Omaha daily bee., 1903-05-24
TRANSPLANTS INDIAN CRAVE
Peabody Museum at Cambridge Acquires
Strange Property.
TWO SKELETONS FOUND RUBBING NOSES
Professors Incline 10 the Belief that
the Flesh was Before
the Burial Centuries

hhG ANAh VIZ sNA@A1
the Burial Centuries
Ago.
In the Mound Builders hall, as II is called.
in the Peabody museum OF Harvard unlver-
sity, there has r Gently been placed on ex-
hibiion an Indian grave, containing the
mortal remains OF two North American In
dams, arranged exactly as 1t was discovered
not long ago by an archaeological expedition
sent out under the joint auspices Of the
Peabody museum and the University OF
California. From our modern point OF view
Il is not 4 very spacious grave, especially
for a double grave, for 1t is only about two
feet ten inches in length. In the opinion
of D.. 1. Bushnell, jr, Of the Peabody
museum, who with w. c. Farabee Of Har-
ward discovered the old grave, II Is evil
dent, however, that the flesh had been re-
moved from the bones before burial-a GUS
tom that survived among some of the
American tribes well into the last century.
The skeletons were therefore inferred with
out much regard to longitudinal comfort,
although, looking Town into the grave, one
might imagine that the two Indians. had
been buried in Il sort Of tete-a-tete. for their
two skulls are face to face across an
earthenware bowl that was buried with
them.
Found Near MastOdOn Bed.
The grave was originally found under the
surface OF a bit of plowed land in Jefferson
county, Missouri, not far distant from the
famous mastodon bed where, about sew
enty-hve years ago, some OF the first of the
many mastodon remains that have been
found in various parts of the United States
were. discovered. 1t comprises six slabs OF
limestone, one of which is so perfectly
squared that 1t suggests the use OF tools in
the hands of the grave makers, although
more probably 1t is simply an unusually
perfect specimen of a natural slab of native
rock. These six slabs constitute the sides
Of the grave, which IS twenty inches deep,
and the bottom is filled in with broken bits
Of pottery-fragments of such big earthen-
ware bowls as are found throughout the
Indian mounds and are commonly known
as salt pans" although their more usual
purpose was probably that OF stoves or
ovens.
The broken bowls that make the bottom
of the old grave now at Harvard were
doubtless. nevertheless. real salt pans as
well as stoves, for the site of the cemetery
from which the grave was taken was not
far from certain salt ticks on Rock creek,
then easily navigable for canoes to the
Mississippi river, only one and a half miles
distant.
Revealed by E~xcavating.
The excavations conducted in this neigh
borhood disclosed twenty-seven graves and
the remains Of a small Indian village. the
whole dating probably from not earlier than
the seventeenth century. The village and
! cemetery were situated on a small bluff
t overlooking the creek and now used as a
farm, and the graves. which were orig
, inally about two feet under the surface.
, were first discovered by a farmers pillow
l which was being driven over the ground
I not far from where the archaeologists were
3 excavating the remains of the village. Pre-
vious cultivation OF the land had gradually
; removed the two feet OF earth that once
7 covered them.
5 All Of the graves were not like the one
that has been transported TO Cambridge,
I although they were all built in the same
= general fashion. In some cases the bottom
9 OF the grave was completed with slabs OF
i limestone instead of broken pottery, and in
3 others the graves were lined throughout
= with broken pottery. 1t seems unlikely,
however, that the Indians would have
actually demolished any OF their larger
4 earthenware vessels for this purpose, as
y these were probably an inheritance from
y more highly civilized ancestors, and the
. grave makers are not known to have had
any way OF Replacing luein. OSIIdln bnldlieT
bowls undoubtedly contained food to sus-
: tain the warrior on his journey to the
q Happy Hunting Grounds"
Evidences Economy.
I In some OF the Rock creek graves. how
y ever, only one bowl was found for two
warriors. strongly suggesting economy on
the part Of his relatives, while in other
cases the presence of three or four bowls
/ - .l.-Yo TAAlan tV0oaaf fha fhnu0hf
i that here was a stout trencherman whose
appetite had been appreciated by his sur
viving family.
The twenty-seven graves also differed
% materially I'm size. Seine of them were very
small, and yet, like the Peabody museum
specimen, contained two or more skeletons.
Others were much larger. although no
deeper. In one case the grave contained
a complete skeleton laid out at length,
= and in another case there were two com
Il partments, one above the other and sep
- arated by slabs OF limestone. each Of which
contained an entire skeleton. In yet an
: other case the grave was evidently orig
= inally made larger than was afterward
found necessary and the limestone cham
!" Der is smaller than the hole that was dug
to contain It.
Bones simply Piled In.
- In the larger graves u may nave nap
NJ pened that the bodies we're buried imme'
diately after death, while in the smaller
graves it is equally probable that the oc
r. cupants died either far away from homs
IL or during the winter when the ground
D. could not be opened. and that their bones
e. were preserved and later deposited in theil
ne final resting places, for there was no efort
he at regularly laying out the skeletons. Tn,
n bones were simply piled into the gravei
with the skulls resting on top, and th'
u grave then covered over.
e The place where the graves were dis
H. covered is twenty or thirty miles southwes
H. OF the famous Cahokia mound in Illinois
e. and somewhat further from a long chair
~ Of smaller Indian mounds, which, although
as yet unexplored, make this region on
OF the richest IN North America in arch
geological possibilities. Near the cemeter.
ut was also found one OF the Footprints.