Perth Amboy evening news., 1904-03-29
MANY INDIAN MOUNDS
VALUABLE ARCHAEOLOGICAL
DATA FOUND IN FLORIDA
Beautiful Pottery, Human Efigies and
Crania Lately Exhumed and
Placed in Academy Of
Natural Science.

Clarence B. Moore has concluded his
thorough archaeological survey of the
coast line of northwest Florida" says
Nature. Although this district had
not previously been investigated, many
mounds had been opened by treasure
seekers and curiosity hunters and thus
valuable data have been lost to the stu.
dents of American archaeology. This
irresponsible exploitation of mounds
for spoil has caused great loss tc
science in America, but the los In
the old world has been infinitely great
er and too often this ignorant digging
has been carried on under the auspices
of learned institutions. BY far the
greater portion of Mr.. Moore's finds
consists of pottery which has been added
to the noble collection hat this en-
thusiastic archaeologist has given to
the museum of the Academy of Natural
Science at Philadelphia. Indeed, there
are in the various museums Of the United
States enormous collections Of pre-
Columbian and more recent pottery.
comparatively little of which has been
studied or published. 1t is to be hoped
that ere long one of our American COLI
leagues will give us a monograph Oh
AAmerican ceramics as a whole; awork
on this subject is much needed at the
present day and it could not fail to be
of very great interest.
There is so much variety in the yes
sells so numerously and beautifully
figured by Mr.. Moore that it is difficult
to give an idea Of the pottery of the
district investigated. Many vessels are
composed of several cups or receptacles.
most are of irregular form and are often
provided with animals heads, a few are
perforated, and some are in the form
Of human efigies; a unique vessel has
the form of an inverted truncated pyra-
mid, on one side of which a human
figure peering over the edge Is modelled
In relief. The majority of the vessels
are decorated In various ways, usually
either by incised lines or by devices
or patterns in low relief, many Of which
look as If they had been produced with
a stamp; one simple cylindrical vessel
is ornamented with an inclsed design
representing two human hands. but
most Of the designs and patterns have
no obvious significance.
"a good many human crania have
been found, and these exhibit great
antero-posterior flattening. while in
some a concave depression gives evil
dence Of early construction by a band.
Capt. Bernard Romans, who was IA
miliar with this part of Florida. writ
ing in the latter part of the eighteenth
century, tells us that in his time the
Choctaws bound bags OF sand to
the heads of male children; but
skulls of females exhibit the same
artificial reformation. The region in
v~estigated by Mr.. Moore shows in an
interesting the influence OF
other districts. The pottery of north
west Florida is, on the whole, much
superior to that Of the peninsula, and
the author Is inclined to believe that
the best ware found its way into the
latter region through barter, and the
comparative rarity of the imported ware
may. account for the i%nfrequent occur
renceof earthenware vessels in the burial
mounds Of the coast Of the peninsula.
"In the first part of his report Mr..
Moore noted a mortuary custom prevail
ing in peninsular Florida, which con-
sisted of knocking a hole in the base
of a vessel, presumably to kill the pot,
that its soul might accompany that OF
the dead man. The fiimsy and freak
pottery sometimes found In the pen
insula, and numerousiy in the north
west, was made expressly for inter-
ment with the dead, and in the base of
each vessel a hode had been made pre-
vious to the baking of the clay. A new
feature In freak ware was encountered
about St. Andrews bay; these vessels
were lfe-forms, usually, but differed
from other life-forms of the same dis
trict in that they were inferior to them
as to ware and workmanship, and that
they had various p~erforations, made
previous to baking, in the body Of the
vessel as well as the customary one in
the base.
"Mr. Moore also obtained evidence
which suggests that the flesh was re-
moved from the bones of the corpses
and burnt; the mass of ca~rbonaceous
matter was always found on the EASTERN
side of the mounds. Urn burial was
largely in vogue in Alabama and
Geoseia; it extended into Florida, but
practically is not met with further east
than st. Andrews. Illumination was
almost universally practiced In Flor
ida; true cremation has not been met
with in this peninsula, but It was oc-
~casionally practiced on the mainland,
or northwestern portion. These OBJ
seryations confirm the statement Of
Cabeca de Vaca, who spent some years
among the aborigines of the northwest
Florida coast; he says that persons
there in general were buried, but that
doctors were cremated."