Litchfield enquirer., 1845-10-16
THE ANCIENTS OF AMERICA.

Chillicothe is not only the site of modern A. mercan town, flourishng and slightly, but was once the very seat and centre Ot the ancient Indian Pop ulaton. Dense with people as the fields with standing corn, was once the ancient Chllllcothe; and more dense than the modern tombs were the sepuchres there erected, to mark the cities of the dead On every road and in almost every field, in the great aluvial plain around the junction of the Scioto and Paint Creek, are seen the Mounds, where not only one, but many dead bodies, were en tombed together.
 Recently Dr. DAVIS, of Chilicothe, and another gentleman have been engaged in excavating these ancient tombS-comparing one with another, and drawing, if possible some conclusions from the re. sults In all, they have found twenty-three, and accumulated articles, instruments and remains e. nough to make quite Museum of disentombed rel ics. We have been kindly permitted to examine these articles, and to enter the excavated Mounds The conclusions we have come to are more satis- factory than any we have previously arrived at, and in regard to general principles, seem to us i'm pregnable.
 I. Tae 0nc;ent Mounds of this country are ton.bs aud only tOmbs, although it is not at all improbable they may have been occasionally so placed as 10 answer the purpose of Lookout Post, or Tower. But their original purpose was that of Tombs. This is absolutely established by the fact, that nearly every one probabfy the whGeo ces found with these--sucn As .lockery ware.
 
 itcd, on the present Aboriginal principle of bury ing with the body the weapons, instruments and ornaments, possessed by the Warrior while alive. The articles found are all of this description. 2. The inferments im thcse Hounds haue been nnde at dferent and distant interunis of time This may very naturally have taken place while the same race inhabited the country-as 1t did m the tombs of Egypt, and as it does in the catacombs of Paris. There is inconrovertible evidence that th,s was the fact, in tine Mounds. Tn one of the circular parapets, found round Chilicothe, there arc no less than thirteen Mounds. These have all been opened. and all show the same results.- They show ndsputaby, that there have been at least two distinct sets of burials, and that these have been at different intervals of time In the upper part of the Mound, for example, are fre- quently found bones nearly entire. The skulls, and bones of the thigh and arm are found. With these are found arrow heads, and Crockery Ware, such as it is well known the Indians had in their savage state, and which they buried with their warriors. In one of them was Silver Cross and circle, undoubtedly belonging to Catholic Indians The date of these burias connot be reasonably pla- ccd beyond two hundred years.
 The manner in which these recent relics have been placed in, at the top of the Mound, and dis tinct from those, for the burial olwhch the Mound was erected, is one important and characteristic fact.
 At the bottom of the Mound, about on the level with the natural ground, occurs what are obvious ly the most ancient remains, and to which IS at tachcd the only real mystery belonging to these tombs. The first thing to be observed about these is, that they accompanied by an hearth, or 0t- ter, on which the human remains, well as the domestic articles which accompanied them were burned. This Sacrifcial Alter, however rude, IS a very important fact in the analysis of these tumuli. | The fact of the existence of this alter is amply proved by the eye. It is composed very rudely, of two parts The lower is sort of rough brick, or br; and hurn On inc fOp Of fhiR and a. bout two inches thick, IS Plaster, or Lime coat ing. This artificial pan is oval shape, from three to six feet diameter The object of it was to burn, or sacrifice the bodies and things buried.- The proof of this fact is-l. The bones are very seldom discovered here. and when they are, (such as the thigh bone) those most likely to escape | the fire, and have that aspect. 2. There are part ly consumed articles found on this alter. 5. The pieces of crockery- ware, &c., are burnt and bro- ken. The conclusion, ther, is irresistible, that this was place of sacrifice. in which the bodies at first entombed were burned or, in case they con- sumed naturally, there was certainly burnt sorne- thing as sacrifice.
 These are the facts which show that there have been two sets of intcrments in these tombs. The | first and oldest was al the bottom of the Mound, and was accompanied by sacrificial burnings - The second were burials made by persons who came in after time and re-opened the Mound to de- posit their dead. That the second burial was re- | opening oi the tomb seeu's 10 pc pro'eo' oy !his fact that the Mound was originally composed in homogeneous stratd of earth, the top of which is a gravel layer nearly foot thick. At the top only this seems to have been deranged, and made hete- rogenous, as in the ordinary throwing up of graves It has been said because the Mounds were so strat- flied, they were natural! The absurdity of this can be seen, by asking where did Nature ever pro- duce, on a perfect plain, circular parapets. with regular cones in them? Besides, the strata are not the strata of the surrounding soil. They are pal pably artificial, ,-and the mounds palpably tombs
 3. These Ton,Ls do mol furnish evidenre, that Me different 6,viGLs tceve by di6eyent natioNs. Oy races of people. On the contrary. the various ar- ticles found in all the graves, and very nearly all | the mounds, are of the same kind and character They are hatehes arrow heads. croekery. ware pie ces of metal, Isin.glass or Mica, Sc. Such very