The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1888-12-06

| fication," TO which philologist replied,
What Is so variable a. the shape Of a
skull 2"
But the shape OF the skull Seems to
have some bearing on the question Of
| racial origin, in connection with the
Serpent Mound. The recent exhaustive
examination OF the broad plateau
stretching southwestern from the
earthwork has yielded, among others,
the very significant fact that the two
peoples have used the place as one of
burial, and that one antedates the
other; and 1t is further very significant
that the evidently more recent occu-
pants we're historic Indians After all
the shape of the skull does mean some.
thing Is a tangible fact; and the differ
| ence between the crania Of Indians and
OF the earlier Mound.builders is too per.
sistent to be denied or explained away
! as mere coincidence. In the burial
place thatI mentioned, the more ancient
intcrments, those, that is, that may be
safely referred to the time Of the Serpent
Mound and its builders, are OF a short
headeded people, that were Of the same
stock as the ancfeAt Mexicans. Iwould
not be understood as saying that the
Mound.builders were Mexicans, or rice
versa, but that they were both offshoots
from brachycephalic race, that reached
America by trans-Pacific route. This
is the view that has been expressed by
Professor Putnam in recent lectures, and
his recent explorations have yielded
nothing that conflicts with 1t. On the
contrary, every fact gathered by the
most laborious and exhaustive examine
tion Of mound after mound goes to es-
tablish the view that the people who
built them were not the historic Indians
nor even their immediate ancestors. On
the other hand, that certain well known
tribes Of Indians, notably the Shawpees
and Natchez as an instance, were de.
scended remotely and indirectly from
these builders OF earthworks is extreme
ly probable.
The fact that Indians, in very recent
times even, built mounds, mere conical
shapes of earth placed over their dead,
does not warrant us in assuming from
such fact alone that the elaborate
structures, such as this Serpent Mound,
were also the work Of their hands. Had
1t and many other OF the earth struc-
lures in Ohio been erected by them or
their immediate ancestors, 1t is highly
improbable that this fact and that OF
their significance should have been com.
pletely forgotten yet no one Of them
finds place in Indian history. Its pur.
pose? Whether we admit its origin to
be pre.Indian or not, this question will
be asked, and it is curious fact in the |
experience of the writer, that the visit
ors to the Serpent Mound never wait to
hear reply, after putting the question,
follow 1t with their own views.
Probably the average student OF arch |
geology would only 90 80 far as to sug.
gest the probability that it had, in the |
minds Of the builders, religious signifi.
canoe. This view, have found, meets |
with little favor from the casual visit |
or. "1njuns were heather, and hadn't |
no religion" was the prompt reply Of
one.
In the minds of the builders thisgreat
earthwork was doubtless tenanted by a
serpent spirit which was thought to
faithfully guard the dead who rested
near it, II not the living who dwelt in
the surrounding region but that kindly
spirit slumbers as profundly now as do
the mighty coils and gaping jaws that
have braved for unknown centuries |
alike the torrid heat OF summer and pit
iless raging Of midwinter storms.
This religious or symbolical character
OF the entire structure is emphasized,
think, from the fact that a large oval
embankment is situated directly in front
of the serpent's gaping jaws. This added
earthwork gives an even more life-like
appearance to the whole, although it
was by no means needed. What, of
course, is the significance of the "egg,"
as this oval structure is popularly called,
can only be conjectured; but, indeed,
there is little to be done but guess, and
never very shrewdly perhaps, while we
wander along the curves or pause to ad.
mire the gracefully coiled tail or, from
the park-land behind it all, we survey
the structure as q whole.
And here let me add that every oppor.
tunity is now offered to him who would
study this vestige Of antiquity. 1t wasa
happy thought to preserve itfor all time
from the destruction that threatened it.
Recently it was purchased by private
contributions, and is now, with all the |
Immediately adjacent land, held in trust |
by the Peabody Museum OF American |
Archmolopy Of Cambridge. Mass. |