(1874) relics of the mound builders (lost civizations)

8/9/2019 (1874) Relics of the Mound Builders (Lost Civizations)

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HISTORICAL SOCIETY,CLEVELAND, OHIO.

No. Twenty-Three-October, 1874.

RELICS OF THE MOUND BUILDERS,BY C. C. BALDWIN, SECRETARY.

In July, 1874, the Secretary of the West-ern Reserve and Northern Ohio HistoricalSociety brought with him from Memphis,Tennessee, a very valuable addition to thecollection of relics now in the Society's mu-seum belonging to that mysterious race, theMound Builders.They are the generous gift of Colonel L.

J. Durre, editor of the Memphis Appef, agentleman whose contributions in print andin manuscript concerning the first knowninhabitants of our country are of absorbinginterest.With one exception the mounds from whichthese articles were taken are located on Mis... issippi River, about sixty miles below Memphis.Among them is a skull in good preserva-tion, showing ui its base the marks of press-ure against a boaru or other hard substance,

producing a flat depression The skull issaid to have been taken from the bottom ofa mound about forty or fifty miles be owMemphis.Among the contents of the mounds of thisvicinity was a black baked basin, shapedmuch like a tin wash-basin, which containeda skull lying within it face upward. Thematerial of the basin is similar to that of theblack vessels hereinafter described, and theskud (now in Memphis) is in a stale of pre-servation similar to that donaled to the soci-ety. Both skulls are of uncommon thick-ness and strength.The donation contains numerous speci-mens of pottery. Some cf them are ofbrown clay baked and retaining its color,some of them are black throughout as it'made of river mud. They are all m'\


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GAME OF CHUNGKE.of brown, hard baked clay, color stained byfire, and of close texture.No 5 was found with the skull alreadymentioned, and is a black vast- >ix inches indiameter four and one half high, with amouth two and three fourths inches across.The outline of this vase is quite sli.irp andgraceful, showing good taste and skill. Thematerial is hard. This and No. 4 both lookas if they might have been used in cooking,although differing much in form, color andmaterial.No. 6 is four and a half inches in diameter,by four high and two across the mouth. It

is of rough pottery and very nearly whole.No. 7 is a rare bit of pottery, black in ma-jterial and color, well baked, pear shaped,'

with a round unprojecting mouth near the 'top. This vase is not whole. It shows that Iit was much thicker above the mouth with

ja protuberance, which perhaps had a hole ;through it for the purpose of suspending it

jto the side of the room or cabin.Among the vases found in the locality of ithis, were some with small perforated ears,

jintended for suspension, by passing a thong !through them.A view of the inside of the cabin of a Mo-jave family, found in Lieut. Ive's report up-on ihe Colorado river, well illustrates thiscustom.The diameter of this vase is four and onehalf inches, lota height remaining, sixinches, of which half an inch is above theupper side of the mouth.The officers of the society do not remem-ber to have seen figured any vessel of simi-liar shape to this, and it may be consideredalmost or quite unique.No. 8 is five and one-third inches in diam-eter, three inches high, and three and three-fourths inches across the mouth. It is shapedlike a small basin, with contracted mouth.

It has marks of fire and is of brown clay.No. 9 is four and one-third inches in diam-eter, three and one-half inches high by twoand one-ha f inches diameter across a lowmouth. It is rough baked clay, with marksof fire.No. 10 is a small basin six and one-fourthinches in diameter, narrowing at the top to fiveand one-fourth inches, two and three-fourthshigh, black in color, and the upper part or-namented with diagonal marks. This is akind of ornamentation very common in thepottery of the Mound Builders and Indians,but the only ornamentation of that kind inthe collection we are now describing.No. 11 is a very small vase, brown claycolor, a little over two inches in diameterand two high, one and one-half across theinside of the mouth.No. 12 is very much like No. 11, a little

larger, and mouth gone.

No. 13 is the ornamental handle of a scoopor dipper, with a part of the vessel attached.It is painted red. The handle represent^the head and beak of a bird, much like thoseornaments not uncommon in Peruvian andMound Builder ceramic ware. The handleis a very convenient one, the thumb restingnicely on the crest.No. 14 is a graceful vase, almost perfect,of thick but brittle ware, painted red, witha long, narrow neck looking as if it mighthave held some perfume or precious liquid.Its diameter is three inches; height tiveinches, of which two is neck; the diameter ofthe neck is one inch. This vase is the onlyone which has no pounded shells mixedwith it.None of the vessels have any feet. In-deed, vessels with feet are exceedingly un-common among relics of the mounds. Thereare, however, three hollow feet which evi-dently belonged to some vessel shaped ap-parvntly like our old-fashioned iron pots.These feet are of some size, being three andthree-fourths inches high, and two inches indiameter. The bottoms imitate the cat-likefeet and toes of some animal, joining use-fulness and an artistic imitation of some ob-ject in natural history an art in which theMound Builders excelled.

In this collection is also a skinning knifemade of polished quartz, streaked white andred; an instrument for dressing skins, ofslate colored quartz rock, also polished verysmooth. Also an implement of quartz, threeinches long and one wide, with a blunt edgeon each end.There is yet to be described a veryinteresting relic, it is a round stone ofreddish quartz, three and three quarterinches in diameter, one and one-eighthinches in thickness, nicely worked with aa depression pecked on one side for thethumb. The edge is straight from side toside of the stone, but beveled. The use ofthis stone is unmistakable. It was rolledalong the ground in one of their games,which came down to some of the Indiantribes within the time of history. It wasplayed by two players at a time, each ofwhom had a pole. One rolled the stone,which from its beveled edge must continual-ly turn toward the right. As soon as thestone started the two players threw theirpo'es and the one whose pole lay nearest tothe stone when it stopped was the victor,andhad the right to ro I the stone the next time.Such is the mode of playing described by DuPrat/ in his History of Louisiana, publishedin 1758.

Adair's book, published in 1775, describesthe game as played among the Cherokees."The warriors have another favorite gamecalled chungke. They have a square piece


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GROUNDS. 3of ground well cleaned. Only one or twoon a side play at this ancient game. Theyhave a stone about two fingers broad at theedge, and two spans round; each party has apole about eight IVet long, smooth and ta-pering at each end, the points flat." Adairthen gives the method of playing, substan-tially as above, and adds: "In this mannerthe players will keep running most part ofthe day at -half speed. under theviolent " heat of the sun stakingtheir silver ornaments, nose, finger and earrings, their breast, arm and wrist plates,and their wearing apparel. " All the Ameri-can Indians, says Adair, are much addictedto this game, which to us appears to be atask of stupid drudgery ; it seems, however,to be of early origin when their forefathersused diversions as simple as their manners.The hurling stones they use at present werefrom time immemorial, rubbeds inooth on therocks and with prodigious labor; they arekept with the strictest religious care fromone generation to another, and are exemptedfrom being buried with the dead. They be-long to the town where they are used andare carefully preserved."

If public property they would rarely beburied with the dead. They are how-oversometimes found in mounds, and Mr. C.C. Jones, in his excellent books on the An-tiquities of Georgia, rebates the finding of afine one in a mound at a depth of thirtyfeet.There are in Arkansas and perhaps inother States along the Mississippi river pre-

pared grounds, sometimes with sun-bakedbrick. These p aces are called by thoseliving in the vicinity threshing-floors.

Is itnot probable that they were chungke iyards fThe aborigines had little grain to thresh, i

all our ordinary grains being of Europeanorigin.The game seems to hav> been of generaland great interest, where says CaptainRomans, "They bet high." Here you maysee a savage come and' bring all his skinsstake them and lose them, next his pipe, hisbeads, trinkets and ornaments; at last hsblanket and other garments, and even alltheir arms and after a 1 it is not uncommonfor them to go home, borrow a gun, andshoot themselves. .

Catlin says that the Mandaus used some-times to stake their liberty upon the issue ofthis game.Adair says the Cherokees had a piece ofground carefully prepared and kept for thisgame near their council house, or as he callsit "State House."Mr. Jones says the traces left in Georgiaof such grounds show a careful preparationand are parallelograms in shape slightly ele-vated from sixty to ninety feet in length andabout half as wide.Captain Romans describes the ground as

being an alley about two hundred feet inlength where a smooth clay ground "is laidwhich when dry is very hard."May not some of the mysterious and care-fully prepared grounds of the mound build-ers within the State of Ohio, have beenpublic yards for the play.ng of this came.

It is curious that the Mandans whomCat'in foufid west of the Missour River andwhose traditions pointed to the Ohio Riverhad the same name for this game, as had theCreeks.

Col. Du Pre also presented to the societyseveral photographs, two of a skull takenfrom one of the mounds, the others represent-ing various objects of curious interest.


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14 DAY USERETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWEDLOAN DEPT.This book is due on the last date stamped below, oron the date to which renewed.Renewed books are subject to immediate recall.19655.5

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5-LD 21A-6(t/-3,'65(F2336slO)476B General LibraryUniversity of CaliforniaBerkeley


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GENERAL LIBRARY- U.C. BERKELEY

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THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY


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(1874) relics of the mound builders (lost civizations)

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