The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1890-05-31
ANCIENT MOUNDS.
Dust and Ruins of a People Older
Than the Indians.
Explorations in Cincinnati and vicinity
Citadel at the Mouth OF the Big
Sfiami-Ccmetcrics Along the
Little Miami.


Citadel at the Mouth of the Big
SIiami--Ccmctcrics Along the
Little Miami.
While Prof. Putnam, OF Harvard Col
lege, is publishing his series of papers
on the prehistoric remains OF the Ohio
Valley, and measures are pending be-
fore State and National Governments
for the preservation of the most striking
and important of these monuments OF q
people who inhabited this country hun
dreds OF years before the present civili-
cation began. it is timely to recall to
the minds of Ohio Valley people the fact
that we are every day walking over the
dust and ruins of people older than
the Indians, and who possessed civili-
cation in many respects resembling that
of the Oldest known people of the East
ern Hemisphere, and that the Old
World, so-called, is in fact younger in
both nature and art than the American
Continent.
Public attention was frst drawn to
these prehistoric ruins by Rev. David
Jones, in IRE, and again by Arthur Lee
In 1884. In 1856 Captain Jonathan
Heart wrote description of those at the
mouth of the Muskingum river, where
the city of Marietta now stands. The
first general survey was made in 1919,
Hon. Caleb Atwater, of Columbus, o.,
under the auspices of the American
Antiquarian Society, and was amended
and extended from time to time until
the publication of his account of his
work and observations, in 1888. In 1915
by Hon. Z. George Squires and DIR. E. Fl.
Davis, both of Ohio, made survey for
the Smithsonian Institution, and the re-
suit of their labors, fully illustrated,
constitute the first volume of the lnsti-
tution's numerous publications. This is
the completest general treatise on the
subject that has ever been published,
and at the time largely stimulated in
yestigation. 1t would be tedious to de-
tail what has been done since, and the
wears between 1850 and 1878 are passed
over, the latter date being the begin
ming of the present investigation, the
fruits of which are being presented to
the public in current publications.
In 1878 there was in Madisonville, this
county, small literary and scientific
society, organized and maintained by
DIR. T. w. Langdon, Chas. f. Low and
Dr. Metz, ably seconded by other bright
minds in the village. These three gem
tlemen had given much time to the sub
iect of the Mound Builders and their
works. In the year named DIR. Metz
proposed to himself the exploration of
small mound located on bluff over
looking the Little Miami river, near
Batavia Junction, on the Little Miami
railroad. To this end he put colored
individual kept diligently a work for
some time upon the mound without find
ing any thing out Of the ordinary. He
then abruptly stopped work on the
mound and walked several yards away
and began digging hole where the
ground was level, and there was not an
indication of any archaeological riches.
1t must have been an inspiration, for
not two feet below the surface he uncov-
cred fine piece Of pottery and we'll
preserved skeleton. The find was re-
ported by DIR. Metz to the Madisonville
Literary Society, and it was concluded
evident ceremony of its burial, and the
fact of its being found on level ground
instead of in mound, indicated the To-
cation of an ancient burial ground. The
archaologists of the society at once un-
der:ook further explorations.
Permission was readily secured of Mr..
Ferris, who owns the farm where the
skeleton was found, and work was begun
Systematically. Several men were put
to work eXcavating the field to the depth
of three feet, and the conclusions of
those pressing the work were verified.
Skeleton after skeleton was found,
sometimes in groups, as though of mem
bers of the same family, and always,
either at the head, upon the chest or at
the side, were found remains of pottery,
sometimes well preserved, sometimes in
fragments. The gentlemen continued
the work at their own expense for some
time, until it was suggested that the
Cincinnati Society of Natural History,
of which they were members, should as
sist with the work, bearing half the eX-
pense and sharing half the relics. Still
later when news of tho explorations
Teucncu EdSIcTu uECHnOloSiSlS, IOl'
Putnam, on behalf of the Peabody Mu-
scum, applied for an interest in the
work, which was granted upon similar
basis to that on which the Natural Histo-
ry Society was taken in. The work was
continued until three acres of ground
had been digged over to the depth OF
three feet, and the remains of over sew
en- hundred skeletons had been found, |
many of them well preserved, but the
most of them crumbled to odust upon con-
tact with the air. The share of the So
ciety in the work Is shown in a large |
case of skulls, bones, pottery and vari- |
Gus articles of personal and domestic |
use in the museum of the society on |
Broadway. 1t was in this way that Prof.
Putnam was introduced to the eX-
ploring work among the mound-buildcr |
remains in Ohio. Subsequently Dr..
Metz introduced him to the group of |
across the river beyond New
town, on the lands of the Michael Tur-
ner estate, and still later DR.. Metz, ex-
Governor Cox and Charles L. Low ac-
him to the Serpent Mound
in Adams County, which wonderful
is the subject of the pro-
fessors article in the Century Maya
zine of April 3. Considering his in
lebtedness to the gentlemen named for
much information and extensive facili-
ties it has surprised many that he has
not seen fit to mention any one of them
IN this connection.