Of these ashpits, more than fifty have been opened, situated in continuous rows near the edge of the bluff. They are quite uniform in size, measuring from three to four feet in diameter and from four to six feet in depth, and with one or two exceptions have not been found in any other than the above-mentioned situation. Intermingled with the ashes are pipes, implements of bone, shell, and stone, a mastodon’s tooth, bones of various wild animals, including birds and fishes, and in some of them large sherds of pottery-ware indicating vessels of from ten to twelve gallons capacity or even larger. With the exception of a single dorsal vertebra no human remains have yet been found in these pits, unless the ashes be so considered.
From the uncharred condition of the above articles it is evident that the ashes have been placed in the pits as ashes, after having been burned elsewhere, as in no case do the relics or the walls of the pits show any traces of the action of fire.
With respect to the length of time that has elapsed since these interments, mention has already been made of the situation of some of the skeletons under large trees, an instance of which may be cited: On Saturday, April 5, the ground was visited by Judge Cox and Mr. Low, in company with Dr. Metz, and in excavating beneath an oak tree, six feet two inches in circumference, a skeleton was discovered, its lower extremities extending under the tree; overlying the lower extremities of this skeleton was another, its body situated directly under the trunk of the tree and the skull so surrounded and penetrated by roots as to prevent its removal except in fragments. The bones of both skeletons were much decayed and exceedingly fragile.
In forming an estimate as to the probable antiquity of these interments, the time that must necessarily have elapsed between the abandonment of the cemetery and the springing up of the forest; the age of the trees now present and of others that have fallen and decayed; the advanced state of decay in which the human remains are found; the character of the pottery-ware; and lastly, the total absence of any evidences of communication with civilization, in the shape of glass beads or other trinkets, must all be taken into account; and it does not appear at all unreasonable to conclude that the use of this ground as a cemetery probably antedates the discovery of America by Columbus.
As regards the particular race to which this people belonged,—whether they were identical with, or related to, the celebrated “stone-grave people” of Tennessee,[806] as some of their pottery-ware and the shape and dimensions of their crania would seem to indicate; or whether they were the last remnants of the once powerful nation that erected Fort Ancient and other gigantic works in this region,—these and similar queries remain as yet unanswered. More extended investigations and a careful comparison of large amounts of material from this and other localities, may be expected to assist in the solution of these obscure but interesting problems.
At the present writing excavations are still in progress, with new developments daily, and a publication of the entire results, with full details and illustrations, may be looked for in due season.
Madisonville, Hamilton County, Ohio, July 19, 1879.
Note.—An illustrated report of the continuation of the Madisonville exploration, so remarkable in results, will be found in the Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, vol. iii, Nos. 1, 2, and 3; also a sketch by F. W. Putnam in Harvard University Bulletin for June 1, 1881.
B.
THE question as to whether man and the mastodon were contemporaneous in America, has long been a matter of dispute as the reader is aware after the perusal of our second chapter and other sources. The “elephant