Mound (tumulus)

“ Of these silent records of a rapidly vanishing race the most important as well as the most legible are the earthen mounds which cover the bones and dust of their dead. They crown all the peaks and ridges of our bluffs, a few rising to considerable proportions, but the greater number are mere swellings of the surface not readily recognized as being of artificial origin. Every gradation of mound structure is here present, from the stately tumulus 30 feet in height to the broad, flat sepulchres so slightly elevated as to be scarcely noticed. ”

“ In the year 1831, when a mound locally known as the "Fairy Knowe," in the parish of Carmylie, Forfarshire, was levelled in the course of some agricultural improvements in the place, there was found, besides stone cists and a bronze ring, a rude boulder almost two tons in weight, on the under side of which was sculptured the mark of a human foot. The mound or tumulus was in all likelihood a moot-hill, where justice was dispensed and the chieftains of the district were elected. ”

“ They are invariably composed of rough unhewn blocks, varying in height from 2 to 11 feet, or more, above the level of the adjoining land; and in some instances they are encompassed with a low earthen mound or ditch. Their area, though often apparently unoccupied, is generally found to contain one or other of the remains already described​—​a cromlech, a tumulus or cairn, a smaller circle, a pillar-stone, cists. Human bones, cinerary urns, ashes, weapons, implements or ornaments of bone or flint, or other objects, are invariably discovered within these enclosures upon the earth being disturbed. ”

“ Such are the prevailing characteristics of this class of mounds. It will be remarked that while all have the same general features, no two are alike in their details. They differ in the number and relative position of their sand strata, as well as in the size and shape of their altars and the character of the deposits made on them. One mound covers a deposit made up almost entirely of pipes, another a deposit of spear-heads, or of galena or calcined shells or bones. ”

“ Another mound on the same farm as the one last mentioned, a cross-section of which is shown in Fig. 36, is of the common type, examples of which are found in most of the districts: diameter 52 feet and height 9 feet; the upper layer, No. 1, red clay, about 4 feet thick, No. 2, a thin layer of charcoal, about 3 inches thick; the lower stratum or central core, No. 3, dark-colored earth. In this lower layer were found five skeletons, on the natural surface and at the points indicated by the dots, which crumbled to pieces as soon as exposed to the air. ”

“ Masses of stone and vast quantities of pumice and mud were then thrown up to a great height for two days and nights, and, falling on the sides of the vent, formed a great mound, which was climbed up by adventurous persons on the third day, a quiet one. The ejections were resumed on the next day, when several persons who undertook to climb the hill were killed or injured, but ceased on the seventh or eighth day. The mass of the hill, which is four hundred and forty feet above the sea, was chiefly composed of the materials which were thrown out during the first two days and nights. ”

“ I have examined a small quantity of the dust taken from one of the shells found in the grand mound, with the microscope, and though I am not perfectly certain, yet I believe there are traces of some farinaceous substance to be seen. On skirting the shores of the Lake of the Woods into which Rainy River runs, at the present time, you are struck by the fact that there are no Canadian farmers there, and likewise that there are no mounds to be seen, while along the banks of Rainy River both the agriculturist is found cultivating the soil and the mounds abound. ”

“ The men in two parties went industriously to work on the opposite sides, working toward each other, making a tunnel about eight feet in diameter. The earth though originally soft soil had become so hard that it was necessary to use a pick axe to loosen it for the spade. A number of skeletons were found on the south side, but all I should say within ten feet from the original surface of the mound. As we penetrated the interior fewer remains were continually found. The earth gave many indications of having been burnt. At one point the pick-axe sank ten inches into the hard wall. ”

“ In regularity of size and position there is equal diversity; in some places being as complete as at Mound Prairie, while, in other places, they are of different sizes, and often separated by wide, pebble-covered spaces, as if they were but the remnants of a general erosion of the surface-soil. No one, says Prof. Le Conte, can ride over those thirty miles, and observe closely, without being convinced that these mounds are wholly the result of surface-erosion, acting under peculiar conditions. ”

“ Then and not till then surface erosion becomes an important factor and the profile of 301 the mass becomes finally rounded. But it will be readily seen that a slight difference of texture, or thickness, or exposure, or some trifling difference too minute for observation, might easily add many decades to the apparent age of a mound. The walls once fallen, however, the rounding or smoothing of the mounds would probably proceed at an equal rate throughout the group, and study of the profile gives a fairly good estimate as to the comparative age of the mounds. ”

“ The mounds, as they exist to-day, do not exhibit much uniformity, but this can be accounted for by the disintegrating action of rains and winds, to which they have been so long subject. Immediately north, south and west of the largest barrow, traces can be seen of others now all but obliterated, and the locality bears unmistakable evidences of once being the site of very extensive earthworks. In one mound or barrow only, the largest, were remains found, and they were exposed on or very near the surface of the sandy soil, in one or two large hollows near the centre. ”

“ Burial mounds are of various sizes, I presume, according to the dignity of the individual entombed. Sometimes one large mound is found to possess a skeleton, and some interesting relics, which indicate the position of the departed, while a group of smaller mounds is situated around it. ”

“ M. W. DICKESON, some new facts respecting this mound. “On digging into it, vast quantities of human skeletons were found; also numerous specimens of pottery, including vases filled with pigments, ashes, ornaments, etc. The north side of the mound is supported by a wall of sun-dried bricks, two feet thick, filled with grass, rushes, and leaves. A shaft has been sunk in the mound to the depth of forty-two feet, without reaching the original soil.” ”

“ Burial mounds are called "cairns" when their constructive materials consist of small stones, and "barrows" when the material is ordinary soil; but not unfrequently both substances were used in the same mound— a small cairn being often found inside an earthen barrow. Their great diversity in appearance and form gave rise to a number of qualifying epithets, such as "long," "round," "oval," "bell-shaped," etc. Sometimes the mound was surrounded by a ditch, or a stone circle, or by both; and instances are on record in which both these accessories were within the area covered by the mound. ”

“ A mound of the kind found in our region is a very much flattened cone, or round-topped hillock of earth. It is built usually, if not invariably where the soil is soft and easily dug, and it is generally possible to trace in its neighborhood the depression whence the mound material has been taken. The mounds are as a rule found in the midst of a fertile section of country, and it is pretty certain from this that the mound builders were agriculturists, and chose their dwelling places with their occupation in view, where the mounds are found. ”

“ Yet under one of the large mounds at Charleston, on the bottom of a pit dug in the original soil, a number of vaults of precisely the same form were found, placed, like those of the Sullivan County mound, in a circle. But, though covering human remains moldered back to dust, they were of hardened clay instead of stone. Nevertheless, the similarity in form, size, use, and conditions under which they were found is remarkable, and, as they have been found only at the points mentioned, the probability is suggested that the builders in the two sections were related. ”

“ All around the site of the mound the soil to the depth of 20 inches is composed of the débris of old camps, a mixture of ashes, mussel shells, bones of fishes and wild animals, charcoal, broken pottery,&c.; and here hundreds of implements of stone, bone, and shell have been obtained. The big mound is said, by persons who have often seen it before the hand of vandalism desecrated it, to have been more than 30 feet high by 150 feet in diameter at the base. ”

“ During a visit to this locality in 1857, he partially opened this mound, finding masses of burned earth and charred human bones mingled with charcoal and ashes. At his visit in 1882, on behalf of the Bureau, a further examination revealed, on the lower side, the end of a double line of flat stones set on edge, about a foot apart at the bottom and leaned so as to meet at the top and form a roof-shaped flue or drain. ”

“ It was quite large originally, perhaps 8 or 10 feet high and 35 to 50 feet in diameter. At present it is from 4 to 6 feet above the level of the bottom land and is spread over a considerable space. When the first settlers came, there was an earthwork running a little southwest from the mound for some 20 rods, then back eastward to the river. The place has been under cultivation for forty or fifty years and the work is now obliterated. The mound was encased with a wall of sandstone bowlders as large as a man can lift. ”

“ There were also about 20 pieces of copper, some of which looked like crucibles.
Extent.—As to the actual dimensions of the terramara mounds, [Pg 271] it is difficult to procure accurate measurements, for several reasons. In many instances they are either built over by modern buildings, or there is nothing to distinguish their débris from the surrounding soil without making extensive excavations. Even when the site is a clearly-defined mound, as at Montale, one estimate may differ from another according as the area of the surrounding dyke is or is not included in the measurements. ”

“ The soil of the mound is a sandy loam, entirely homogeneous throughout, though much compacted and slightly different in color towards the centre, where water cannot penetrate. At ten feet below the surface occurred a layer of charcoal, a, not far from ten feet square, and from two to six inches in thickness, slightly inclined from the horizontal, and lying mostly to the left of the centre of the mound. ”

“ The larger or western one is about thirty-five yards in the slope on the south side, which is the steepest and best defined, and about 150 yards around the base, being apparently full of stones, some of which appear to be of large dimensions. The eastern or smaller tumulus is about twenty-four yards in the slope, on the south-west side, and about 130 yards round the base. No stones are visible in it. The soil of which they are formed is of a peaty nature, and covered with stunted heather. ”

“ The largest earthen mound, which I call the grand mound because all the graves are facing it, is about ninety feet in diameter, and at this time about 4 feet high; but when first discovered by whites it was 5 or 6 feet high. This mound has not yet been examined, but others in the valley, not so high but larger in diameter, have been looked into and were found to contain graves, pottery ware, pipes and arrow-heads made of dirt or cut out of rock. These are found in the graves in the mound and in those around it. ”

“ The mound is wholly artificial. It is conical and truncated, and of oval plan. Its summit measures, north and south, about 25 yards, and east and west about 40 yards, and its height is from 20 feet to 40 feet, according to the depth of its ditch, which is greatest on the northern side. The slopes are steep, the red earth having little disposition to slip.
The summit was crowned by a shell keep placed about 3 feet within the edge of the slope, and therefore about 23 yards north and south, by 38 yards east and west. ”

“ The true burial mounds are very numerous, an comprise by far the larger number of mounds. They are to be found all over the Mound Builders’ territory, and are about the only class of remains found in the prairie regions of the West. From the upper waters of the Missouri and the great lakes on the north to the Gulf States on the south, and from west of the Mississippi to the Alleghenies of the East, in all this vast region they are the prevailing class of remains, and occur by hundreds, and even thousands, along the valleys. The mounds themselves are often not very conspicuous ”

“ In another portion of the mound, at about the same depth as the previously mentioned deposit, with human remains, were eleven small bits of chert and one shell gouge.
[Pg 32]
Near the surface as it was at the period of excavation, lay a small “celt” with human remains.
Loose in the sand were several bits of chert and a portion of a polished stone hatchet, found separately.
What this mound may have contained at the period of its abandonment, it is, of course, impossible to say. Nothing discovered by us pointed to intercourse with the Whites. ”