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ANTIQUITIES OF BLOUNT COUNTY, TENNESSEE.

BY MISS ANNIE E. LAW, OF HOLLISTER, CAL.

The relics sent were all found in the vicinity of a large mound in Chilhowee Valley, on the banks of the Little Tennessee River, Blount County, Tennessee, except the beads and axes, which were found on Tellico River, Monroe County, Tennessee. The mound in Chilhowee Valley was partially washed away during a high tide. It contained seventeen skeletons buried in a sitting posture, surrounded by stone slabs. The mound was some twenty-five feet in diameter, and the graves were in three tiers. With each had been buried water-jugs of crumbling pottery, beads, and stone implements. These had been carried off by relic-hunters before I was there. Those I got were plowed up afterward from sand-beds in the bottom-lands, where the strong current had carried them..

ANTIQUITIES OF ORLEANS COUNTY, NEWYORK.

BY FRANK H. CUSHING, OF MEDINA, N. Y.

In the town of Shelby, Orleans County, New York, about three miles southwest from the village of Medina, are the remains of one of the most interesting ancient earthworks in the State.* This work is situated at the summit of a slight and not abrupt elevation. It consists of two mural embankments, which are now about two feet in height parallel, and twelve feet distant from each other. They describe almost an exact circle, having a diameter of four hundred and thirty feet and an area of three and one-third acres. Two fences upon original "sectionlines," running, one north and south, the other east and west, divide this inclosure into four nearly equal parts or quadrants. Those portions of the work included in the northeastern and south western quadrants have for many years been under cultivation, and the embankments are nearly obliterated. The northwestern and southeastern portions are still covered with forest-trees. In these portions the walls are interrupted only by two sally-ports or openings for passage. These openings occur at nearly opposite points in the circle. The passage through the outer wall is not in either exactly opposite to that through the inner. In one they are sixteen and in the other thirty feet apart. To avoid two large bowlders of Niagara limestone, the inner wall at one point makes a slight deflection from its regular circular course.

Upon these embankments are standing trees and the stumps of trees that had commenced their growth long before the Jesuit fathers had ex

* This work has previously been described in Squier's Aboriginal Monuments of New York, Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. II, 1851.

plored the region now comprising Western New York. Traces of a moat which once encircled this work are still discernible at intervals. This moat is broad in proportion to its present depth, and in this respect is not regular. It was probably made by the removal of earth for the construction of the walls, and perhaps it was not intended as an additional defense, though it must to some extent have served as such.

Three features presented by this work add much to its interest: first, it is almost exactly circular in form; secondly, it consists of two parallel embankments; thirdly, the openings for passage are not opposite in the two walls. These three peculiarities distinguish this from all other earthworks known east of Ohio.

Ten rods south of this work lies a peat-swamp, two miles in length by one in breadth. This swamp is or has been covered by a heavy growth of black-ash timber. A vertical section of seven feet in this swamp shows first the remains of trees to the depth of two feet, next below the remains of marsh-plants, gradually becoming peat, which, as the depth increases, changes in character and color from dark brown to light blue. At all depths in this peat are to be seen the remains of leaves evidently brought by the winds from the forests of the surrounding higher land. Underlying this peat is a stratum from three to five inches in thickness, composed entirely of fresh-water shells, mostly univalves; some of which are apparently species of Pauludina. Beneath this stratum there occurs another, composed of blue clay, intermixed with sand, containing occasionally the remains of shells, among which have been found specimens of the fresh-water clam, (Unio.)

These facts lead to the conclusion that this peat-swamp was probably a shallow lake at the time when the works were constructed. This conclusion is also strengthened by the fact that there is no evidence of the existence of a permanent supply of water elsewhere within a mile of the work.

It is proper to state that the supply of fish in this ancient lake was abundant; replenished during the time of high water in the spring of each year from Lake Ontario, thirteen miles distant, through Oak Orchard Creek, into which its outlet flows.

West from the work, at a distance of half a mile on the eastern slope of a sand-hill, is a large "bone-pit," where the bones of many hundreds have been deposited. It is said by "old settlers" that those portions of the work now included in the cultivated fields spoken of, originally presented the same features now seen in those which the forest includes.

Of course exaggerated stories are told of the relics which have been plowed up in these fields. Without doubt many which would be of great interest to an ethnologist have been found, kept for a while, and then given to the children as playthings by those who knew nothing of their value as relics.

On making excavations in those portions still uncultivated, many specimens of great interest are found. They usually lie from six to

eighteen inches beneath the surface, often imbedded in charcoal and ashes. They consist of hammers, sinkers, celts, stone ornaments, pipes, pottery; also implements and ornaments of bone, such as bone splinters, awls, and needles, daggers or dirks, cylindrical ear ornaments, implements for the ornamentation of pottery, perforated metatarsals, and perforated teeth. These bone implements are found in all stages. of manufacture, from the rude splinter to the ground and polished implement or ornament.

What was the original height of these works can now only be a matter of conjecture. It is probable, however, that the embankments were from four to five feet in height and surmounted by palisades. Vegetable mold to the depth of six inches has accumulated upon those points most elevated and exposed to atmospheric action; beneath this stratum the relics occur to the depth of eighteen inches. The inference, therefore, is that since the work was abandoned time enough has elapsed for the accumulation of this six inches of vegetable matter by the slow process of growth and deposit on dry land. It was inhabited or used long enough for twelve inches to accumulate. It was probably abandoned when the lake was so nearly filled that it ceased to afford either fish or a permanent supply of water. Since the time when timber commenced to grow at the surface of the lake, two feet of vegetable matter have accumulated.

ANTIQUITIES OF LA PORTE COUNTY, INDIANA.

BY R. S. ROBERTSON, OF FORT WAYNE, INDIANA.

At Union Mills, La Porte County, is located one of the most remarkable groups of mounds to be found in Northern Indiana.

Union Mills is a small village, with a beautiful location on the high table-lands between the great Kankakee Marsh and Lake Michigan, most of the village being on the east side of Mill Creek, which furnishes a fine water-power for the mill from which its name is derived, and which flows southwardly through a ravine some 40 or 50 feet below the nearly level plain on which most of the mounds are situated. To the southwest another ravine terminates this table-land, beyond which are a series of ridges and levels gradually merging into the Kankakee Marsh, which is here, however, generally drained and cultivated. Along the brink of this ravine, ten (or rather five double) mounds have been raised, of nearly uniform construction, and all evidently for places of sepulture. Where the mounds are double, as all of this series are, the larger one is now about 10 feet in height, and its companion about one-third lower. The longitudinal diameter of the two is about 150 feet by from 60 to 70 feet across, and they are from 50 to 100 feet apart. The small mound at each end of this series is thrown back nearly at right angles with the general

line, as if there were an intention on the part of the builders to make these terminal points for the group.

The first or northernmost large mound was almost entirely cut away some time ago in constructing the Peninsular Railway, which runs directly through it; and the third large one was nearly half cut away by the wagon-road, whose track here runs below the base of the mound. The next has been partially leveled and a farm-house built on its truncated base. There are no depressions in the surrounding surface, showing that the materials, which in some are sand and others surfaceloam, have been brought to the place from some other point.

Proceeding eastward to the bank of the creek, we find another mound, (No. 6,) which has been leveled to a terrace-form about 4 feet high, on which Mr. Flanigan's house stands; and directly north, across an arm of the ravine, was another, (No. 7,) whose site is occupied by the house of Allen Cummings. Across the creek, nearly east of this, is a very large round tumulus, (No. 8,) which is about 15 feet high, with a base of about 100 feet. One hundred feet north of this is another double mound, (No. 9;) the smaller one of the group is in the yard of a church, and the larger one just in rear of it.

I could find no traces of fortifications, and there are no other mounds in the immediate vicinity, but I was informed that a large group exists on a rolling prairie about two miles east, of which a very large one was leveled several years ago. This is, perhaps, the same group examined by Dr. Higday, of La Porte, some years since.

My informant also states that about a mile south of Union Mills is a burial-place of the modern Indians, still known as "Indian Fields," from which bones, medals, kettles, guns, &c., have been obtained, while a half mile farther south, on a prairie overlooking the Kankakee, is another group of seven or eight mounds. These different burial-places would, undoubtedly, prove of interest to the ethnologist, for a comparison of the remains of the two races who practiced such different modes of burial.

The greatest interest in these prehistoric remains centers in the fact that the crania of the mound-builder, as found in these tumuli, differ widely from those of any known race, approaching the Neanderthal skull in type, and being, perhaps, lower in development. The frontal bone recedes backward from a prominent superciliary ridge, leaving no forehead, or rather the eye looks out from under the edge of a frontal plate, which reminds me of a turtle-shell and is scarcely more elevated. My specimen is lower than the Stimpson-mound skull, and even than the Neanderthal, if we can judge correctly between the actual and the pictured skull. None have yet been found here with the skull or bones entire.

In my examination of the group I concluded that the road cut through No. 3 had passed a little south of the center of the mound, and selecting the sloping bank of the roadway as the easiest point to excavate with favorable results, I was rewarded, after a few minutes' work with pick

and shovel, by finding several flakes of a white flinty stone, and then some fragments of bone, after which the hands were the principal tools used to complete the work, lest I might injure the decomposing remains. The skeletons of two individuals were found, all in a confused heap, occupying a space less than two feet square, except that the leg-bones were extended in different directions, perhaps a foot farther, each way. The skulls had evidently fallen down upon the other bones of the skeleton, and all had been crushed together by the falling earth. They had evidently been buried in a sitting posture, back to back. While exhuming them I concluded there were but two persons, but on a more critical examination I find some fragments of a lower jaw, which lead me to think there may have been three.

Most of the bones had become as soft as the surrounding earth, and while I could see and follow their outlines it was impossible to remove them, except in fragments. One upper jaw was perfectly outlined in the earth, with the full row of teeth upward, but it crumbled to powder on attempting to remove it. The skulls were crushed and the lower fragments were in the same state of comparative decomposition. I secured the right half of the frontal plate of one and the lower jaw nearly entire. The teeth were worn flat, indicating great age and hard food. The molars and five incisors were perfect, but both canines and one incisor had been lost and the bone had grown over and closed the cavities. I regret that these teeth have nearly disappeared in drying, falling to pieces like slaked lime.

I also secured a fragment of the right frontal bone of another individual, which I conclude to be that of a female, from its difference in form, and from the fact that the teeth in the fragments of the jaw found with it indicate mature age. The teeth are perfect and beautifully white when washed.

Neither pottery nor weapons were found in this mound, but in the one through which the railroad was cut were found a stone pipe of beautiful workmanship, two awls of native copper, a large earthen jar containing a black substance, and an earthen bowl, which are described as having handsome designs on the surface, but which were broken and lost, and ten spear and arrow heads, five of which I secured and have represented. They are of a white flinty stone, with a delicate chipping, and are quite thin. The form is different from any of the hundred or more specimens in my cabinet, which are mostly "surface-flints.”

Since I was there I learn that there have been exhumed from the small mound on the railroad bank, (No. 1,) a copper hatchet, which, from the description, I conclude to be similar in form to the European bronze "celt," two more copper awls, or needles, and two jars of pottery, both broken. I have made arrangements to secure them. These remains, as near as I could determine, are found on or immediately below the original surface. The earth in the mounds is as hard and compact as

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