The circular, square, and octagonal earthworks of Ohio / by Cyrus Thomas.

  • Thomas, Cyrus, 1825-1910.
Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The circular, square, and octagonal earthworks of Ohio / by Cyrus Thomas. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    80 drawn up and bead crouched down upon the ribs as though originally placed in a sitting posture. All except Nos. 10 and 11 had the arms and hands placed at the sides. The right arm of skeleton No. 10 lay bent across the stomach. The right arm of skeleton No, 11 was bent so that the hands touched the chin. From both jaws of this latter skeleton all the teeth had been extracted before interment. With skeleton No. 1 a bone implement was found at the back of the cranium, and an incised shell and fragments of a jar at the right side of it. With skeleton No. 2, which was that of a child about ten years old, a small clay vessel was found 5 inches behind the cranium. At the h.A hand of skeleton No. o was a shell such as is found among the sands of Paint Creek. A bone implement was at the back of the cranium of No. 4. With skeleton No. 7 were found a lot of small semi-perforated shell beads and two bone implements directly back of the cranium. By the right side of the cranium were the perfect skull and jaws of a wolf, and beneath this were two perforated ornaments of shell. In the right hand was a shell, such as is found in the creek near by, while in the left was a pipe fashioned from stone. At the right of the feet of this skeleton was the extremity of an ob¬ long ash pit, about 4 feet long and 2 feet broad, and 1 foot 10 inches in depth. It was filled with white ashes which were evidently those of human bones since none but human bones could be identified. In these ashes and compactly filled with them was an earthen pot. It lay at the right of the feet of skeleton No. 7. It was lifted out of the ashes with gieat. caie,but the weight of its contents and its rotten condition caused it to break in pieces before it could be replaced upon the ground. Nu¬ merous other pieces of pottery of a similar character were found in these ashes, and it is not improbable, from the indications, that all these ashes were originally placed in pots before interment. A perforated shell dish two inches in diameter and a lump of soggy sycamore wood were gathered from the ashes. Neither wood nor shell bore any signs of having been burnt. These ashes could not have been buried intru¬ sively since the sand layer above them was undisturbed. Skeleton No. 9 lay 7 feet deep and a half foot below the general burnt streak. It was originally covered with a wooden structure of some kind, for the cores of two red cedar timbers were resting length¬ wise upon the body, and the burnt remains of probably two others could be plainly seen on each side placed parallel to those upon the body. This red cedar was still sound, but the white wood which envel¬ opes the red cores seemed to be entirely in a charcoal condition. The indications are that these timbers were originally 1 foot above the body, foi the eai th to that extent over the whole length of the body was very soft. The timbers were noticed to extend slightly beyond the head and feet, while the head upon which they lay was upon its right side. The earth above them was a mixture of clay and fine sand, and pecu¬ liarly moist. The length of this skeleton to ankle bones was G feet