Dakota Village Sites Reminiscent of the Ohio Hopewell Mound Builders

   Speaking of the region west of the Mississippi, Biedman says: "We journeyed two days, and reached a village in the midst of a plain, surrounded by walls and a ditch filled by water, which had been made by Indians." This town is supposed to have been situated in the north-eastern part of Arkansas, and it is interesting to note that recent investigators find what are probably the remains of these walled towns, in the shape of enclosures with ditches and mounds, in North-eastern Arkansas and South-eastern Missouri. The tribes throughout the entire extent of the Mississippi Valley were accustomed to palisade their villages—at least, occasionally.
  It has been surmised that, if their history could be recovered, it would clear up a great many difficult questions. They were accustomed to fortify their village's with ditches, embankments, and Palisades. This gives us a cut of one of their villages. It is to be observed that it has a great likeness to some of the enclosures ascribed to the Mound Builders. This has been noted by many writers. 
   Says Brackenridge: "In my voyage up Missouri, I observed the ruins of several villages which had been abandoned twenty or thirty years, which in every respect resembled the vestiges on the Ohio and Mississippi." Lewis and Clark, in their travels, describe the sites of several of these abandoned villages, the only remains of which were the walls which had formerly enclosed the villages, then three or four feet high. The opinion has been advanced that the enclosures of the Mound Builders were formerly surmounted by palisades. Mr. Atwater asserts that the round fort which was joined to a square enclosure at Circleville showed distinct evidence of having supported a line of pickets or palisades.
    Should it be accepted that the enclosures of the Mound Builders represent village sites, and that they were probably further protected by palisades, it would seem, after what we have just observed of the customs of the Indians in fortifying their villages, to be a simple and natural explanation of these remains.

The Face of the Oto Sioux Ohio Hopewell Mound Builders

The Face of the Ogala Sioux Ohio Hopewell Mound Builders

Ohio Hopewell copper facial mask

Photo of Oto Sioux,  George Moses Harragarra, taken in 1959.

Houses of the Mound Builders of the Ohio Valley and the Yucatan Compared

Houses of the Mound Builders of the Ohio Valley and the Yucatan Compared

It is not necessary, as before suggested, that the actual form and structure of the houses of the Mound-Builders should be shown to establish the hypothesis that these embankments were the veritable sites of their houses. If it is made evident that the summit platforms of these embankments, when reformed from their own materials, would afford practicable sites for houses, which when constructed would have been comfortable dwellings adapted to the climate and to Indian life in the Middle Status of barbarism, this is all that can be required. The restoration of this pueblo establishes the affirmative of this proposition, with the superadded confirmation of that defensive character which marks all the house architecture of the Village Indians in New and Old Mexico and Central America.

With their undoubted advancement beyond the Iroquois and Minnitarees, the Mound-Builders may have constructed better houses upon these platform elevations than the plans indicate. No remains of adobes have been found in connection with these embankments, and nothing to indicate that walls of such brick had ever been raised upon them. The disintegrated mass would have shown itself in the form of the embankment after the lapse of many centuries. On the contrary, they were found in the precise form they would have assumed, under atmospheric influences, after structures of the kind described had perished, and the embankments had been abandoned for centuries.

These embankments, therefore, require triangular houses of the kind described, and long-houses, as well, covering their entire length. But the interior plan might have been different, for example, the passage way might have been along the exterior wall, and the stalls or apartments on the court side, and but half as many in number, and, instead of one continuous house in the interior, four hundred and fifty feet in length, it might have been divided into several, separated from each other by cross partitions. The plan of life, however, which we are justified in ascribing to them, from known usages of Indian tribes in a similar condition of advancement, would lead us to expect large households formed on the basis of kin, with the practice of communism in living in each household, whether large or small. There is a direct connection in principle between the platform elevations inclosing a large square on which the High Bank Pueblo was constructed, and the pyramidal platforms in Yucatan, smaller in diameter but higher in elevation, upon which were erected the most artistic houses constructed by the American aborigines. In the latter cases the central area rises to the common level of the embankments upon which the houses were constructed. The former has the security gained by a house-site above the level of the surrounding ground; and it represents about all the advance made by the Village Indians in the art of war above the tribes in a lower condition of barbarism. They placed their houses and homes in a position unassailable by the methods of Indian warfare.

There is some diversity, as would be expected, in the size of the squares inclosed by these embankments. They range from four hundred and fifty to seventeen hundred feet, the majority measuring between eight hundred and fifty and a thousand feet. Gateways are usually found at the four angles and at the center of each side. A comparison of the dimensions of twenty of these squares, figured in the "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," gives for the average nine hundred and thirty-seven feet. The aggregate length of the embankments shown in Fig. 46 is three thousand six hundred feet, which, at an average of ten feet for each apartment, would give three hundred and sixty upon each side of the passage way, or seven hundred and twenty in all. From this number should be deducted such as were used for storage, for doorways, and for public uses. Allowing two apartments for each family of five persons, the High Bank Pueblo would have accommodated from fifteen hundred to two thousand persons, living in the fashion of Indians, which is about the number of an average pueblo of the Village Indians. This result may be strengthened by comparing houses of existing Indian tribes. The Seneca-Iroquois village of Tiotohatton, two centuries ago, was estimated at a hundred and twenty houses. Taking the number at one hundred, with an average length of fifty feet, and it would give a lineal length of house-room of five thousand feet. It was the largest of the Seneca, and the largest of the Iroquois villages, and contained about two thousand inhabitants. A similar result is obtained by another comparison. The aggregate length of the apartments in the pueblo of Chettro Kettle, in New Mexico, now in ruins, including those in the several stories, is four thousand seven hundred feet. It contained probably about the same number of inhabitants.

The foregoing explanation of the uses of these embankments rests upon the defensive principle in the house architecture of the Village Indians, and upon a state of the family requiring joint tenement houses communistic in character. To both of these requirements this conjectural restoration of one of the pueblos of the Mound-Builders responds in a remarkable manner. In the diversified forms of the houses of the Village Indians, in all parts of America, the defensive principle is a constant feature. Among the Mound-Builders a rampart of earth ten feet high around a village would afford no protection, but surmounted with long-houses, the walls of which rose continuous with the embankments, the strength of these walls, though of timber coated with earth, would render a rampart thus surmounted and doubled in height a formidable barrier against Indian assault. The second principle, that of communism in living in joint-tenement houses, which is impressed not less clearly upon the houses of the Village Indians in general than upon the supposed houses of the Mound-Builders, harmonized completely with the first. From the two together sprang the house architecture of the American aborigines, with its diversities of form, and they seem sufficient for its interpretation. The Mound-Builders in their new area east of the Mississippi finding it impossible to construct joint tenement houses of adobe bricks to which they had been accustomed substituted solid embankments of earth in the place of the first story closed up on the ground and erected triangular houses upon them covered with earth. When circumstances compelled a change of plan, the second is not a violent departure from the first. There is a natural connection between them. Finally, it is deemed quite sufficient to sustain the interpretation given that these embankments were eminently adapted to the uses indicated, and that the pueblo as restored, and with its inclosed court, would have afforded to its inhabitants pleasant, protected and attractive homes.

With respect to the large circular inclosures, adjacent to and communicating with the squares, it is not necessary that we should know their object. The one attached to the High Bank Pueblo contains twenty acres of land, and doubtless subserved some useful purpose in their plan of life. The first suggestion which presents itself is, that as a substitute for a fence it surrounded the garden of the village in which they cultivated their maize, beans, squashes, and tobacco. At the Minnetaree village a similar inclosure may now be seen by the side of the village surrounding their cultivated land, consisting partly of hedge and partly of stakes, the open prairie stretching out beyond. We cannot know all the necessities that attended their mode of life; although houses, gardens, food, and raiment were among those which must have existed.

There is another class of circular embankments, about two hundred and fifty feet in diameter, connected with each other in some cases by long and low parallel embankments, as may be seen in Fig 46. Undoubtedly they were for some useful purpose, which may or may not be divined correctly, but a knowledge of which is not necessary to our hypothesis respecting the principal embankments. It may be suggested as probable that the Mound-Builders were organized in gentes, phratries, and tribes. If this were the case, the phratries would need separate places for holding their councils and for performing their religious observances. These ring embankments suggest the circular estufas found in connection with the New Mexican pueblos, two, four, and sometimes five at one pueblo. The circles were adapted to open-air councils, after the fashion of the American Indian tribes. As there are two of these connected with each other, and two not connected, it is not improbable that the Mound-Builders at this village were organized in two and perhaps four phratries, and that they performed their religious ceremonies and public business in these open estufas.

[Footnote: The solid rectangular platforms found at Marietta, Ohio, and at several places in the Gulf region, are analogous to those in Yucatan. They are an advance upon the ring inclosures, and were probably designed for religious uses. That the Mound Builders were at one time accustomed to adobe brick is proven by their presence at Seltzertown, in the State of Mississippi, forming a part of the wall of a mound. (See Foster's Pre-Historic Races of the U.S., p. 112.)]

Early Indian Pottery from Missouri

EARLY INDIAN POTTERY FROM MISSOURI.

ARTICLES OF CLAY.

A fine collection of early Indian pottery was purchased for the Bureau from Mr. J. T. Gouden, of Morrow, Ohio, through the agency of Dr. Wills De Haas.

Fig. 174.

Few facts in regard to them have been furnished, excepting that they were taken from graves in the vicinity of Charleston, Mo. They resemble so closely the well-known types of Missouri pottery that it is safe to conclude that they were obtained from ancient graves and mounds in the locality named.

The numerous cuts accompanying this section are intended for subsequent use in a general treatise on the works of the Moundbuilders.

This ware is generally of the dark gray or black variety, handsmoothed, or but slightly polished, and tempered with pulverized shells.

A few examples are yellowish-red in color. Some of these have been 496painted red or have been ornamented with designs in red. In one case white paint has been used.

The prevailing form is a bottle-shaped vessel, the neck being frequently high and slender, and the body globular or subglobular. The base is nearly always slightly flattened.

65556. An effigy vase of unusual form. The body is subrectangular. The upper part or neck is lost, but has doubtless been modeled to represent the human figure, as the feet remain attached to the shoulder of the vessel. The color is yellowish gray. Diameter, 5 inches. Fig. 174.

Fig. 175.

65603. An effigy vase of the dark ware. The body is globular. A kneeling human figure forms the neck. The mouth of the vessel occurs at the back of the head—a rule in this class of vessels. Is is finely made and symmetrical. 9¾ inches high and 7 inches in diameter. Fig. 175.

497

65595. Effigy vase representing a kneeling or squatting human figure, moderately well modeled. The exterior surface is painted red. Height, 7 inches; diameter, 5 inches. The locality is not known with certainty.

65604-65607, 65611, 65612. Effigy vases of human figures. Sizes, medium to small. The body below the waist is hemispherical, and the legs are not indicated. Fig. 176.

Fig. 176.

65597. Effigy vase, representing an owl. The body is globular. The wings are indicated at the sides, and the legs and tail serve as a tripod when the vessel is placed in an upright position. The head is quite grotesque. This is a usual form in the Middle Mississippi district. Height, 8 inches; width, 5½ inches.

65608. Small example, resembling the preceding.

65601, 65596. Vases with globular bodies; the necks represent an owl's head. Size, medium.

Fig. 177.

65605. A small vase similar to the above, but having a human head.

65558. A minute vessel modeled to represent a bird, the opening or mouth being on the under side of the body; length, 2 inches.Fig. 177.

498

65599, 65602, 65604, 65610. Bottle-shaped vases, with globular or flattish bodies and grotesque tops. The rounded heads are armed with a number of nodes or horns, but no features are shown. The largest is 7 inches in width by 7 in height. Fig. 178.

Fig. 178.	Fig. 179.

65598. Similar vase of medium size. The top is modeled to represent the curved stem and neck of a gourd. Fig. 179. Height 7 inches.

499

65600. Vase similar to the above. The top representing a gourd with short conical neck. Four lines are drawn from the stem down the sides which represent the natural markings of the gourd. Height, 5½ inches; diameter, 5½ inches.

Fig. 180.

65555. A two-storied vessel, the lower part being a cup of flattened globular form. The upper part is similar in size and shape, but is modeled to represent a univalve shell, the apex being represented by a large node surrounded by six smaller nodes, and the base or spine by a graceful extension of the rim. The groove or depression that encircles the vessel between the upper and lower parts of the body is spanned by two minute handles. Height, 5 inches; width, 4½. Fig. 180.

Fig. 181.

500

65543, 65551, 65552, 65554, 65573. Small bowls or cups, made in imitation of shell vessels, the noded apex occurring at one side, and the more or less pointed beak at the opposite side Fig. 181. Another similar specimen with hemispherical body is given in Fig. 182. Length, 6 inches.

Fig. 182.

65542, 65545, 65550. Small vases with wide mouths, the rim and shoulders of which have the heads and extremities of frogs, modeled in relief. Fig. 183. Diameter, 6 inches.

Fig. 183.

65539, 65541, 65544, 65546. Low, wide-mouthed vases or bowls, modeled about the rim to represent sunfish. A vertical view is given in Fig. 184. 5 inches in length.

65579. A small bowl, the rim of which is embellished on one side with the head of a panther, on the other side a flattish projection which resembles a tail.

501

Fig. 184.	Fig. 185.

65580. A small bowl, having upon the rim a human head, the face of which is turned inward. On the opposite side is the usual flattish projection. Fig. 185. Diameter of bowl 5 inches.

65578. Small bowl, the rim of which is embellished with the head of a fox or wolf; at the opposite side is the usual tail.

65576, 65577, 65581, 65585. Bowls of various sizes, the rims of which are ornamented with the heads and tails of birds. No. 65576 is an unusually fine example. Besides the features described it has been farther embellished by four incised lines which encircle the rim, forming a loop on the opposite sides as seen in Fig. 186. Bowl 9 inches in diameter.

Fig. 186.

65553. Small bowl, the rim of which has been embellished by four pairs of nodes. Fig. 187. Diameter, 6 inches.

502

Fig. 187.	Fig. 188.

65547. A small globular cup of dark ware which has four large nodes about the rim, Between these on the sides of the vessel, four ornamental figures have been painted in red, these consist of an inner circle occupied by a cross, and an exterior circle of rays or scallops. Height, 2½ inches; width, 3½ inches.

The rim has been perforated for the purpose of suspension. Fig. 188.

65487, 65512, 65514, 65519, 65521, 65523, 65525, 65531. Bottle-shaped vases. The bodies are generally globular. A few are conical above, while others are much compressed vertically. Some are slightly ridged about the greatest circumference, while all are slightly flattened on the bottom. The necks are slender and long, being about equal to the body in height. They are generally narrowest in the middle, expanding trumpet-like toward the mouth, and widening more or less abruptly toward the shoulder below. In a few cases a ridge or collar encircles the base of the neck. The exterior surface is generally quite smooth, but never polished, although a polishing implement seems to have been used.

503The largest is 9 inches in height and 7 inches in diameter. No. 65501 has a very tasteful incised design, encircling the shoulder as shown in Fig. 189. Diameter 6½ inches.

Fig. 189.

65520. Vase similar to the above in form, but with the addition of a base or stand, 1 inch high and 3 inches in diameter at the base.

65486. Same, with the base divided into three parts, forming a kind of tripod, the legs being flat. Fig. 190. Height, 9 inches.

Fig. 190.	Fig. 191.

65513, 65526, 65530, 65532, 65539. Bottle or jug shaped vases, resembling the preceding, but having wide, short necks. Fig. 191 illustrates a typical form. Height, 4¼ inches.

65485. A vase similar to the above, but of yellowish gray ware, decorated with a design in broad red and white lines. Height, 6 inches; width, 6 inches. Height of neck, 2 inches; width, 3 inches.

Fig. 192.

65538. Similar to the above in shape, but with flattish body, and peculiar in having two small handles or ears at the base of the neck.Fig. 192. Diameter, 5 inches.

504

65548, 65561, 65562, 65564, 65569. Small caps, with low, wide necks, and globular or subglobular bodies, having two handles or ears which connect the lip with the shoulder.

505

65572. A cup like the above, with four handles.

65563, 65565, 65568. Small cups similar to the preceding, but having a variety of indented ornaments about the shoulder and upper part of the body; these ornaments consist of wide vertical lines, or of encircling scalloped lines. Figs. 193 and 194. Diameter of each, 4½ inches.

Fig. 193.	Fig. 194.

506

65570. Has six nodes about the circumference, and a scalloped figure of three incised lines encircling the vessel above them. The handles have oblique incised lines upon the outer surface.

Fig. 195.

65588, 65590. Bowls with scalloped rims. The largest is 9 inches in diameter and 3 inches in height. Fig. 195.

65574, 65575, 65586, 65587, 65591, 65593. Plain bowls, of various sizes, and somewhat varied shapes. Figs. 196 and 197. Drawn one-half the real size.

Fig. 196.	Fig. 197.

The Cherokee Indian Mound Builders of Tennessee and North Carolina

The Cherokee Indian Mound Builders of Tennessee and North Carolina

Cherokee Indian Burial Mound in North Carolina.  Most of these mounds have been desecrated by university archaeologist

As the evidence on this point has to a large extent been presented in my article on "Burial Mounds of the Northern Section," [Footnote: Fifth Ann. Rept. Bur Ethnol] also in articles published in the Magazine of American History [Footnote: May, 1884, pp. 396- 407] and in the American Naturalist, [Footnote: Vol. 18, 1884, pp. 232-240] it will be necessary here only to introduce a few additional items.

The iron implements which are alluded to in the above mentioned articles also in Science, [Footnote: Science, vol. 3, 1884, pp. 308-310] as found in a North Carolina mound, and which analysis shows were not meteoric, furnish conclusive evidence that the tumulus was built after the Europeans had reached America; and as it is shown in the same article that the Cherokees must have occupied the region from the time of its discovery up to its settlement by the whites it is more than probable they were the builders. A figure of one of the pieces is introduced here.

      Additional and perhaps still stronger evidence, if stronger be needed, that the people of this tribe were the authors of most of the ancient works in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee is to be found in certain discoveries made by the Bureau assistants in Monroe County, Tenn.

Twin mounds which is part of the Pinson Mound group in Eastern  Tennessee.  Archaeologist have desecrated most of the burials at the site. For more information on Cherokee stone graves ://nahttpstiveamericanhistoryandphotographs.blogspot.com/2011/07/shawnee-and-cherokee-and-ancient-stone.html 

         A careful exploration of the valley of the Little Tennessee River, from the point where it leaves the mountains to its confluence with the Holston, was made, and the various mound groups were located and surveyed. These were found to correspond down as far as the position of Fort London and even to the island below with the arrangement of the Cherokee "over-hill towns" as given by Timberlake in his map of the Cherokee country called "Over the Hills," [Footnote: Memoirs, 1765] a group for each town, and in the only available spots the valley for this distance affords. As these mounds when explored yielded precisely the kind of ornaments and implements used by the Cherokees, it is reasonable to believe they built them.

        Ramsey also gives a map, [Footnote: Annals of Tennessee, p. 376] but his list evidently refers to a date corresponding with the close of their occupancy of this section. Bartram [Footnote: Travels, pp. 373.374.] gives a more complete list applying to an earlier date. This evidently includes some on the Holston (his "Cherokee") River and some on the Tellico plains. This corresponds precisely with the result of the explorations by the Bureau as will be seen when the report is published. Some three or four groups were discovered in the region of Tellico plains, and five or six on the Little Tennessee below Fort London and on the Holston near the junction, one large mound and a group being on the "Big Island" mentioned in Bartram's list.

        The largest of these groups is situated on the Little Tennessee above Fort London and corresponds with the position of the ancient "beloved town of Chota" ("Great Chote" of Bartram) as located by tradition and on both Timberlake's and Ramsey's maps. According to Ramsey, [Footnote: Annals of Tennessee, p. 157] at the time the pioneers, following in the wake of Daniel Boone near the close of the eighteenth century, were pouring over the mountains into the valley of the Watauga, a Mrs. Bean, who was captured by the Cherokees near Watauga, was brought to their town at this place and was bound, taken to the top of one of the mounds and about to be burned, when Nancy Ward, then exercising in the nation the functions of the Beloved or Pretty Woman, interfered and pronounced her pardon.

          During the explorations of the mounds of this region a peculiar type of clay beds was found in several of the larger mounds. These were always saucer shaped, varying in diameter from 6 to 15 feet, and in thickness from 4 to 12 inches. In nearly every instance they were found in series, one above another, with a layer of coals and ashes between. The series usually consisted of from three to five beds, sometimes only two, decreasing in size from the lower one upward. These apparently marked the stages of the growth of the mound, the upper one always being near the present surface.

The large mound which is on the supposed site of Chota, and possibly the one on which Mrs. Bean was about to be burned, was thoroughly explored, and found to contain a series of these clay beds, which always showed the action of fire. In the center of some of these were found the charred remains of a stake, and about them the usual layer of coals and ashes, but, in this instance, immediately around where the stake stood were charred fragments of human bones.

         As will be seen, when the report which is now in the hands of the printer is published, the burials in this mound were at various depths, and there is nothing shown to indicate separate and distinct periods, to lead to the belief that any of these were intrusive in the true sense. On the contrary, the evidence is pretty clear that all these burials were by one tribe or people. By the side of nearly every skeleton were one or more articles, as shell masks, engraved shells, shell pins, shell beads, perforated shells, discoidal stones, polished celts, arrow-heads, spearheads, stone gorgets, bone implements, clay vessels, or copper hawkbells. The last were with the skeleton of a child found at the depth of 3 1/2 feet. They are precisely of the form of the ordinary sleigh- bell of the present day, with pebbles and shell-bead rattles.

     That this child belonged to the people to whom the other burials are due will not be doubted by any one not wedded to a preconceived notion, and that the bells are the work of Europeans will also be admitted.  In another mound a little farther up the river, and one of a group probably marking the site of one of the "over-hill towns," were found two carved stone pipes of a comparatively modern Cherokee type.

     The next argument is founded on the fact that in the ancient works of the region alluded to are discovered evidences of habits and customs similar to those of the Cherokees and some of the immediately surrounding tribes.
      In the article heretofore referred to allusion is made to the evidence found in the mound opened by Professor Carr of its once having supported a building similar to the council-house observed by Bartram on a mound at the old Cherokee town Cowe. Both were built on mounds, both were circular, both were built on posts set in the ground at equal distances from each other, and each had a central pillar. As tending to confirm this statement of Bartram's, the following passage may be quoted, where, speaking of Colonel Christian's march against the Cherokee towns in 1770, Ramsey [Footnote: Annals of Tennessee, p. 169.] says that this officer found in the center of each town "a circular tower rudely built and covered with dirt, 30 feet in diameter, and about 20 feet high. This tower was used as a council-house, and as a place for celebrating the green-corn dance and other national ceremonials." In another mound the remains of posts apparently marking the site of a building were found. Mr. M. C. Read, of Hudson, Ohio, discovered similar evidences in a mound near Chattanooga, [Footnote: Smithsonian Rept, for 1867 (1868), p. 401.] and Mr. Gerard Fowke has quite recently found the same thing in a mound at Waverly. Ohio.
      The shell ornaments to which allusion has been made, although occasionally bearing designs which are undoubtedly of the Mexican or Central American type, nevertheless furnish very strong evidence that the mounds of east Tennessee and western North Carolina were built by the Cherokees.
      Lawson, who traveled through North Carolina in 1700, says [Footnote: Hist. of N. C., Raleigh, reprint 1860, p. 315.] "they [the Indians] oftentimes make of this shell [a certain large sea shell] a sort of gorge, which they wear about their neck in a string so it hangs on their collar, whereon sometimes is engraven a cross or some odd sort of figure which comes next in their fancy."

According to Adair, the southern Indian priest wore upon his breast "an ornament made of a white conch-shell, with two holes bored in the middle of it, through which he ran the ends of an otter-skin strap, and fastened to the extremity of each, a buck- horn white button." [Footnote: Hist. Am. Indians, p. 84]

Beverly, speaking of the Indians of Virginia, says: "Of this shell they also make round tablets of about 4 inches in diameter, which they polish as smooth as the other, and sometimes they etch or grave thereon circles, stars, a half-moon, or any other figure suitable to their fancy." [Footnote: Hist. Virginia, London, 1705, p. 58]

     Now it so happens that a considerable number of shell gorgets have been found in the mounds of western North Carolina and east Tennessee, agreeing so closely with those brief descriptions, as may be seen the figures of some of them given here (see Figs. 2 and 3), as to leave no doubt that they belong to the same type as those alluded to by the writers whose words have just been quoted. Some of them were found in the North Carolina mound from which the iron articles were obtained and in connection with these articles. Some of these shells were smooth and without any devices engraved upon them, but with holes for inserting the strings by which they were to be held in position; others were engraved with figures, which, as will be seen by reference to the cuts referred to, might readily be taken for stars and half-moons, and one among the number with a cross engraved upon it.The evidence that these relics were the work of Indians found in possession of the country at the time of its discovery by Europeans, is therefore too strong to be put aside by mere conjectures or inferences. If they were the work of Indians, they must have been used by the Cherokees and buried with their dead. It is true that some of the engraved figures present a puzzling problem in the fact that they bear unmistakable evidences of pertaining to Mexican and Central American types, but no explanation of this which contradicts the preceding evidences that these shells had been in the hands of Indians can be accepted.

      In these mounds were also found a large number of nicely carved soapstone pipes, usually with the stem made in connection with the bowl, though some were without this addition, consisting only of the bowl with a hole for inserting a cane or wooden stem. While some, as will hereafter be shown, closely resemble one of the ancient Ohio types, others are precisely of the form common a few years back, and some of them have the remains of burnt tobacco yet clinging to them.

Adair, in his "History of the North American Indians," [Footnote:
P. 433.] says:

  "They mate beautiful stone pipes and the Cherokees the best of any of the Indians, for their mountainous country contain many different sorts and colors of soils proper for such uses. They easily form them with their tomahawks and afterwards finish them in any desired form with their knives, the pipes being of a very soft quality till they are smoked with and used with the fire, when they become quite hard. They are often full a span long and the bowls are about half as large again as our English pipes. The fore part of each commonly runs out with a sharp peak 2 or 3 fingers broad and a quarter of an inch thick."

      Not only were pipes made of soapstone found in these mounds, but two or three were found precisely of the form mentioned by Adair, with the fore part running out in front of the bowl (see Fig. 5, p. 39).

  It has been more than hinted at by at least one person whose statement is entitled to every belief, that among the Cherokees dwelling in the mountains there existed certain artists whose professed occupation was the manufacture of stone pipes, which were by them transported to the coast and there bartered away for articles of use and ornament foreign to and highly esteemed among the members of their own tribe.

        This not only strengthens the conclusions drawn from the presence of such pipes in the mounds alluded to, but may also assist in explaining the presence of the copper and iron ornaments in them.

During the fall of 1886 a farmer of east Tennessee while examining a cave with a view to storing potatoes in it during the winter unearthed a well preserved human skeleton which was found to be wrapped in a large piece of cane matting. This, which measures about 6 by 4 feet, with the exception of a tear at one corner is perfectly sound and pliant and has a large submarginal stripe running around it. Inclosed with the skeleton was a piece of cloth made of flax, about 14 by 20 inches, almost uninjured but apparently unfinished. The stitch in which it is woven is precisely that imprinted on mound pottery of the type shown in Fig. 96 in Mr. Holmes's paper on the mound-builders' textile fabrics reproduced here in Fig. 4. [Footnote: Fifth Ann. Rept. Bur. Ethnol., p. 415, Fig. 96.]

     Although the earth of the cave contains salts which would aid in preserving anything buried in it, these articles can not be assigned to any very ancient date, especially when it is added that with them were the remains of a dog from which the skin had not all rotted away.

These were presumably placed here by the Cherokees of modern times, and they form a link not easily broken between the prehistoric and historic days.

 It is probable that few persons after reading this evidence will doubt that the mounds alluded to were built by the Cherokees. Let us therefore see to what results this leads.

In the first place it shows that a powerful and active tribe in the interior of the country, in contact with the tribes of the North on one side and with those of the South on the other, were mound-builders. It is reasonable to conclude, therefore, that they had derived this custom from their neighbors on one side or the other, or that they had, to some extent at least, introduced it among them. Beyond question it indicates that the mound-building era had not closed previous to the discovery of the continent by Europeans. [Footnote: Since the above was in type one of the assistants of the Ethnological Bureau discovered in a small mound in east Tennessee a stone with letters of the Cherokee alphabet rudely carved upon it. It was not an intensive burial, hence it is evident that the mound must have been built since 1820, or that Guess was not the author of the Cherokee alphabet.]


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