The Problem of the Ohio Mounds

: Fifth Ann. Rept. Bur Ethnol] also in articles published in the Magazine of American History [Footnote: May, 1884, pp. 396- 407] and

sis shows were not meteoric, furnish conclusive evidence that the tumulus was built after the Europeans had reached America; and as it is shown in the same article that the Cherokees must

aption: Fig I Part o

arolina

tribe were the authors of most of the ancient works in western North Carolina and eastern Tenne

nd down as far as the position of Fort London and even to the island below with the arrangement of the Cherokee "over-hill towns" as given by Timberlake in his map of the Cherokee country called "Over the Hills," [Footnote: Memoirs, 1765] a g

to an earlier date. This evidently includes some on the Holston (his "Cherokee") River and some on the Tellico plains. This corresponds precisely with the result of the explorations by the Bureau as will be seen when the report is published. Some

Ramsey, [Footnote: Annals of Tennessee, p. 157] at the time the pioneers, following in the wake of Daniel Boone near the close of the eighteenth century, were pouring over the mountains into the valley of the Watauga, a Mrs. Bean, who was captured by the Cherokee

, and in thickness from 4 to 12 inches. In nearly every instance they were found in series, one above another, with a layer of coals and ashes between. The series usually consisted of from three

to contain a series of these clay beds, which always showed the action of fire. In the center of some of these were found the charred remains of a stake,

. On the contrary, the evidence is pretty clear that all these burials were by one tribe or people. By the side of nearly every skeleton were one or more articles, as shell masks, engraved shells, shell pins, shell beads, perforated shells, discoidal stones, polished celts, arrow

due will not be doubted by any one not wedded to a preconceived notio

probably marking the site of one of the "over-hill towns," were f

region alluded to are discovered evidences of habits and customs similar

ding to confirm this statement of Bartram's, the following passage may be quoted, where, speaking of Colonel Christian's march against the Cherokee towns in 1770, Ramsey [Footnote: Annals of Tennessee, p. 169.] says that this officer found in the center of each town "a circular tower rudely built and covered with dirt, 30 feet in diameter, and about 20 feet high. This tower was used as a council-house, and

h are undoubtedly of the Mexican or Central American type, nevertheless furnish very strong evi

Indians] oftentimes make of this shell [a certain large sea shell] a sort of gorge, which they wear about their neck in a string

shell, with two holes bored in the middle of it, through which he ran the ends of an otter-skin strap,

hes in diameter, which they polish as smooth as the other, and sometimes they etch or grave thereon circles, s

ption: FIG. 2. Engrav

ssee

belong to the same type as those alluded to by the writers whose words have just been quoted. Some of them were found in the North Carolina mound from which the iron articles were obtained and in connection with these articles. Some of these shells were smooth and without any devices engraved

If they were the work of Indians, they must have been used by the Cherokees and buried with their dead. It is true that some of the engraved figures present a puzzling problem in the fact that they bear unmi

get with engraving

hout this addition, consisting only of the bowl with a hole for inserting a cane or wooden stem. While some, as will hereafter be shown, closely resemble one

y of the North Americ

33.]

with their tomahawks and afterwards finish them in any desired form with their knives, the pipes being of a very soft quality till they are smoked with and used with the fire, when they become quite hard. T

o or three were found precisely of the form mentioned by Adair, wit

note: Antiq. So.

the mountains there existed certain artists whose professed occupation was the manufacture of stone pipes, which were by them transported

e of such pipes in the mounds alluded to, but may also assist in

t 6 by 4 feet, with the exception of a tear at one corner is perfectly sound and pliant and has a large submarginal stripe running around it. Inclosed with the skeleton was a piece of cloth made of flax, about 14 by 20 inches, almost uninjured but apparently un

bric impressed on a piece of pottery obtained

in it, these articles can not be assigned to any very ancient date, especially when it is

s of modern times, and they form a link not easil

e will doubt that the mounds alluded to were built by the

ighbors on one side or the other, or that they had, to some extent at least, introduced it among them. Beyond question it indicates that the mound-building era had not closed previous to the discovery of the continent by Europeans. [Footnote: Since the above was in type one of the assistants of