Objects of Unbaked Clay
There have been tobacco-pipes of unbaked clay found by the writer in the burial-mounds of this region. One form of these consists simply of a bowl with a straight tubular passage. (See Fig. 429.) It is nearly of the same design as that of the catlinite pipe.
A second kind (see Fig. 429) has stem and bowl in one piece and is bent or curved so that the stem is at right angles with the bowl as in modern pipes. These pipes, like some of the catlinite pipes taken from the ancient mounds, showed evidence of much usage, there being a considerable incrustation or deposit within the bowl from the burning of kinni-kinnic of some kind.
While some of the artifacts herein enumerated and described were undoubtedly made by Sioux and Mandan Indians, it appears quite certain that the products of the mound burial-pits, that is, the spirally grooved urns, the tubular pipes, antler tynes, and sea-shell ornaments, belonged to some other ancient tribe, possibly to the ancient Arikaras, or to a yet earlier tribe.
CHAPTER XXXVI
CONCLUSIONS
Naturally, the Conclusions to “The Stone Age” are somewhat long, and while I have embodied them all under two chapters, yet they have been grouped under subdivisions, as will be observed by readers.
THE POPULATION IN PREHISTORIC TIMES
We should first consider a subject which has been given, it would seem, scant attention. I refer to the fact that generally throughout the American continent are unmistakable evidences of a considerable population in ancient times. At present there are about three hundred and sixty thousand Indians in the United States and Canada. Perhaps more than half of these show the effects of marriage with whites or negroes. The population of to-day is no criterion of that in ancient times. In studying field evidence of population, we must bear in mind that the Indian of both periods made use of perishable materials. This is an essential fact to be noted during the course of our studies. Much that both the historic and prehistoric Indian made use of was composed of cloth, iron, wood, brass, leather, etc. It is quite true that the wood, leather, cloth, etc., of prehistoric times would disappear, but the stone, bone, shell, clay, and copper objects remained. Iron rusts quickly, and the use of iron was widespread from the time of the settlement on the New England coast (1620) down to the present. A great deal of iron was introduced by De Soto in Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas; and by Coronado in the Southwest. Both of these expeditions were in the years 1540–1543, and on them hundreds of Spaniards penetrated into the interior carrying thousands of objects, chiefly of iron. All of this must have had an effect on the natives throughout a considerable portion of North America.
I have elsewhere referred to the difference between historic and modern sites, but the subject is important and has been, it seems to me, passed over or not appreciated by others, and it is necessary to emphasize the difference between the ancient and the modern again. The significant fact is that all of this iron has disappeared leaving here and there a streak of rust, and that upon the modern sites were left quantities of glass beads and other objects that are not perishable. These were in use among the natives, yet few of these things remain; the only exception being noted in the sites of the Iroquois of western New York, where the modern artifacts predominate.
In previous articles I have called attention to the fact that on the four or five Shawano sites in the State of Ohio, there were large bodies of Indians assembled during the period embraced between (roughly) 1700 and 1812. These Indians helped to make American history. They were fairly numerous, of unquestioned ability, and produced such men as Tecumseh and his brother the Prophet. Their leaders, Tecumseh and Cornstalk, were engaged in twenty-two actions with our troops; numerous traders were among them, and they sent many expeditions against the frontiers. Yet, if one walks over these populous sites of historic times, one finds practically nothing save here and there a glass bead or a broken tomahawk.