Frog.-Sculptured figure in mound pipe of Davenport collection,' and pipe taken from mound No. 8, at Naples, Ill. Toad.-Sculptured figure in mound pipes of Ohio.❜ Serpent.-Coiled around sculptured pipes from Ohio mounds. Represented in an immense earthwork, Adams County, Ohio, and in the animal mounds of Wisconsin." Rattlesnake.-Carved on Ohio pipes ; carved figure found in Ohio mound,' and figures carved on shells found in mounds of Tennessee. Lizards.-Represented in animal mounds of Wisconsin.9 Shells. Many marine species have been exhumed from the mounds. The cassis, fulgur perversus of Lamark, the oliva, marginella, and natica, and probably strombus found in mounds of Ohio.10 Splendid specimen of a fulgur perversus taken from mound No. 1, Naples, Ill. Large num bers of these have been found in mounds near the mouth of the Illinois River by the Hon. William McAdams, many of which were exhibited by him at the Boston meeting of the American Association. Shells of the common mussel were found by the writer at the base of mound No. 3, Naples, Ill. Great numbers of beads made from the species marginella, oliva, and natica have been found in the mounds." Of fluviatile species the mounds of Chio have furnished unio ellipticus, rectus, verrucosus, and ovatus, "all existing at the present time in the neighboring streams."" Bald eagle.-Sculptured pipe from mound No. 8, near Naples, Ill.13 Eagle.14 Hawk.-Sculptured pipes from mounds of Ohio.15 Owl.-Three species, viz: "Great owl, horned owl, and the little owl" are recognized in the scultpured pipes from the Ohio mounds.16 Turkey buzzard (Carthartes aura).-Sculptured pipe from mounds of Ohio.17 Wild turkey.-Bones found by the writer in mounds Nos. 6 and 7, Naples, Ill. 1 ·Proceedings Davenport Academy of Science, vol. 1, p. 118, and Plate IV, Fig. 5. 2 Squier and Davis, Ancient Monuments, p. 268, Figs. 183, 184, 185. 3 Squier and Davis, Ancient Monuments, pp. 248, 268, Figs. 143, 186. 4 * Id., p. 96, Plate XXXV. "Lapham's Antiquities of Wisconsin, pp. 37, 38. 6 Squier and Davis, Ancient Monuments, &c., p. 268. " Id., p. 276. 8 Fifth Annual Report Peabody Museum, pp. 17, 18, and Id., vol. 2, p. 89. Lapham's Antiquities of Wisconsin. 10 Squier and Davis, Ancient Monuments, p. 283; Foster's Prehistoric Races, pp. 234, 235. "Squier and Davis, Ancient Monuments, p. 233. 12 Squier and Davis, Ancient Monuments, p. 284. 13 Squier and Davis, Ancient Monuments, p. 259. 14 Squier and Davis, Ancient Monuments, p. 70. 15 Squier and Davis, Ancient Monuments, p. 259, and Fig. 165; Flint Chips, p. 428, Fig. 60. 16 Squier and Davis, Ancient Monuments, p. 259; Flint Chips, p. 427, Fig. 57. 17 Squier and Davis, p. 260, and Fig. 171; Flint Chips, p. 427, Fig. 58. Prairie hen (cupidonia cupido), Linn).-Sculptured pipe from Ohio mound.1 Also, pipe from Davenport mound, Iowa.2 Quail (Ortyx virginianus).—Sculptured mound pipe from Ohio.3 Cedar bird, (Ampelis cedrorum).-Sculptured pipes from Ohio mound." Night heron.-Sculptured pipe from Ohio mound. Wood duck (Aix sponsa).-Head sculptured upon Ohio mound pipe." Prof. C. W. Butler, comparative anatomist, Champaign, Ill., very kindly identified for me the bones found in the Naples mounds. From the foregoing list it may easily be surmised that all the animals found in the Valley of the Mississippi upon the advent of the white race were familiar to the builders of mounds, also possibly some whose habitat was far distant, such as the mastodon and walrus of the north or the manatee, the toucan and tropical shells of the south. From the "finds" in the Naples mounds we can plainly see that considerable commerce was carried on by their builders, as we here find a shell from the coast of Florida, obsidian from Mexico, lead ore from Wisconsin, copper from Lake Superior, and mica from the Alleghanies. It was once contended that the great age of the mounds was shown by the fact that they had never been found upon the latest or lowest river terraces. This statement has been disproved, however, as in more than one instance in the west they have been found upon the lowest terrace. The largest mound explored at Naples is in the low-lands upon the very brink of the river. Man naturally selects elevated positions for burial sites. Mounds of observation would be built upon the highest points, while other mounds, whether for houses, temples, or for whatever purpose they might be built, would as a rule be placed beyond the reach of overflows. These suggestions sufficiently account for the usual ab. sence of these ancient works upon the low-lands along the rivers. This locality is also rich in finely-worked stone implements. None, however, have come from the mounds, but some of the finest articles of chert were found a few feet below the surface at the foot of the bluff upon which the eagle-pipe mound is situated. Below this about 1 Flint Chips, p. 425; Fig. 51. 4 Proceedings, Davenport Academy of Science, vol. 1, Plate IV, No. 14. Flint chips, p. 425, Fig. 50. Squier and Davis, Ancient Monuments, pp. 260, 266, Figs. 169, 178; Flint Chips, p. 426, Figs 53, 56. ❝ Squier and Davis, Ancient Monuments, p. 265, and Fig. 172. 6 Squier and Davis, Ancient Monuments, p. 265, and Figs. 173, 174; Flint Chips, p. 424, Fig. 48. 47. 7 Squier and Davis, Ancient Monuments, p. 260, and Fig. 167; Flint chips, p. 424, Fig. 8 Squier and Davis, Ancient Monuments, p. 259, Fig. 164; Flint Chips, p. 425, Fig. 52. 9 Squier and Davis, Ancient Monuments, p. 260 and Fig. 168. two miles was the ancient quarry from which the chert was taken to manufacture knives, arrow-heads, and spear-heads. At the base of the Burlington limestone bluff are found hundreds of fragments of chert implements, broken and cast away by the workmen, amidst thousands of chips. The material was obtained from the nodules in the limestone and worked on the spot, but whether by the ancient mound folk or the more modern Indian there is nothing to indicate. In an old book called the Navigator, the writer, Patrick Kennedy, who passed up the Illinois River in the year 1773, says "The Peories wintering-ground is 48 miles from the Mississippi. Pierre Island is some distance above, near which, from a hill on the western side, the Indians procure a flèche or arrow-stone, with which they make their gun flints and point their arrows." On an old map, furnished to Governor Edwards in 1812 by John Hoy, a Frenchman, is found a creek marked Pierre à la Flèche. In a letter to the Secretary of War, May, 1812, Governor Edwards called this creek the Arrowstone. It is now known as Flint Creek. The French no doubt derived the name from the Indians, and that Pierre à la Flèche was a translation of the equivalent Algonkin. With these facts as a starting-point, the writer found the "workshop," which probably had been the scene of busy labor for centuries. Upon the banks of the river at Naples are the burying-grounds of the modern Indian, in which have been found many stone implements intermingled with civilized manufactures, such as beads, knives, crosses of silver, and other articles indicating traffic with the French during, probably, the latter part of the seventeenth and the first half of the eighteenth centuries. Some of these articles are shown in Fig. 28. The above are all in the private collection of Richard H. Keener, esq., of Naples, Ill., who first gave the writer information relative to the former exploration of mounds in the vicinity. The pottery exhumed from this ancient cemetery shows that it was the common burial-place of the race that built at least a part of the mounds, while the above and similar articles of French manufacture show that the same place was used as a burial site by the modern Indian. The same reason that prompted these ancient races to select this locality as the resting-place of the dead caused our own people to locate their cemetery within a few hundred yards of the ancient one and upon the same ridge, just as the modern city occupies the ancient village site, and the highways of travel follow the ancient trails, the bones of races, separated by thousands of years, in time mingle together and molder into common dust! O FIG. 29. Pictographs on slab from rock-shelters near Naples, Ill. Though not immediately connected with this subject, yet possibly the work of the same race who built the Naples mounds, attention is called to foot-prints and other marks on a limestone slab found in a rock-shelter on the east side of the Illinois River, about 10 miles below Eagle-pipe mound. This slab originally formed a projecting shelf in the rock-shelter, but is now broken off and stands on its edge at the opening of the shelter.* From the preceding cut, Fig. 29, it will be seen that there is a remarkable similarity between the tracks and other markings upon this rock and those of the Barnesville and Newark "track-rocks" of Ohio, as figured in the Ohio Centennial Report, pp. 91, 92, 93, 95, and pp. 58 and 59 of the Journal of the Anthropological Institute of New York. Mr. J. H. Salisburyt maintains, "that the ancient bird-track character belonged to the mound-builders is evident from the fact that it is found among their works constructed of soil on a large scale. One of these bird-track mounds occurs in the center of the large circular inclosure near Newark, Ohio, now standing in the Licking County Fair Grounds." On the lowlands, half a mile south of this rock-shelter, are sixteen mounds, in a straight line, running a little east of north, and directly toward the rock-shelter. These mounds are all about 23 feet high and about 25 feet in diameter. Nothing has been found in them. Those toward the south are composed largely of slabs of Burlington limestone obtained from the neighboring bluff, while those toward the north are composed wholly of earth. Another similar row of mounds is found in Scott County. In conclusion, I will add, the dividing line between the moundbuilders and the modern Indian-that is, the Indians of the Mississippi Valley of two hundred years ago, and especially those inhabiting the lower part of that great valley, is not so distinct as is generally supposed. It is almost the universal opinion of those who have made the subject a study that the mound-builders were not the ancestors of the red Indian, but, on the contrary, were a distinct race, much further advanced in civilization, and that by choice or pressure of barbarous tribes from the north they abandoned their homes, or that they were exterminated by war, famine, disease, or domestic dissensions. Fully imbued with this idea, the writer began the study of the relics of this nameless race, but in the end has been compelled to abandon this received opinion and to conclude that the mound-builders were the ancestors of the southern tribes. There is no distinctive feature, whether physical or anatomical, whether in art or custom, that would stand the test of criticism as peculiar to that ancient race. If the comparison is made between the earthworks, implements, copper ornaments, pottery, and other relics of the mound-builders and the works and character of the modern Indian, with a straw hat on his head, a Mackinaw blanket and calico shirt about his shoulders, skinning animals with a steel knife of yankee manufacture, cooking his food in an iron pot from the same source, and all the manhood that was ever in him crushed out by firewater and contact with the worst elements of civilization and fear of a dominant race, then, indeed, the line is distinct and well marked; but if instead of the modern Indian we substitute the red man, who lived *A plaster cast of this track-rock was presented to the Smithsonian Museum in 1878. + Centennial Report, p. 96. |