ancient north american antiquities and artifacts

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Ancient American Antiquities And ArtifactsCompiled By Glen W. Chapman- Jan 2005

Davenport Artifacts

(From Robert Silverberg,Mound Builders of Ancient America, Ohio University Press 1968, pp.

162-164 )

On January 10, 1877, near Davenport Iowa at what is called the Cook group Mound No.3 of the

Davenport mounds, Revered Jacob Gass, a Lutheran clergyman of Davenport, found in a mound

two inscribed tablets. A third inscribed tablet was found January 30, 1878 in Mound No.11 of the

Cook group.

As this story is unfamiliar and yet known in considerable detail, let us quote it at some

length.

The Reverend Mr. Gass did not become a figure of controversy until 1877. On January 10 of that

year he returned to the Davenport mounds-known as the Cook group, from the name of the

farmer on whose land they were-and opened a grave in Mound No.3, a structure about three feet

high and 60 feet in diameter. Gass was assisted by two students; five other citizens of Davenport

were present as curious bystanders. On the surface of the grave, which was six feet wide andabout ten feet long, were modern relics-glass beads and fragments of a brass ring-atop a layer of

shells twelve or fifteen inches thick. Beneath this was a stratum of loose black soil or vegetable

mold, eighteen or twenty inches thick, with fragments of human bones in it. At the bottom, five

and a half feet below the surface of the mound, they came upon two inscribed tablets lying close

together on a hard clay floor and encircled by a single rows of smaller stones. The tablets

themselves were covered with clay, and the inscriptions were not apparent until the clay was

scraped off.

The larger tablet, twelve inches long and from eight to ten inches wide, was made of dark

slate. It contained a pictorial scene on each side. One face showed a cremation scene: a fire

burning on the summit of a mound, an number of bodies lying about it, with a group of supposed

Mound Builders gathered in a ring around the mound. Above this picture was an arch formed by

three crescent lines, representing the horizon, and in and above the crescent were hieroglyphicsand letters. Roman and Arabic figures were included-the figure 8 was repeated three times, the

letter 0 seven times, and F and N were also to be seen; other letters resembled Phoenician or

Hebrew characters. The reverse face depicted a hunting scene. A large tree occupied the

foreground, with animals and human beings arranged about it. The animals included bison, deer,

Davenport Stone

Trilingual Text, Egyptian,

Libyan, and Paleo-Hebrew

Back of Davenport Stone-

Hunting Scene

Ref.

Ancient

American

Vol. 4 No

28, 1999


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hares, birds, goats, fish, and three that could be construed variously as moose, tapirs, or mast-

odons. Of the eight human figures, one was wearing a hat with a brim.

The smaller tablet, seven inches square with holes bored in two corners, became known

as "the calendar stone." It contained twelve signs within three concentric circles. The signs were

interpreted as the houses of the zodiac; the concentric circles were extraordinarily regular; one

with a diameter of exactly two inches, the next three and a half, the next five inches.

A third inscribed tablet was unearthed on January 30, 1878 in Mound No.11 of the Cook group.

Once again the Reverend Mr. Gass was present though the actual discoverer was Charles

Harrison, the president of the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences. In the mound was a pit

containing a stone pile, two and a half feet by three feet, which the Davenport party considered an

altar. Below the altar was a stone slab fourteen inches square, and beneath the slab was a stone

vault, five inches deep and about thirteen inches by nine inches in length and breadth. Inside the

vault lay a small quartz crystal, a shell, four arrow points, and a limestone tablet one and a half

inches thick. Engraved on the tablet were a crescent to signify the moon, a circle supposedly

`

representing the sun, and a human figure astride it, colored bright red and, of course, thought to

represent a sun-god. A figure 8 and other characters were inscribed on the tablet, along with theoutlines of a bird, an animal and an ax, all quite crudely drawn.

The next Davenport discovery excited even more comment. In March 1880, an elephant

effigy pipe turned up in a mound on the farm of P. Hass in Louisa County, Iowa. The excavator

was another Lutheran minister; the Reverend Ad Blumen of a neighboring city; he was assisted

by the indefatigable Mr. Gass of Davenport. The mound was one of a group of ten; it was a flat

cone, thirty feet in diameter, three feet in height. Near the surface was an eighteen-inch-thick

layer of hard clay; below this was a foot-deep layer of burned red clay, hard as brick; under this

was a bed of ashes, thirteen inches deep. In these ashes Mr. Gass found a small -copper ax, and

Mr. Blumer found the elephant pipe-or; at least, a pipe on which was mounted the effigy of a

cumbersome-looking animal with a long snout. No tusks were visible; the eyes, ears, mouth, tail,

legs, and feet were modeled in a lifelike, naturalistic way. At the "earnest solicitation" of Mr.

Gass, the Reverend Mr. Blumer presented the elephant pipe to the Davenport Academy of NaturalSciences.

Very shortly the Academy came into possession of another such pipe, which had, in fact,

been discovered prior to the other. As W H. F Pratt, then the president of the Academy, reported

in The American Naturalist for April, 1882, "The first elephant pipe, which we obtained a little

more than a year ago, was found some six years before by an illiterate German farmer named

Peter Mare, while planting corn on a farm in the mound region, Louisa County, Iowa. He did not

care

The elephant shown on this pipe was similar to the other; but much more massive of body,

with a pronounced trunk curled back almost to its fore- legs.

The considered opinion of most scientists as of 1880 was that the mammoth and

mastodon had vanished from the Americas thousands of years before. The occasional poorly

documented discoveries of human artifacts in association with the bones of these extinctelephants had proved, at best, that the most primitive inhabitants of the New World had hunted

them. But on the evidence of the Davenport pipes the Davenport mastodon tablet, it now seemed

clear that Mound Builders had been contemporaries of those beasts. By logical extension, the gap

between the Mound Builders and the American Indians appeared huge. The great debate that had

continued for most of the century had been resolved to the satisfaction of the majority. The

existence of the Mound Builders as a distinct, ancient, and vanished race had been established,

and the voices of those who ascribe the mound to the ancestors of recent Indian tribesman were

drowned out.


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Elephant Pipe

Batcreek Stone Hebrew

Inscription found in an

ancient grave near Batcreek

Tennessee by Smithsonian

Inst. 1885; Written in Paleo-

Hebrew. Traslation:

" Sure;y, I pray you Yah,

Have Pity"

Ref. Discovery of Ancient

America, by, David Allen

Deal, 1984.

Ancient Inscription of 10

Commandments in Paleo-

Hebrew carved on a largestone on Hidden Mountain in

New Mexico. Other Paleo -

Hebrew Inscriptions are

found on top of the top of the

Mountain. (Ref. Discovery of

Ancient America, by, David

Allen Deal, 1984.)


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Eye-in-hand, Old World symbol, Jerusalem,

Israel

Eye-in- hand, pre-Columbian, circular sandstone

disk Moundville, Alabama

Stone Tablet from Burrows Cave Showing

Ancient Ship Ref. Ancient Artifacts Burrow's

Cave CD #1.

Another Stone Tablet from Burrows Cave in

Illinois Showing Ancient Mauritanian Warship

Ref. Ancient American Vol. 4, No. 30 , p. 4

Dec.99

Jewish Prayer Stone

f(Ref. Ancient

American Vol4, No.

30 , p. 4 Dec.99 from

Burrows CaveGold Coins from Burrows Cave-Note Elephants and

Horses(Ref. Ancient American Vol4, No. 30 , p. 4

Dec.99)


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GIANT SKELETON IN PENNSYLVANIA MOUND

Anonymous;American Antiquarian, 7:52,1885.

"A large Indian mound near the town of Gastersville, Pa., has recently been opened and examinedby a committee of scientists sent out from the Smithsonian Institute. At some depth from thesurface a kind of vault was found in which was discovered the skeleton of a giant measuringseven feet two inches. his hair was coarse and jet black, and hung to the waist, the brow beingornamented with a copper crown. The skeleton was remarkably well preserved. Near it were alsofound the bodies of several children of various sizes, the remains being covered with beads madeof bone of some kind. Upon removing these, the bodies were seen to be enclosed in a net-work ofstraw or reeds, and beneath this was a covering of the skin of some animal. On the stones whichcovered the vault were carved inscriptions, and these when deciphered, will doubtless lift the veil

that now shrouds the history of the race of people that at one time inhabited this part of theAmerican continent. The relics have been carefully packed and forwarded to the SmithsonianInstitute, and they are said to be the most interesting collection ever found in the United States."

FromDocumentary History of New York IV, 4 by Christopher Morgan

"Almost within a stone's throw of Lake Ontario the remains of a formidable fort were found

on an eminence. This was long before the plows of the white men had disturbed the numerous

fortifications. In Frontenac's report to the king of France, he paused to describe this fortified hill,

where the trenches ten feet wide, were still plainly visible. TheFrench pathfinder was amazedat

Ancient Vase Found Near Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers Pa..


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the engineering skill that had planned this fort. The iron implements that were found convinced

him that a superior race had erected these defenses. -By whom were these forts wrought? Not by the natives, surely. If the natives ever had the

art of working iron, it is not probable that they would lose an art so useful. Further, no native

Indian tribe could build such regular and well-planned works for self defense. Again, this fort at

Sandy Creek which is cut out of rock could not have been the work of native tribes. It is far

too stupendous for untaught savages to effect; and it is very doubtful if it could have been donewithout the use of powder.

Judging from the position of these forts, generally in close proximity to water, and other

circumstances not less conclusive, imply a defensive origin. The unequivocal traces of long

occupancy found within many of them, would further imply that they were fortified towns and

villages permanently occupied. In respect to date, nothing positive can be affirmed. Many of them

are now covered with heavy forests. I have seen trees from two to four feet in diameter standing

upon the embankments and in the trenches, which would indicate that the date of their origin

would be some centuries ago."

FromAntiquities of New York by E. G. Squire p. 89 1851

"Human bones have been discovered beneath accumulated debris; and in nearly every

part of the trench skeletons of adults of both sexes, of children and infants, have been found. Theyseem to have been thrown together promiscuously. They have also been found in narrow

depressions resembling artificial trenches...

This county possessed a very heavy aboriginal population, probably greater than any equal

extent north of Mexico. Fragments of pottery, pipes, flint arrowheads, stone hatchets, etc., are in

great abundance. In many places both within and exterior to the ruins, were found pits for hiding

corn and other articles in cache...

An examination of this mound was made by excavation. Great numbers of bones were

found; and beneath them, at a greater depth, others were found which have been burned. No

conjecture could be formed as the number of bodies deposited here. The skeletons were lying

without order, and so much decayed as to crumble to dust at the touch. At one point in the mound

a large number, perhaps a thousand, arrow-heads were discovered, collected in a heap. They

were made in the usual form, and of yellow or black flint.The bone pits, which occur in Western New York, are of various sizes, but usually

contain a large number of skeletons; in some cases the bones appear to have been deposited with

some degree of regularity. One of these pits, discovered and opened up in Niagara County, was

estimated to have contained several thousand individuals. Another place I visited were found

mounds containing human skeletons of individuals of all ages and both sexes. Not less than four

hundred were found in one place.

We have the conclusive evidence that these mounds served as tombs, and abound in human

bones. It has often been said that some of the mounds are full of bones that have been perforated,

as though the living subjects were killed in battle;, and that the skeletons were heaped together in

promiscuous confusion, as if buried after a conflict, without order or arrangement. In some cases

arrow points are still sticking in the bones."

FromPioneer History of the Holland Purchase of Western New York by O. Turner

"Previous to the occupancy of this region by the progenitors of the present race of Indians, it was

inhabited by a race of men much more populous and more advanced in civilization. Who theywere, whence they came, and whither they went, have been themes of speculation by learned

antiquarians, who have failed to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion. There are vast and ancient

ruins at Pompey, Onondaga, Manlius, Camillus, Scipio, several between Seneca and Cayuga

Lakes, three near Canandaigue, many along Ridge Road between Rochester and Buffalo, in


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fact scattered everywhere, all of which surpass the skill and engineering ability of the Indians.

The antiquity is unquestioned, trees, even the last of many growths, all indicate that the

fortifications are many hundreds of years old.

A great part of America, long before the coming of Columbus, was inhabited by populous

nations who had made great advances in civilization. These numerous works could never have

been supplied with provisions without agriculture. Nor could they have been constructed

without the use of iron or copper, and without perseverance, labor and design whichdemonstrate considerable progress in the arts of civilized life...

On the south side of the great ridge (the ridge road) in its vicinity, and in all directions

through the country, the remains of numerous forts are to be seen; but on the north side, that is the

side toward the lake, not a single one has been discovered, although the whole ground has been

carefully explored. Considering the distance to be, say seventy miles in length and eight in

breadth and that the border of the lakes is the very place that would be selected for a habitation,

and consequently for works of defense, on account of the facilities it would afford for

subsistence, for safety, and all domestic accommodations, and military purposes, and that on the

south shore of Lake Erie these ancient fortresses exist in great numbers. There can be no doubt

that these works were erected when this ridge was the southern boundary of Lake Ontario, and

consequently, that their origin must be sought in a very remote age.

These forts were, generally speaking,- erected on the most commanding ground. Thewalls or breastworks were earthen. The ditches were on the exterior of works. On some of the

parapets, oak trees were to be seen, which, from the number of concentric circles must have been

standing 150, 260, and 300 years; and there were evident indications, not only that they had

sprung up since the creation of those works, but that they were at least a second growth. The

trenches were in some cases deep and wide, and in others shallow and narrow; and the

breastworks varied in altitude from three to eight feet. They sometimes had one, and sometimes

had two entrances, as was to be inferred from there being no ditch at those places. When the

works were protected by a deep ravine or a large stream of water no ditch was to be seen. The

areas of these large forts varied from two to six acres; and the form was generally an irregular

ellipsis; and in some of them fragments of earthenware and pulverized substances, supposed to

have been originally human bones, were to be found.

These fortifications, thus diffused over the interior of our country, have been generallyconsidered as surpassing the skill, patience, and industry of the Indian race, and various

hypotheses have been advanced to prove them of European origin.

We are surrounded by evidence a race preceded the present Indians, farther advanced in

civilization and the arts, and far more numerous. Here and there upon the brow of hills, at the

head of ravines, are their fortifications, their location selected with Skill and adapted to refuge,

subsistence and defense. Uprooted trees of the forest that are the growth of many centuries,

expose their moulding remains, the uncovered mounds with masses of their skeletons

promiscuously heaped one on top of the other, as if they were gathered and hurriedly entombed

dead of well contested battlefields. In our villages, upon our hillsides, the plow and the spade

discover their rude implements adapted to war, the chase and domestic use. All these

unintelligible witnesses, bringing but unsatisfactory knowledge of races that have preceded us.

Although not confined to this region, there is perhaps no portion of the United States whereancient relics are more numerous. Commencing near Oswego River, they extend westwardly

over all the western counties of the state. We clear away our forests and speak familiarly of

subduing the "Virgin soil," and yet the plow upturns the skulls of those whose history is lost.

Then as now the western portion of New York state had attractions and inducements to make it a

favorite residence, or this ancient people, assailed from the north and east, made this their refuge

in a war of extermination, fortified the commanding eminence's, met the shock of a final issue,

were subject to its adverse results. The forest invited the chase, the rivers and lakes, local

commerce and fishing, and the fertile soil for agriculture. The evidence that this was one, at least


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of their final battlefields, predominate. They are the fortifications, entrenchment's andwarlike instruments of an extinct race. That here was war of extermination, we may

well conclude, from masses of human skeletons we find indiscriminately thrown

together, indicating a common and simultaneous sepulture from which age, infancy, sexand no condition, was exempt."

IRON AXE IN A MOUND

Duer, G. U.;American Antiquarian 11:188, 1889.

"You also give some accounts of implements found in mounds which causes me to inquirewhether anything similar to what I recently added to my cabinet of archaeological relics has beenfound in other cases and by what tribe or race was it used. It is an Iron tomahawk, very fine andperfect; the axe part being similar to the blade of an axe used for hewing logs, and is eight incheswide by seven Inches in length, tapering to where the handle is inserted (which is similar to anyordinary axe), and the other part is eight inches long by two inches wide, in the shape of a halfmoon, only the point Is blunt. It weighs four pounds, and was taken out of a mound in WayneCounty, Ohio, last summer. A number of stone implements, pottery, and a copper breast-plate.

Ancient Bronze Artifact Collection From Ohio and Wisconsin

Copper Worked

Artifacts From

Michigan Collection

of Claud HamiltonGrand Rapids Mich.


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were also found. I am of the opinion it was used by some warrior or leader of a tribe as a battleaxe; but by whom, I can not tell, and would like to hear from some of your readers."

MOUNDBUILDER IN COPPER ARMOR

Anonymous; Nature, 45:157, December 17, 1891.

"According to the "World's Fair Notes," sent to us from Chicago, the party which, under thedirection of Mr. Putnam, has been making excavations In the mounds of Ohio, made animportant discovery on November 14. While at work on a mound 500 feet long, 200 feet wide,and 28 feet high, the excavators found near the centre of the mound, at a depth of 14 feet, themassive skeleton of aman incased In copper armor. The head was covered by an oval-shaped copper cap; the jawshad copper mouldings; the arms were dressed in copper, whilecopper plates covered the chest and stomach, and on each side of the head, onprotruding sticks, were wooden antlers ornamented with copper. The mouth was stuffed withgenuine pearls of immense size, but much decayed. Around the neck was a necklace of bears'teeth, set with pearls. At the side of this skeleton was a female skeleton."

Copper Mound-builder Ax Head Found in Burrows Cave

Ref. Ancient Artifacts Burrow's Cave CD #1.

Another Copper Mound-builder Ax Head Found in Burrows

Cave

Ref. Ancient Artifacts Burrow's Cave CD #2.

Copper Arrowheads from Burrows Cave

Ref Ancient Artifacts Burrriows Cave

CD2


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Ref Ancient American Vol. 9 Number 60


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