While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
"But what are These, still standing in the midst?
The Earth has rocked beneath; the Thunder-stone
Passed through and through, and left its traces there.
Yet still they stand as by some Unknown Charter!
O, they are Nature s own! and, as allied
To the vast Mountains and the eternal Sea,
They want no written history; theirs a voice
Forever speaking to the heart of Man!" Rogers.
In the absence of any written record of those numerous races which formerly
peopled this hemisphere, information must be sought in their monuments, and in
the disinterred relics of their ancient manner of life. These, considering the
almost unbroken wilderness which presented itself to the first white
adventurers, are surprisingly numerous. They indicate the former existence of
populous nations, excelling in many of the arts of civilization, and capable, by
their numbers and combination, of executing the most gigantic works for
religion, public defense, and common oration of the dead. Such relics, though,
for the most part, not immediately pertaining to the history of the Indian
tribes, have supported the conjectures advanced by Humboldt and other eminent
cosmographers, that these races are but the dwindled and degraded remains of
once flourishing and populous nations. The retrograde process, to which certain
forms of incomplete civilization appear doomed, has perhaps been most strikingly
exemplified in the difference to be discovered between the feeble and scattered
tribes of the red race, and those powerful and populous communities who occupied
the soil before them.
The relics of the former people, usually discovered on or slightly beneath the
surface of the ground, are of a rude and simple character, differing little from
the specimens common among their descendants of the present day. The flint
arrow-head, chipped painfully into shape the stone tomahawk, knife, and chisel
the pipe, the rude pottery and savage ornaments, are their only relics; and
these differ but little from the same articles still fabricated by their
successors.
Except among the Esquimaux, who occasionally use stone, and who avail themselves
of the arch and dome in the construction of their snow huts, nothing like
regular architecture can be assigned to the late or modern tribes occupying this
continent northward of Mexico. The Indian tumuli, or mounds of burial, are
generally small and of simple construction. It has, however, been rationally
supposed that the force of religious custom, surviving art and civilization, has
preserved to the red tribes this characteristic method of their forefathers; and
that the rude barrows, which they still erect, are but the puny and dwindled
descendants of those mighty mounds and terraced pyramids which still rear their
heads from the isthmus to the lakes, and from the shores of Florida to the
Mexican Cordilleras.
The origin of these and of other unquestionably ancient remains, is to the
antiquarian a question of the most lively and perplexing interest. Here, in
unknown ages and for unknown periods, have existed wealth, power, and
civilization; yet the remains by which these are indicated seem to furnish but a
slight clew to the epoch and history of their long-vanished constructors. Within
the mounds and mural embankments scattered through a large portion of this
country, are found the remains of high mechanical and scientific art. Pottery,
the most fragile of man s works, yet almost indestructible by time, still
remains in large quantities and in good preservation. In the composition and
coloring of these articles, much chemical skill is evinced; while in many cases,
their grace of form and perfection of finish rival the remains of Grecian or
Etruscan art. Some of these ancient vessels are of immense size; one,
disinterred from a Western mound being eighteen feet in length by six in
breadth. Glass beads of rare and elaborate construction have been found; stone
ornaments, skillfully wrought, and brick, much resembling that in modern use,
have been often discovered.
Metallic remains are frequent. Copper, used both for weapons and for ornament,
has often been found, and occasionally specimens, plated with silver, have been
disinterred. At an ancient mound in Marietta, a silver cup finely gilt on the
inside, was exposed to view by the washing of a stream. It has been often
questioned whether the use of iron was known to these aboriginal races; but
except the occasional presence of rust in the excavations, little has been
ascertained with certainty the perishable nature of that metal peculiarly
exposing it to the destroying influence of time and dampness.
Inscriptions upon rocks, mostly of a hieroglyphic character, are numerous; and
on the walls of several caverns in the west, some extraordinary specimens may be
seen. In the same gloomy receptacles have been found numbers of a species of
mummy, most carefully prepared, and beautifully covered with colored feathers,
symmetrically arranged. Stone coffins and burial urns of great beauty have also
been disinhumed from the Western mounds.
Mounds and
Fortifications
The mural remains, in the United States
alone, are of almost incredible number, and
of most imposing magnitude. It has been
asserted by an accurate western antiquarian
should not exaggerate if I were to say that
more than five thousand might be found, some
of them enclosing more than a hundred
acres." The mounds and tumuli, he remarks,
are far more numerous. Professor Rafinesque
ascertained the existence of more than five
hundred ancient monuments in Kentucky alone,
and fourteen hundred in other states, most
of which he had personally examined. These
remains appear most numerous in the vicinity
of the Mississippi and its tributaries, and
near the great lakes and the rivers, which
flow into them. A striking proof of their
immense antiquity is to be found in the fact
that the latter stand upon the ancient
margin of the lakes, from which, in some
immemorial age, their waters are known to
have receded.
It is remarkable that these peculiar works
of antiquity touch the ocean only in Florida
at the southern extremity of the Atlantic
coast; and their greater number and
magnitude in the south and west seem to
fortify the supposition that their founders
came originally from Mexico, and were,
perhaps, a people identical with the
builders of Cholula and Teotihuacan.
The extent of some of these works is
extraordinary. In New York, (where at least
a hundred of them have been surveyed) in the
county of Onondaga, formerly existed the
remains of a fortification enclosing more
than five hundred acres. Three circular
forts, disposed as a triangle, and situated
about eight miles distant from each other,
served as its outworks. In many of these
fortified places, considerable military
skill is evinced; angles, bastions, and
curtains, being frequently traceable.
"Though much defaced by time," says a
traveler, of the entrenchments near Lake
Pepin, "every angle was distinguishable, and
appeared as regular, and fashioned with as
much military skill, as if planned by Vauban
himself."
Some of the most remarkable of these works
have been discovered in Georgia. On the
banks of the Little River, near
Wrightsborough, are found the remnants of "a
stupendous conical pyramid, vast tetragon
terraces, and a large sunken or excavated
area of a cubical form, encompassed with
banks of earth, and also the remains of an
extensive town." Other and similar
structures occur in the same region. On the
Savannah, among other extensive remains, is
a conical mound, truncated, fifty feet in
height, and eight hundred in circumference
at its base. In other portions of the same
region are found excavations, and vast
quadrangular terraces. Florida abounds in
vestiges of a similar nature.
At the west, these remains assume a much
more permanent and imposing character. On a
branch of the Muskingum River, in Ohio, a
series of entrenchments and mounds, two
miles in length, and of great solidity of
structure, is found to exist. In Licking
County, a most extensive range of
fortifications, embracing or protecting an
extent of several miles, has been traced.
At Circleville, in the same state, were
found two extensive earthen enclosures, one
an exact circle, and the other a correct
square, corresponding precisely to the
cardinal points of the compass; and a mound
ninety feet in height. In most of these and
other similar ruins, stone was used, though
to a limited extent. Parallel walls,
communicating with the water, sometimes at a
distance of several miles, are features
common* to many of these structures. Farther
west, the extensive use of brick in
constructing similar edifices has been
ascertained; and an arched sewer,
constructed of stone, indicates a knowledge
of architecture far superior to that
possessed by most semi-civilized nations.
In Missouri, and other regions of the west,
the remains of stone buildings have been
frequently discovered in one instance, those
of a town, regularly laid out in streets and
squares. Upon the Missouri and Arkansas
rivers, some of the most extensive fortified
works are found. In one of these, on the
latter river, are two immense mounds,
truncated, each eighty feet high, and one
thousand in circumference at the base.
These gigantic mounds are among the most
interesting and thickly scattered relics of
the vanished races. Many of them are tumuli,
or sepulchers of the dead, others were
connected with the defensive fortifications,
and others, of the grandest and most
imposing aspect, were probably huge altars
of idolatrous worship.1 In general, these
ancient mounds may be distinguished from
those of the Indians by their greater size,
and still more certainly by the nature of
their contents. Some of these latter have
already been described. Besides utensils of
lead, silver, and copper, the oxydized
remains of iron have been found. Mica
mirrors of various sizes, with a variety of
marine shells, are among the deposits.
1. The usual material employed in their
construction is earth, though occasionally
they have been built of stone.
The practice of burning the
dead appears to have been
common. Masses of ashes and
charcoal are often found mixed
with incinerated bones. In
Fairfield County, Ohio, a huge
earthenware caldron, placed upon
a furnace, was disinterred. It
was eighteen feet long by six
broad; and contained the
skeletons of twelve persons,
besides various articles, which
had been buried with them. They
were in a large mound, fifteen
feet below the surface of the
earth.
In the great mound at
Circleville, an immense number
of skeletons were found, all
laid with their heads toward the
centre.
In Illinois, nearly opposite St.
Louis, within the circuit of a
few miles, are more than an
hundred and fifty mounds, some
of extraordinary size. One of
them, formerly occupied by monks
of the Order of La Trappe, is
ninety feet in height and nearly
half a mile in circumference. It
is a remarkable circumstance
that the soil of which these
huge cones are constructed, must
occasionally have been brought
from a great distance.2 The
occasional existence of terraces
or stages of ascent would, seem
to indicate a similarity of
origin with the pyramidal
structures of Mexico.
Indeed, it is difficult to
suppose that the authors of
these extensive remains could
have had other than a
southwestern origin. All are
ancient in the extreme; yet
probably they were erected by
successive races, and the most
venerable antiquity seems
attached to the forest-covered
mounds of the West.
Mr. Bradford, in his interesting
Researches into the Origin of
the Red Race, (from which many
of the foregoing
2. Many others of great size, varying
somewhat in form, yet all evincing a
striking similarity in construction, might
be described, facts have been drawn, adopts
with safety the following conclusions in
regard to the ancient occupants of our soil.
1. "That they were all of
the same origin, branches of the
same race and possessed of
similar customs and
institutions.
2. "That they were populous, and
occupied a great extent of
territory.
3. "That they had arrived at a
considerable degree of
civilization, were associated in
large communities, and lived in
extensive cities.
4. "That they possessed the use
of many of the metals, such as
lead, copper, gold, and silver,
and probably the art of working
in them.
5. "That they sculptured, in
stone, and sometimes used that
material in the construction of
their edifices.
6. "That they had the knowledge
of the arch of receding steps;
of the art of pottery, producing
urns and utensils formed with
taste, and constructed upon the
principles of chemical
composition; and of the art of
brick-making.
7. "That they worked the salt
springs, and manufactured that
substance.
8. "That they were an
agricultural people, living
under the influence and
protection of regular forms of
government.
9. "That they possessed a
decided system of religion, and
a mythology connected with
astronomy, which, with its
sister science, geometry, was in
the hands of the priesthood.
10. "That they were skilled in
the art of fortification.
11. "That the epoch of their
original settlement in the
United States is of great
antiquity; and,
Lastly, "That the only indications of
their origin, to be gathered from the
locality of their ruined monuments, point
towards Mexico."
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includes some historical materials that may imply negative stereotypes
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Indian Races of North and South America, By Charles De Wolf Brownell, 1865
