The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-04-26
TALES TOLD BY THE MOUNDS.
Prof. MOOre's Excavations OF the In
dian Mounds Along the Coast.


Prot. c. V. Moore. who in company with
Drs Henry and Miller OF Philadelphia
have been engaged for the last six years
In excavating Indian mounds in Florida. is
spending a few days in Savannah
In an interview with a Morning News re-
porter yesterday on board the little steam
er Gopher" Prof. Moore spoke OF the re-
suits obtained from his researches. which
have been made an the interest OF the Ma
tional Academy OF Science Of Phnadel-
phia, which is in possession Of the finest
collection of Floridian objects eNtant. The
collection is displayed In handsome oak
cases with plate glass tops. and each OBJ
ject has a descriptive label made by Prof.
Moore at the time of discovery.
Prof. Moore has been engaged for the
last five years in eNcaNating the mounds
on the banks of the st. Johns river, and
has made many interesting discoveries,
notably the existence OF large numbers of
copper ornaments. which had evidently
been placed there before Columbus discOV-
cred America. The copper was assayed by
Prof. Moore and he found that while it
was very different from the copper
brought over by the English and Span
iards, 1t was exactly the same as the cop
per taken from old Michigan mines, and
through the various tribes.
The professor said that the shell mounds
istence to the fact that tribes living near
snail shells in one heap after
eating the contents. During the
progress of his excavations the inter
esting fact that the earliest Indian tribes
In Florida were cannibals, was brought
to light, by the discovery OF pieces Of
human bone in the fire places. which eX-
list in the center of the mounds.
In one mound the professor found a
charred human thigh bone, ana some deer
bones lying together. Large pieces of
broken pottery were found in abundance
and in one case a perfect clay pipe was
cfzy fan nn GF1rf
The bodies found in some of the earthen
mounds were buried in an unusual way,
the body being bent over, with the chin
touching the knees, and boxed up in a
sort of wooden pen, resembling chicken
coop. 1t is not known how the custom
originated as the only similar custom
existed among the Egyptians, who adopted
the method occasionally with mummies,
The most interesting mound opened by
the party from stanIdpS 9nn OF 1es1 tbs
Mount Royal mound, at Lake George, the
property of Mr.. David Wright, who has
heretofore carefully guarded II from relic
hunters. The mound, when opened, yield
ed about thirty copper ornaments, one
being a plate ten and One-han inches
Giles. and a number of crude drawings of
birds heads. Thirty pieces Of earthen
vessels of peculiar shape were tound,
which had evidently been made for burial
purposes. A large number of skeletons
were also unearthed.
Prof. Moore said that the decadence OF
mound building in Florida, after the Co
lumbar period, can be traced by the de-
creasing size of the mounds and the pres
ence in the smaller mounds Of glazed
pottery and glass beads, which had been
obtained from the whites. One mound
near Green Cove Springs, in Clay coun-
| ty, when opened was found to contain the
| bodies of two men and a woman. Each
man had an old flint lock musket by his
side, and the woman had a looking glass
in her hand, the ruling passion proving
| strong in death"
| Some very low mounds were found to
| contain both stone hatchets and arrow
| heads, and iron Knives, glass beads ana
| other articles brought over by the Euro
! peans. These mounds were found near
| Lake Yule, in Florida. The Indians who
| built the mounds were of a different tribe
| from the Creeks and Seminoles, who went
| down from Georgia. These latter buried
! their dead, and II Is supposed that they
| conquered the Others and either drove
them away or incorporated them in their
own tribes.
Prof. Moore said. that Georgia has a
large number of mounds, especially in
the neighborhood ofDarien, and that cop
per plates have been found decorated
with roughly drawn figures of men fight
ing, that resemble the ancient drawings
found in Mexico and South America The
| party has finished its labors for this wear.
and Will probably lay the Gopher" up here
| until next winter, when they expect TO
| investigate the mounds along the Savan-
nah river. Prof. Moore Is engaged in
! gathering statistics for a book he is writ
ing on the mounds and mound builders
| of Georgia.