The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1884-11-15
THE MouND-BUILDERs.
An Important Discovery In American
Archaeology.

An Important Discovery In American
Archaeology.
At the annual meeting of the Boston
Society of Natural History, highly in
teresting statement was made by Prof.
F. w. Putnam, Curator of the Peabody
Museum of Harvard University, con-
corning his recent explorations of GER
tain mounds in the Ohio Valley. The
subject was illustrated by drawings
hung upon the wall, and by photo
graphs. These explorations, in which
he was assisted by DR.. G. l.. Metz, OF
Madisonville, O., were made last year.
and were restricted to one particular
mound field or tract upon the borders
of the Little Miami River, in Madison
vile, about twenty miles from Cincin-
matt. 1t is to be regarded as one of the
felicities of the event-for the work and
its results constitute an event in the
full significance of the. word-that, be-
ing situated SO near to one of the great
cities of the land. it has happened that
no persons impelled by mere idle curios-
ity have hitherto dug into these
mounds in a random way, and thus
practically destroyed them in respect
to their special value to the
archaologist. The excavations now
made were conducted on the most APP
proved methods of science. Nothing
worthy of notice has escaped observa-
ton and record, and every relic has
been carefully preserved for scientific
purposes. In the brief discussion which
followed the Professors statement, one
of the members of the society declared
the results thus reached to be the most
important discovery yet made in Amer
lean archaeology. Several of these
mounds were what are called "altar
mounds" and in these the valuable
and instructive relics were found.
These, in number and variety, were suf-
ficient in themselves, if none others had
ever been found, to give very distinct
it might almost be said comprehen-
sive-idea of the civilization of the So
cial state of the ancient mound build
ers. Among other things found were
articles of personal adornment, such as
earrings of pearl and bracelets of met
al. The precise advance of the art of
working metals is thus disclosed The
metals had been wrought by ham,
mering the ore. Molten work was
beyond the skill, OF rather the
knowledge of the artifcer. The metals
were iron, copper, silver and gold. This
is the first time gold has been found in
the mounds. The gold, and in some
instances the silver, was used for plating
an inferior metal, being hammered thin
and clinched at the edges. Most signi-
ticant of all, perhaps, was little statu-
cite, which not only presented the
human form in shapely-it might also
be said artistic contour, but showed also
the earrings and the drapery of the
waist which were fashionable in the
American prehistoric times. Some of
these relics must originally have come
from the Florida coast, from Lake Su-
perior and from the Rocky Mountains,
indicating thus either extensive migra-
ton or intercommunication. The indi-
cations are that the cremation of the
dead was practiced by these natives, and
that an altar mound is significant OF
some great sacrificial ceremony, and
that these trinkets and relics, some OF
which pertained to the useful arts, rep
resented an offering on the part OF
these people, equivalent, in comparison
with our scale of values, to hundreds
of thousands of dollars. Mechanical,
NeWs.