Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-09-30
MOUND BUILDERS OF THE WEST.
Curious Discoveries.
ago correspondent says:

A Chicago correspondent says:
The mound builders of the West are
and must ever continue to furnish one
of the most insoluble Of problems to
antiquaries and ethnologists. A nation
sufficiently advanced in the arts and
sciences, as appears from their relics.
and as numerous and powerful as must
have been the race that occupied the
whole Mississippi Valley, was blotted
out utterly and left never a trace in
their own literature or that of their
conquerors, If conquerors they had or
were not swept away by disease. It is
true that many quadrangular or conical
mounds have been placed to the credit
OF the mound-bullders which really
were the work of the great architect,
Nature none the less is it fact that
the whole face of the western country
is studied with their tunauA. They are
generally-almost invariably situated
on plateau overlooking or near by a
water course, and of various forms and
sizes-.oval, oblong, pyramidal, cruel
torn, from a fewe feet in height to an al
tltude OF nearly one hundred feet, and
having an area ranging from few
perches to several acres. The mound at
Grave Greek W. Va, is I quote from
Squire-7O feet high and l ZOO in cir
cumference at the base. That at
Miamisburg, Montgomery county, O.,
is IS feet high and S53 feet in circum-
ference, containing 311,323 cubic feet.
The mound at Selzertown, Miss, covers
six acres OF ground, ana that at Cahokia,
1 IN, hn rG L.
ramid-has an altitude of 80 feet and
total circumference of about two thous-
and feet. Many Of these mounds are
found in Northern Illinois and Wis
consin, and in Winnebago county.
where they are traced in sources along
the banks of Rock river and the other
streams of that vicinity. An interest
ing research has just been prosecuted,
terminating in discoveries of value.
The mounds selected were Oh high
tableland stretching back from a bluff
on Rock River, about six miles from the
city of Rockford. A trench was cut
through a mound about 100 feet in
circumference and s feet in height, and
excavations prosecuted from either side.
At a depth of 6 feet thin seam of
reddish earth, apparently a relic of
pottery, was encountered, but it was
friable as the surrounding soil. Be.
tween two and three feet further down
was unearthed a small oblong tablet of
Niagara spar. smoothly polished, about
one quarter of an inch in thickness, 81
inches long and 2 inches wide, with
traced and beveled edges. The in
scriptions and figures thereon are thus
described
cat the centre of the top is a
curiously wrought face surrounded by
what appears to be rays Of light, be-
meath, and running nearly to the bot
tom, is an upright bar, supported by a
cross-bar; at the left upper corner
there is the form of a coiled serpent ::
beneath this are a triangle, another
serpent, a lizard, and what appears to
be burning taper. These figures
stand in a line one above the other,
In the right-hand upper corner is
character resembling the letter Z, and
beneath this one resembling the lette,
U; next a dagger-shaped character
under which is fsh's head; next an
elongated, circular cha. acter, with a
dot IN the centre, and a continued
stroke from the upper left elongation !;
next under this are four bars crossing
each other at alternate angles; under
this is the last figure, that of we'll
formed fish, making fourteen distinct
figures in all"
These figures, it is stated, may rep
resent the signs Of the zodiac, the sun
and the earth. Six of them are said to
correspond very exactly with six of
the Lybian characters, the primitive
letters of the most ancient of African
nations. The curious face, which is
the most prominent figure, is very
nearly counterpart of the face in the
centre of the great stone calendar Of
the Mexicans, which was captured by
Cortez when he invaded Mexico, and
was buried.by him because he couldnot
destroy or carry it off, it being 12 feet
square, feet thick, and weighing
over twenty tons. This was discovered
and dug up in 1871. The lizard and
horned head on this Mexican calendar
are also prominent on the Rockford
tablet. A little below this interesting
relic we're found variety of articles,
~ OUO1C lI6LIu1CI lOul luC1ltS 1OuS, WILL
a round hole drilled in it for handle :;
a stone chisel; a portion of the bowl
of pipe; several flint arrow-heads,
or spear points quantity Of decayed
bones a small stone or two having
fire marks on them; what appears to
be fragments of a skullbone and
twisted fibre having the appearance of
hair. The excavations in an adjoining
mound brought to light human skull
nearly complete, but the bones were so
brittle that they fell apart. The earth
within it, however, retained and showed
the shape.
Further researches are shortly to be
made.
Juggernauth.
The Juggernauth pilgrims at Seram-