West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1884-11-28
THE MouND-eulLDERS
An Important Discovery In America
Archaeology.

shh important discovery In American
Archaeology.
AT the annual meeting of the Boston
Society of Natural History. highly in
tcrcSting statement was made bv Prof.
+. w. Putnam, Curator of the Peabody
Museum of Harvard University. con.
corning his recent explorations of cci.
tain mounds in the Ohio Valley. The
subject was illustrated by drawings
hung upon the wall. and by photo
graphs. These explorations, i'm which
he was assisted by DIR. G. l.. Metz. of
Madsonvillc, O., were made last wear.
and were restricted To one particular
mound field or tract upon the borders
of the Little Miami River. i'm Madison
vile, about twenty miles from Cincin-
natl. 1t Is To be regarded as one of the
fchcities 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 impcllcd by mere idle curios-
ity have hitherto dug into these
mounds i'm random way, and thus
practically destroyed them i'm respect
To their special value to the
archmologist The excavations now
made were conducted on the most an
proved methods of science. Nothing
worthy of notice has escaped obscrva-
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
lcan 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-
iicient in themselves, if none others had
ever been found, TO give II very distinct
1T might almost be said comprchcn-
sivc idea of the civilization of the So
cial state of the ancient mound build
ers. Among other things found were
articles OF personal adornmcnt, 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, or rather the
knowledge of the artiiicer. The metals
'i'''f ''Bp'lt HiiN'l anu EOiu. i Ills
Is the first time gold has been found i'm
the mounds. The gold, and i'm some
instances the silver, was used for plating
an inferior metal, being hammered thin
and clinched at the edges. Most signi-
lcant of al, perhaps, was little statu-
cite, which not only presented the
human form in a shapcly might also
be said artistic contour, but showed also
the earrings and the drapcry of the
waist which were fashionable i'm the
American prehistoric times. Some of
these relics must originally have come
from the Florida coast, from Lake ST.
pcriOr and from the Rocky Mountains.
indicating thus either extensive migra-
ton or intcrcommunicatiOn The indi-
cations are that the cremation of the
dead was practiccd 10y these natives. and
that an altar mound is significant of
some great sacrifcial ceremony. and
that these trinkcts and relics. some Of
which pcrtained 10 the useful arts. rep
resented an offering on the part Of
these people. equivalent in comparison
with our Lscale Of values, 10 hundreds
Of thousands Of dollars. Mcchahjcat
NciTg