Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-05-29
CURIOUS INDIAN GRAVE
round During Recent Excavation in
Missouri.

cdied. In the Peabody museum ne
harvard University, there has recently
peeh placed on exhibition an Indian
SraVe, containing the mortal remains
vi Two North American Indians, ar
ranged exactly as it was discovered not
ioi's ago by an archaeological expedi-
non sent out under the joint auspices of
the Peabody museum and the Uni
Versity of California. From our mod
ern point of view it is not q very
spacious grave, especially for a double
grave, for 1T is only about two feet ten
inches in length. In the opinion of Mr..
II. L. bushnell, Jr., of the Peabody mu-
Scum. who, with Mr.. w. C. Farabee Of
Harvard. discovered the old grave. it is
evident. however, that the flesh had
been removed from the bones before
burial-a custom that survived among
some of the American tribes well into
the last century. The skeletons were
therefore inferred without much re-
gard to longitudinal comfort: AL
though, looking down into the grave
one might imagine that the two In
dams had been buried in a sort of
tete-a-tete. for their two skulls are
face to face across an earthenware
"'"i 'ii''e vas with them,
Inc grave was originally found under
the surface of a bit of ploughed land
IN Jefferson county, Mo-, not far distant
from the famous mastodon bed where,
about seVenty-fve years ago, some of
the flrst OF the many mastodon re-
mains that have been found in various
parts OF the United States were discov-
cred. 1t comprises six slabs of lime
stone. one of which is so perfectly
squared that it suggests the use of
tools IN the hands of the grave makers,
although more probably it 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 tilled in with broken bits of pottery:
fragments of such big earthenware
bowls as are found throughout the In
dlan 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 bot
tom of the old grave now at Harvard
We're doubtless, nevertheless real salt
pans as we'll 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
n&Vlgable for canoes to the Mississippi
river, only one and a half miles dis
tant. The excavations conducted in
this neighbOrhood disclosed twenty
seven graves and the remains of
small Indian village, the whole dating
probably from not earlier than the sew
enteenth century. The village and
cemetery We're situated on a small
bluff overlooking the creek and now
used as farm, and the graves, which
were originally about two feet under
the surface, We're first discovered by q
farmers plow, which was being ,.riven
over the ground not far from where the
We're eXcavating the re-
mains of the village. Previous cultiva-
ton of the land had gradually removed
the two feet of earth that once COW
cred them.
All of the graves were not like the
one that has been transported to Cam
bridge, although they were all built in
the same general fashion. In some
cases the bottom of the grave was
completed with slabs of limestone in
stead of broken pottery. and III others
broken pottery. 1t seems unlikely,
however, that the Indians would have
actually demolished any of their larg-
er earthenware vessels for this pur
pose, as these were probably an inheri-
lance from more highly civilized ances-
tors. and the gravcmakers are not
known to have had any way of replac
ing them. Certain smaller bowls I'M
doubtedly contained food to sustain
the warrior on his journey to the
Happy Hunting Grounds In some
of the Rock creek graves however, 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 for a single Indian suggest the
thought that here was a stout trench
erman whose appetite had been appre-
ciated by his surviving family.
The twenty-seven graves also diff
fered materially in size. Some of them
were very small, and yet, like the Pea
body museum specimen, contained two
or more skeletons. Others were much
larger, although no deeper. In one
case the grave contained Il complete
skeleton. laid out at length and in an
other case there were two compart-
ments, one above the other, and sep
arated by slabs of limestone, each of
which contained an entire skeleton. In
vet another case the grave was evident
Nv originally made larger than was aft
erward found necessary, and the lime
stone chamber is smaller than the hole
that was dug to contain it. In the
larger graves it may have happened
that the bodies were buried immedl-
ately after death, while in the smaller
graves it is equally probable that the
occupants died either far away from
home or during the winter. when the
ground could not be opened, ana that
their bones were preserved ana later
| deposited in their final resting place.
for there was no effort at regularly
having out the skeletons. The bones
were simply piled into the graves with
rho skulls resting on top, and the grave
then covered over.
| The place where the graves were
discovered is twenty or thirty miles
southwest of the famous kahokia
mound in Illinois, and somewhat furth-
or from a long chain OF smaller lhdiah
| .,,,ds whom although as yet uneX-