The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1903-10-28
SALT PANS OF INDIANS.
THE PURPOSES FOR WHICH THEY
WERE INTENDED.

Largest Ever Discovered Now In Pos.
session Of Peabody Museum at Hsr-
vard-Heated With stones--The
kitchens Of the Aborisines-Pottery
From Graves.
That the aboriginal Indians Of
North America did considerable cook
ing In their time has been made evil
dent by the discovery in various parts
of the United States of numbers of
the earthenware vessels known as
salt pans" but whose chief use was
apparently the preparation of food.
These vessels-called salt pans by the
archaeologist because their main pur-
pose seemed at first to have been the
evaporation of salt from the salt
springs near which the Indians estab-
lished so many of their villages-are
the largest known specimens of native
North American pottery. The largest
one ever found has recently come in
to the possession of the Peabody mu-
scum at Harvard, writes the Cam
bridge correspondent of the New York
Post. 1t measures some 81 inches in
diameter by IL inches deep. In ap-
pearance. therefore, 1t is very much
like a big, shallow punch bowl. 1t
was discovered not long ago by an
archaeological expedition under the
Joint auspices of the Peabody museum
and the University OF California, and
Is an important part OF the instruc-
tive spoil taken from what is now
farm near the meeting of the Little
Maramac and the big Mississippi riv-
ers in Jefferson county, Mo-, once the
site of small Indian village.
This big salt pan, in walsh the In.
dians not only evaporated salt from
the water of salt licks which still ex-
ist in the immediate vicinity, but
| doubtless cooked their elk meat or ven.
ison, is only one of a goodly number
| of similar but smaller utensils found
in the same locality. The larger pans
were all sunk in the clay bottom upon
which the encampment had rested, and
were therefore as permanent as any
| modern stove or oven. The difference
was that fire, instead of being built
under or against the oven. was brought
| 70 it in the shape of heated stones,
| some Of which, still showing evidence
| OF the many heatings to which the
Indians had subjected them, still re-
the Harvard and California archaeo-
| logists..
| Near the salt pans, or native cook
ing apparatus, still remained portions
| of the ancient fireplaces in which the
stones had been heated. together win
the bones Of several kinds of animals
which formed part of the Indian bill OF
fare about 200 years ago. These re-
mains included elk, beaver, deer, fox
and turkey; but there were no traces
of the buffalo, although buffalo re-
mains are often found among the relics
of the Indians who once roamed the
more western prairies.
The big salt pan and its smaller
companion pieces of aboriginal kitch-
| ell and dining room economy were nat
turally not the only evidence of early
Indian life found In the old village so
long hidden under the plowed furrows
Of modern agriculture. The eXcava-
tion, not YET fully completed, has al
ready revealed a cemetery as well as
village, the cemetery differing from
most of the Indian burial places al
ready found and opened in various
parts of the United States, in that Il
was very much smaller than was usual
ly the case. Although occasional iso-
lated graves have been discovered, the
eperience of previous archaeological
investigations would have led natural
ly to the epectation CT finding either
a very small group of graves, each
containing one skeleton or several
skeletons, or a very large one embrac.
ing hundreds Of purials. In this case
only q graves We're discovered, al
though this number represented the
burial Of several times as many In
dians.
In the graves, which were probably
not earlier than the 18th century
were found many smaller specimens OF
pottery, chiefly earthenware bowls in
which the friends and Natives of the
departed warriors had placed what
they considered would be food
enough TO last them during their jour.
ney to the happy hunting grounds
one bowl in some cases having evil
IDENTIFY been considered sufficient for
two warriors. while in other cases a
single warrior. perhaps q very hungry
one during his lifetime, had been sup
piled with several. These bowls, in
interesting contrast with q somewhat
similar custom that existed among the
European nations Of antiquity, in
which the buried food vessels were
almost always broken In pieces before
burial. were nearly all unbrolEen
Like the larger cooking pans, they
! were made Of clay-in many cases
perhaps, the clay taken from the banks
OF the small creek that still connects
the site Of the village with the Missis
sippi river, about one ana a hall
miles distant-mixed with finely brok