charles F. Low, and the several other gentlemen composing the organization known as the Literary and Scientific Society of Madisonville, have also, at various times, given considerable attention to archæological investigations in this vicinity, and the valuable and interesting collections of objects of pre-historic art accumulated by these gentlemen afford abundant evidence of the long-continued occupation of this region by a numerous and somewhat intelligent people of whom we have no historic record.

A renewed interest in the subject has been recently developed by the discovery, near Madisonville, of one of the cemeteries of this unknown people, and the explorations therein by the above-named society, are perhaps among the most interesting that have ever been conducted in the Mississippi Valley.

This cemetery, which is distant about one and one-half miles south-east from Madisonville, occupies the western extremity of an elevated plateau overlooking the Little Miami River, and situated from eighty to one hundred feet above the water-line. It is bounded on the south by the river “bottom”; on the north and west by a deep ravine, through which flows a small stream known as Whisky Run; on the east the plateau slopes gradually up to the general level of the surrounding country, of which it is in fact a continuation or spur, its character of an isolated plateau being derived from its position between the eroded river valley and the deep ravine above referred to. The precipitous but well-wooded bluff which forms the southern limit of this plateau extends eastward, facing the river, for perhaps half a mile, and distributed along its edge are a number of mounds and other earthworks; at its base are the Cincinnati and Eastern and Little Miami Railways, the nearest station being Batavia Junction, distant about half a mile east of the cemetery.

The original forest still covers the site of the cemetery, and measurements of some of the principal trees are recorded by Dr. Metz in his paper before mentioned, as follows: a walnut, 15½ feet in circumference; an oak, 12 feet; a maple, 9½ feet; an elm, 12 feet. The locality has long been known to local collectors and others interested in archæological matters, as the “Pottery Field,” so called on account of the numerous fragments of earthenware strewn over the surface; and it was until recently supposed to be a place where the manufacture of pottery had been carried on by the ancient inhabitants of the valley, the fragments found being considered the debris. A few scattered human remains had also been found in the adjoining ravines, but it was not until some time in March, 1879, that its true character and extent as a cemetery were brought to light.

It then became apparent that some concerted action would be necessary, in order to secure the best scientific results from the discovery; and early in April excavations were begun under the auspices of the before mentioned organization, the proprietors of the premises, Messrs. A. J. and Charles K. Ferris, having kindly granted to it the exclusive privilege of making a thorough and systematic exploration of the ground. From that time until the present (July 19, 1879) excavations have been continued with a force varying from one to three men, assisted by members of the society, every foot of the ground gone over being thoroughly explored, and full notes taken as the work progressed.

The following brief outline of the results, taken from the records of the society, will but serve to convey an idea of the general features of the discovery and of its importance to archæological science, time and space not permitting a detailed account in the present connection.

Of the four or five acres of ground over which the cemetery is believed to extend, only a small segment of the south-western portion has been explored. The exploration, however, has been exceedingly thorough and comprises an extent of perhaps half an acre of ground, from which have been exhumed in all one hundred and eighty-five skeletons. Of these, however, but a small proportion are in a good or even tolerable state of preservation, as with the utmost care only about forty crania could be preserved sufficiently well for measurement. The preservation of even this number must probably be attributed to the favorable character of the soil, a compact gravelly drift, as the various surroundings, position of some skeletons under large trees, etc., all indicate for these interments a remote antiquity.