Evening star., 1916-01-09
SAY NAC0OCHEE MOUND :.
IS OF RECENT ORIGIN
Scientists Discover the Formation
Was Made by the Cherokee
Indians. .s5
Belief of Ancient Mystery Long
Held by Georgians Is Dissipated "s
o.
by Report. s.,s


An excavating party under the direc.s
tion of F. w. Hodge of the bureau or,
American ethnology. and George el.,,
Heye of the Museum of the American
Indian. New York. investigated the soss.
called Nacoochee mound in White,
county. Georgia, during the past suTi,IC
mer. and found II to be of company;
lively recent origin, having been madet
by the Cherokee Indians and not aba nrf
doned by them until the nineteenth
century. The information comes as a.,
direct blow to many natives of Geos-ei
gia, who have for years cherished the
belief that this particular mound date
back to the days of the Spanish con4 II.
quest, and was connected intimateayD
the writings of a well known GeoI-..
gian. whose publications were taken
too literally.
Not Identified by Cherokees. IoH
"Nacoochee" is not identihable by tftS.A
Cherokees belonging to their
language. and that by no means doeal
it signify in any Indian tongue "thes
evening star" has been claimed.1
Without intending to be inconociastjc,@
the ethnologists feel that the truthy
concerning this long held mysterious"
mound should be cleared up. both for
the sake of American history and for.f
the purpose of differentiating betweenT
fact and fiction. Il
"It is now known that there Is noth-7
ing mysterious about it. it's histogy9
does not cover a very long period, aud
f1r hall r,t.sx hat
this or. any other mound in the United5
States was reared by people other than
our Indians they say. ho4
THE legend of Nacoochee, Sautee and
Yonah. of Indian kings" and "queensr
and of the reputed visit of De Soto to-,
this locality in the sixteenth century,
is purely imaginary: ii is nowise In-c
dian in character or concept, nor Is 1t
even based on an Indian story, and,
needless to say, nothing was found by,
the excavators in the mound which,
by the widest flight OF imagination
could give credence to these fairy.
tales.
The archaeological Investigations OF
the Nacoochee mound, which stands onT
the property of DIR. L. G. Hardman or
Commerce. Ga, were undertaken joint
ly by the bureau of American ethnol-
ogy of the Smithsonian Institution and
the Museum of the American Indian,
sometimes called the Heye Museum, Ok.
New fork- s9T
Forms an Irregular Circle. sro "a,
The top of the mound, which waS
leveled for cultivation some thirty
years ago. now forms an irregular
circle varying in its diameter from
81 feet to SO feet. From the field inn
which the mound stands to the top is
just little over II feet, while the
circumference at the base Is 40 feet:
It is evident, however. that the size Of
~ haS oh somewhat
cultivation since its abandonment by
the Cherokees. not only as to heighst
but also in the extent of its slopes AZ
the base. -,
.FollowinS the custom of the fnS'
dians of the south, the Cherokees buift
this mound. partly for domicile ana
partly for cemetery purposes, by pfiS
ing up the rich alluviai soil from ths-
adja cent fields. They did not rear. IL.
ali at one time; generation after gen.;
GRAFTON is represented by the stratinca.
tion exposed in the excavation, ana
bodies buried at different levels with
undisturbed earth above them. The
presence of frepits and the evidences
of fires throughout the varying Levers
cured from the white man in the uppssrfn
part and near the surface on the.
slopes, but not in the lower levers, M
dicate that the mound was built. up
gradually and extended well into thu
modern historical period, which factt
is supported by the statements or oldrr
est inha bitants of the Nacoochee VAL,
ley. -
Seventy-Five Graves Located. a.
The graves of seventy-five individ.s,
nails were unearthed at levels varying
from near the top to below the orisT-
inal base of the mound. Most OF the
graves were unmarked. but in some OF
them there were stone implemeMe
shells or shell ornaments. smoking
a,,I irnil
iects Nearly all the skeletal remains
were so greatly decomposed that pres'i
ervation or measurement was fmposei-
BILE. but an interesting fact was estao-
lished when II was discovered that
usually the individuals were buried.
with their heads pointed in the direc,7
tion of the sunrise. ss5i-
Near the very base of the mound two
graves were found to have been ip,~
cased and covered with slabs of stonA:
and in one of them a beautiful effiGy-
vase Of painted pottery the only p'ece
was recovered. The type of this. ves-
sci and the stone graves themselvesa
suggest the possible occupancy or eheSS
site by Indians before the settlement
of the Cherokees in this locality EST
Pipes Made of Pottery. ,:E:.,
The large number of smoking pipesc
of pottery made in many designs and
shapes and the amount of broken pot
terry found here form the most remarkrc
able features of the excavations. But
little ornamentation, except IN the casey
of the single painted vessel. was notody
in the pottery. other than incised and,
impressed designs worked out in tAe4
moist ware before the firing. tens
While the work of the ethnologiStes
may have shattered the fanciful legend
in regard to this location. ii has done
more for the actual history Of thls,
branch of the American aboriginee ,ha
that a few more pages of fact h4ySs
been added to the great book on f9e
American red man which is gradually
being perfected by the operation Or
Uncle SANS bureau Of ethnology.