Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-01-27

Hence a portion Of the tiipe wee digging
clay, forming pots or burning them 4
greater part Of the time. The surrounding
hils are composed entirely OF clay, and.
material being plenty and the squaws left
TO do the work, there was no reason why
there shouldn't have been plenty of these
dishes.
Their most finished article must have
been a crude AFFAIR when compared to
the line china of our times. No glazing
can be found except In spots which in
dictate that IL was by accident rather than
by design that il occurred. In the many
pieces that were recovered during these
investigations no glazing was found and
only one piece the size of a dollar is
shown by the present inhabitants Of the
farm.
There must have peen unnumbered dish
es OF all kinds, as II is impossible to dig
to the depth Of a foot without uncoyering
several specimens.
A large portion of these are decorated.
Some OF them are reddish brown, but the
most of them are black. A few specimens
OF a light gray are to be found, but these
are rare. The decorations consist of in
tersecting straight lines forming many de-
signs. There are very few curved lines
in these decorations and those that do APP
pear are very crude and uneven.
with some of the ornamentation con-
sists of fancy rims that served the pur-
pose of decoration and for lifting. Some
were graced with ears of various kinds and
designs.
These designs were marked upon the
pots before they We're put to the fire, with
an instrument made especially for that
purpose and described in another portion
of this paper. On the larger pots were
placed ears for the purpose of lifting.
These were usually made TO represent the
head of some animal or bird. The rims
used for lifting purposes usually turned
out from the pot mouth.
The pots and dishes that were colored
were made that way by the use of pull
verified sandstone, for the red, and lime
stone for the white. The natural color
Of the clay when burned is black. Some
of the pots were colored only on one side.
The most of the c~oloring was on this in
side.
There were recovered IN these examina-
tons 2s different designs of decorations.
Some of the decorations covered the body
of the vessel, others were only on the neck
or shoulder.
One-half mile due east Of the mound,
on the summit of a sharp hill that rises
abruptly from the creek valley and over
looking the Big Sioux valley for miles
in all directions, is d burial place or grave
yard that was used by the people that in
habited the mound. The entire top of this
bluff is thickly strewn with remains.
There seems to AVE been no particular
design for the cemetery or of any regular
ity in these burials. On the contrary,
there is evidence that many were placed
one upon another. To Illustrate, within a
space of three feet square were found the
remains of six different persons apparently
buried one over the other, yet so close TO
each other that the taking of one would in
many instances reveal the other. Two
lN,Ila 40 49, E.A- ---
that 1t was impossible TO remove one with
out the other. One was a well matured
adult, the other a very young person. Di-
rectly beneath these were the jaw bones
and parts of several others i'm a very al
vanced condition Of decay. The arm bones
of at least six different persons, together
with the ribs and leg bones, were scat
tered around these skulls.
The skulls that belonged TO the other
bones were close by, but the short time
did not permit a continuance of the
Investigations.
From the various positions and directions
that these bones are in it is evident that
they We're placed there without any regard
to the former burials or without any
special system. No weapons are found in
these graves nor ornaments of any de-
scription, with the exception of a very few
beads of chalk or limestone. These were
not found in the graves, but on the side
of the hill.
The burial hill gives evidence of having
been several feet higher than it is at
present, and it may be that these remains
We're buried much deeper than they are
now found.
Those near the surface have been
reached by the frost and moisture and are
in a very advanced state Of decay. Those
that are deeper are better preserved, while
those that are the deepest are so old that
they crllmhle tn dust uAaon hainp axpocad
to the air.
From the positions of these bones in their
graves it would seem that h were
placed there after the flesh had been re-
moved, as 1t would be impossible to place
the human form in the positions that
some of these remains were found. 1t is
possible that these Indians, like others in
this vicinity. buried their dead in trees
and on scaffolds until the flesh had been
removed by the Great Spirit, or, as the
white man calls it, Nature. Then the
bones would be gathered and dumped
wholesale into a trench or grave dug for
that purpose.
The absence of weapons would seem to
support this theory. They were placed
with the dead for the purpose of use in the
happy hunting ground and for the spirit to
use to protect the flesh from the wild
beasts until 1t had been gathered to the
Great Snirit --Aft that2thev were no
longer needed, lor the HeSn dld not need |
protection, and as there was no longer any
necessity to obtain food TO satisfy the
flesh, weapons were not a part of this
final interment.
There are several other burial hills In
this vicinity. but the time did not permit
the Investigation of them.
Thus lived and died these Inhabitants
OF the Broken Kettle country.
tfatute Gta<e tnI,9x /
Philadelphia Ledger: Venetian